The Path to Glory

Posted on by korgrocker

“You have given me your shield of victory. Your right hand supports me; your help has made me great. You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.”
Psalm 18:35-36 NLT

David wrote that God had widened his path, to keep his feet from slipping. Once again, we have a contrast between natural and spiritual meanings, but the outcome in both cases is the same, in that God eased David’s journey through his life, and in the same way He eases our life-journeys to Heaven today. In our natural worlds, we always prefer to walk on a wide and uncluttered path, because we then avoid being tripped up by something that could lead to personal injury or danger. Unless we are some more extreme sporting fanatic, we avoid narrow ledges on the sides of a sheer rock face, or a hill walk over difficult ground. We avoid icy surfaces and snow-laden fields and difficult country paths. The pilgrim’s way, though, is often strewn with practical difficulties, in the choices we have to make to stay on the path God has set before us, with employment, retirement, family relationships, social engagements, office parties, and so on, all environments that can conflict with our desire to live our lives God’s way. 

In our spiritual lives, though, we walk a different path to most of the people around us. Our lives are infused in, and focused on, our faith in God, and the promises He has laid out before us. Faith that Jesus was who He said He was, and that He died for our sins at Calvary. Paul wrote, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast“. Our very salvation, the promise of eternal life with God, saved from a lost eternity, is all based on something intangible that needs faith to believe. There is no written certificate of title to a life in Heaven after we die. Our name on a church membership role or baptismal certificate will not gain us entry into Heaven.

So how does God make “a wide path for [our] feet”? Proverbs 3:5-6 helpfully notes, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take“. In our lives there will be many paths that we can choose, and we have this promise that as we look to God, He will show us the way. And speaking of which, we know what Jesus said to His disciples, “ … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). By following Jesus we are assured of finding the right path to our ultimate destination.

Jesus warned His listeners that the choice of path can lead to difficulties. Matthew 7:13-14, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it“. We know that the Christian life can be hard at times, but, thankfully, we don’t have to walk the narrow and difficult road in our own strength. In fact, such a journey would be far too difficult for us. And this is why David wrote that God had made a wide path for him. If it wasn’t for God helping us, leading us, whispering in our hearts words such as “not that way, this way is better because it is My way”, then we would soon founder and lose our way.

Father God. Thank You that through Jesus, You have showed us the way to life with You. Jesus went before us, opening the door to eternal life through His sacrifice at Calvary. We are so grateful. Amen.

It Was the Lord

Posted on by korgrocker

““Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.”
John 21:12-14 NLT

Once again, Jesus served His disciples. The moment would not have been lost on them, as they remembered how He had washed their feet in that Upper Room not so long ago. Before them were hands bearing the scars of the cruel Roman nails, hands tenderly passing to them portions of bread and fish, reminding the disciples that before them was the Risen Lord. Perhaps their tired minds were thinking about what was going to happen next, because even death by crucifixion and burial in a tomb was insufficient to stop this Man. He was no revolutionary, intent on overthrowing the occupying forces in Israel. He preached a message of hope, peace, love and eternal life with God in Heaven. How was all this going to impact their lives? So they munched on their breakfast, wondering.

We pilgrims were a people who lived worldly lives, our futures mapped out, or so we thought. We were in a career, at school or further education, facing into the usual things most people get involved in. Finding a wife or husband. Having children and then enjoying grandchildren. Retiring. Solomon decided that such a life was futile and meaningless, and he wrote, “I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14). And so we might have agreed with him, until one day we heard the Message of Hope. It may have been through a friend, a family member, at a funeral, or even through a tract or wayside pulpit. But we met Jesus and our journey was immediately changed. All our plans for the future had to be rewritten, but in a way that wasn’t immediately clear. We joined the small company of early disciples on that day – they didn’t know much about their future either, but they knew it had to be different. 

Solomon later wrote, “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Our life became one of uncertainty, as we believed in Jesus and followed Him in our journey of Life. And follow Him we still do. We don’t know all the twists and turns in the road ahead. Ananias never thought that one day he would be called to pray for a man called Saul, who had just had an encounter with the Living Jesus on the Damascus Road. But he was obedient to the call, regardless of the consequences. Neither do we pilgrims know what Jesus will ask us to do today or tomorrow – all we must do is to remain available to the call when it comes.

The disciples sat before Jesus, eating their breakfasts, unaware that just round the corner was the Day of Pentecost. We never know, but such an occasion might be waiting for us too. 

Dear Lord Jesus. You have our lives mapped out before us, lives of excitement with You. Please guide us in Your ways, this day and every day. Amen.