Right decisions

“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.” (Psalm 25:4)

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

There is a difference between Gods ways and the ways of man. Gods ways are on such a level that man cannot devise it. It can be fatal for a human to walk on a way that is not from God. In psalm 139:23-24 it is written: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

There is a way that does not lead to the everlasting life with God, and this road is offensive and dangerous to walk on.

Rebellion and disobedience

Two things makes God’s people go astray, rebellion and disobedience. “If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways.” (Psalm 81:13).

God’s will, ways and thoughts was not unknown for Israel. They knew them, yet still they chose not to follow them. They were rebellious and wanted to follow their own lusts and empty thoughts. Because of their bad choices they faced great difficulties.

“Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains, because they rebelled against God’s commands and despised the plans of the Most high” (Psalm 107:10-11).

When the difficulties and despair was on its greatest, they called on God, and in His mercy he freed them. But after a while they continued in their own thoughts and ways. “For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not know my ways.” (Psalm 95:10).

The greatest deceit is self-deception. It is self-deception to fool oneself into thinking he will be fine, while walking on the wrong path. We can fool ourselves, we can fool other people, but we can never fool God. “...for all my ways are known to you.” (Psalm 119:168).

God knows where our path will end, and He wants us to repent, so that we can walk on His paths.

Repentance, the key to walk on the right path

When we give God right in our lives, and we as Gods people chose to do Gods will and walk on His paths, we will be instructed in how to walk in Gods ways. “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners to walk on his ways.” (Psalm 25:8).

Instead of going astray and ending in misery and distress, you will now know the path of life. “You make known to me the path of life.” (Psalm 16:11). You will also begin to act differently, ”He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” (Psalm 25:9).

We can desire many things, but there is only one thing that can really satisfy us: to be in Gods will with our lives, and do his acts. Two major truths in the Bible show us what God has for his people.

1: God have chosen us in him before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)

2: We are created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10)

The blessings that comes from walking in God's ways

When we repent from following our own empty minds and walking on the road to destruction, we will experience Gods goodness on another level.

The first we will experience is God’s mercy and faithfulness: “All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. (Psalm 25:10).

The second we will experience is that God will show you the way you should walk: “Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.” (Psalm 25:12).

The third we will experience is stability and security. “Then they cried out to the lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.” (Psalm 107:6-7).

Believer or spectator?

When Jesus walked here on earth, we read that large crowds gathered around him. Things happened where Jesus went, and the majority of the crowd where spectators that wanted to see miracles, signs and wonders. They did not seek to be in God’s will, and neither were they willing to pay the price it costs. In the book of John chapter 6 we can read about Jesus telling the crowd about the cost of following him, and then: “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” (John 6:66).

The fact that we experience Gods work, does not indicate that our relationship with God is in correct order. In Psalm 103:7 it says: “He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to people of Israel.” The scripture says that most of these died in the desert without entering the Promised Land.

Therefore we have to choose if we want to be a real believer or simply a spectator.

Prayer to repentance

If you’re walking the wrong path, repent and pray to God. God’s word is the absolute truth, and you can therefore pray according to his word:

- Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law. (Psalm 119:29).

- ..make your way straight before me. (Psalm 5:8).

- ..show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life (Psalm 143:8).

When you in faith have done this, you could expect that God will act on your faith and prayer. ”Commit your ways to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this.” (Psalm 37:5).