"He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." (Psalm 23:3 NASB 1995)
The NASB reminds us again; the path is not about our pleasure. There is a matter far more pressing: the path is producing righteousness!
The path of righteousness isn’t the path we’d choose. We prefer parties and spa-days. We like laden tables and comfortable accomodations. The wide and paved path is far more appealing than the rocky, precarious option. Yet this journey through life is not about our comfort or enjoyment, it’s about our holiness. And holiness is produced as the path extracts pounds of flesh. It’s isn’t a pleasant process, but absolutely essential.
Yesterday it hit facebookland: we are having a moving sale on Saturday. Rob posted the advertisement and well-meaning texts and private messages poured in. “You’re moving? Again? What happened?” More than nine months after our sigh of resignation from Live Oak, the proverbial toothpaste is out of the tube.
I’ve been slow to tell the story, mostly because there’s no clear cause and it still hurts to revisit. The simplest explanation is an attempted revitalization didn’t take. Meanwhile, Rob and I have sat in Weimar, working jobs outside of our field to pay a mortgage on a dream that miscarried months ago.
So here we are, just two years later, setting out again. Believe me, no one wants to pack up and relocate in their mid-forties. We love our little lemon-drop house and moved in with such high hopes. In the end, our life in Weimar was far more sour than sweet.
I’ve had three full seasons to sit with this discomfort and I have come to the conclusion that this part of our path was also for our righteousness. Full disclosure: there are attributes in me that still don’t serve the Kingdom. My need to be liked, my fight for control, and my bias about my own ideas have all come under holy scrutiny in recent months. These traits don’t bode well in ministry and I know they need to be stripped from my soul. Remarkably, God loves me enough to address my issues rather than discard me altogether; that’s pretty awesome when we consider it.
My goal going forward is trusting the path He thrusts us upon. His course isn’t about comfort or pleasure, but purpose. When we lose sight of this fact, we wind up in the weeds, complaining bitterly about how this is not the life we signed up for. How quickly we forget: we belong to Christ now. And He gets to choose the path because He has paid the price. He leads by example, He endured a precarious path for our sake.
A path through the Valley of Elah in Israel.
Our loving Savior makes His navigation choice according to our need. He alone knows what the terrain could produce within a cooperative soul. Our joy is found in His presence, not spectacular scenery or ego-building accomplishments. The path He picks serves the highest purpose: He is crafting us more into His image.
(for further thoughts on this theory, find a copy of the spiritual classic, Hinds Feet On High Places)
Sometimes the path seems endless and cyclical. I feel that. For me, this moving van is a vehicle that I don’t want to get into ever again. I actually cringe when I see them on the highway. But going up a mountain often requires circles, or at the very least switchbacks. What feels like painful, repeated patterns are actually measured steps gaining elevation. It’s a tedious process, but we are getting somewhere slowly. We can’t let the repetition convince us otherwise.
At the end of the day, we don’t need to understand. We only need to obey. In the Kingdom, obedience is the proof of our divine affection. (see John 14:15 and 1 John 5:3) Love often leads us down a path we’d prefer to avoid altogether, but the right path produces righteousness and that’s what God is after for His kids.
"I will instruct you and teach you I the way which you should go, I will counsel you with my eye upon you." (Psalm 32:8 NASB 1995)
Lord, today we recognize and accept the path You’ve laid out for us. Your path is not for our pleasure, but our righteousness. Help us reframe our expectations accordingly. Remind us the journey is arduous on purpose, but we never go it alone. What a joy to walk with Jesus, even on the most precarious paths. Help us respond rightly to Your sanctifying lead. Remake us righteous as we learn to walk with You. Amen.