Pondered Paths (Proverbs 4-5, 1 These. 4:3)

All Christians struggle at times to know the right thing to do in a particular circumstance whether it is job-related, relationship-related, or service-related. This year, knowing God’s will has been one of those topics that keeps popping up in and around my life. 

As our women’s study group finished up 1 Thessalonians earlier in the spring, we encountered Paul teaching about knowing the will of God, and in chapter 4:3 he boils it starkly down to this statement: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (ESV). Lest I ever wonder what God would have me do, my first question should always be how the thing in question would affect my conformity to His will, which is for me to be like Him, to accept the work He is doing in and around my life. My job is to simply obey Him, showing my love for Him and letting His grace wash me clean, not to walk in the way of the world or my own will; so I am to ask, “How will doing this sanctify me?” The problem often is when "simple obedience" doesn't feel very simple.

Thursday night as our group finished 1 John 5, we came across this idea again in the form of praying with confidence in God's will. I am assured in Christ that God is true because He has come and given me knowledge and understanding through His word. I am assured that I have eternal life through Christ who is my hope (Col. 1:27). I know that as I pray, I am to pray for things that I know through His revealed word will be within His will. It is within His will that I am sanctified, that He is glorified, that I can love others as He has loved me, that I am free to lay down my life as He has commanded, that I can share the gospel, and so forth. I can know His will for me, but that doesn't make it easy to carry it out. I am but dust, and I feel it.

Today I sat down to read and one of the passages for the day is found in Proverbs 4-5, a familiar section about wisdom, but what I noticed today were all the verses about the paths we take, about being led in wisdom, about walking with steps that will not be hampered (v. 11-12), verses about the path of the righteous shining “like the light of dawn . . . brighter and brighter until full day" (v. 18). These verses are full of a repeated phrase in the ESV that varies a bit from other versions of the Bible, and they made me stop and think about pondering the path of my feet (4:26; 5:6; 5:21). 

The first pondering mentions focus—my eyes facing forward, my gaze fixded directly upon the path, unswerving, avoiding evil. The second pondering gives the negative sense of NOT pondering at all, and the result is that the woman who does not ponder her path nor attend to the wisdom offered freely wanders around in her ways and she doesn’t even realize that she is off the path piercing herself. The wisdom teacher elaborates on this particular example to his son, mentioning that if he chooses to stray from wisdom and live like the world around him, he will reach the end of his life with a groaning realization that he has “hated discipline” and that his heart has “despised reproof,” utterly ruined because of his rebellion (5:11-12). Spiritual adultery with the world brings ruin, and the Teacher reminds his son to ponder all his paths because God sees all (5:20-21). Lord, keep me from ruin!

Last night, Greg and I had the opportunity to offer encouragement to one who desperately desires to know God’s will and to discern direction. This convergent flow of the Spirit, this agreeing of the Spirit, is how the Spirit works in and around believers, feeding us through His word, directing us as to how to walk, offering support when we struggle (because we will), as we encourage one another in this difficult walk through this world. This brief sojourn here can feel eternal, but the reality is that it passes by quicker than we can even begin to realize. Eternity remains in the presence of God for those who have trusted in Christ for salvation. Knowing Him, pleasing Him, growing in His grace, walking in faith . . . that is today’s great pleasure, and it is reassuring that “the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day” (4:18). 

Father, help me to always ponder the paths before me, striving to please you alone and recognizing that I need sanctifying, and You alone can direct me rightly in the way I should go. Thank you for your grace and mercy and long-suffering and patience and loving compassion for my wandering ways. I am human and prone to wander from the narrow path before me. Help me to look intently on your wonderful face and see the joy set before me so that my feet will walk toward You alone. Thank you for salvation in Christ, an eternal blessing I do not deserve but have received anyway. You alone are good. Help me to see clearly.