Show Me, Teach Me and Lead Me Part 1

Show me Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.  (Psalm 25:4-5)

This passage is part of a psalm written by David, a prominent psalmist of the Old Testament and perhaps the most famous king that has ever ruled Israel during the monarchical era of the nation’s history. It’s uncertain as to when in his life David wrote Psalm 25, but scholars agree that it is one of the unique psalms with its mixture of the author petitioning God for help and repenting of his past sins. Shortly after he begins this prayer-like plea, David seeks to understand the ways of Yahweh, and the way he shares this is quite interesting because it also outlines for the readers the very manner (or perhaps phases) in which the Lord works in our lives today.

I           “Show me Your ways, O LORD”
Before He does anything else, God first shows us what His ways look like; which are radically different from our own. If you want proof, just read over the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught in Matthew 5. The principles he expounds in this sermon rubs against the very grain of our fallen nature. “But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matt 5:39) Our immediate response to that teaching is, “Excuse me?! I don’t think so! I prefer to leave him bleeding!” Of course Jesus never meant that literally, but was illustrating how we need to resist the innate tendency to retaliate whenever we felt an injustice done to us. We often times hear, “Don’t get mad, get even.” But Jesus says don’t even try to get even. By getting even we feel we are doing ourselves a favour. We want the other party to suffer for the misery or pain they brought on us and the moment they experience it we have this sense of satisfaction, feeling that justice has been served. But what we often perceive as justice, is really nothing more than revenge. The Lord wants us to seek true justice. Justice is never selfishly motivated. We don’t seek justice simply because we’ve been hurt at one time or to make a name for ourselves. We do it simply because it is the right thing to do. It’s THE way to love your neighbour (not the guy who lives next door or across the street, but the stranger you don’t know, in fact, as in the case of Jesus’ parable, the Good Samaritan, even your enemy). God’s form of justice is to seek for the good of others, not for your own sake, but for theirs.

There are also moments when God’s ways seem rather strange, as in the case with the weird military strategies he had Joshua employed in Joshua 6 and king Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20. His approach may seem so bogus at times that it defies logic….at least our level of logic. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18) clearly implies that God is not the least bit anti-logical, but rather operates in a logical way that infinitely transcends our own. After all, He is the Author of logic who created humankind with the capacity to reason, but we must never forget what He said in Isa 55:8-9,

⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God has consistently shown throughout the course of biblical history that His ways are the superior way and are for our best interest. We do well to follow them; and not just His ways, but Himself as well. God’s most personal revelation of Himself to humanity was through His Son, Jesus Christ, who has already shown us that He is indeed THE way to the Father and eternal life…..no one else.

Jesus said to him,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Our cry:
“Show me your ways oh Lord!”
Jesus responds:
“I did. My question to you is, will you now follow Me?”