His Way

Psalm 25 has a special place in my heart because from it I wrote my first song. It was called "O Lord I Lift Up My Soul." Being a songwriter, your first song always has a special place in your heart. I think the reason why this song is so special to me is because the theme of it speaks to the heart of my desire for songwriting and for ministry in general. The song essentially is Psalm 25: 1 - 2a, 4-5: "O Lord I lift up my soul, in you I trust. Lead me in your truth and teach me, O Lord, teach me your way." Another verse that we read this week which speaks so mightily to the same thing is Psalm 27:11: "Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path."

These scriptures express the true desire of my heart. Lord, I seek you for your way of doing things. Here's the problem, living on earth we're exposed to the exact opposite of the way that the Lord does things. We're caught up in the way our economy does things, the way our society does things, the way our generation does things, the way our country does things, the way our families do things, even the way our churches do things. I don't want all of those ways. I want the way of the Lord because His way is a straight path.

Today I was talking to my sister about a situation that's really been rocking me over the past couple of weeks. While I won't get into the details of the situation, my observant and wise older sister pointed out that I haven't been myself lately. She noted that I have not been as joyous as I usually am. It seemed like I had been carrying around weight for the past week or two. As we talked about the situation I found myself saying "you know sis the only way I see myself getting out of this situation is by doing this." (I won't mention what this specifically was but I did in our conversation). After saying this she said something so profound. She said "what about the Lord? Why are you not resting in Him?" In all of my processing I forgot the original cry of my heart which was Lord, I lift my soul to You. What I should be doing is walking in the rest and the ways of the Lord. I was so concentrated on the resolve of this situation being this one thing I was thinking about. Not only did I not see other ways out, but I didn't even seek the Lord about teaching me His way in this situation.

So what other situations in our lives are we stuck in our way of thinking and not the Lord's?? Remember God told us that His ways aren't ours. They're actually higher. If you want to get really technical, Jesus said that He was the way. If you find yourself battling in your mind saying what should I do, ask the Lord for His way because the way you're thinking about it is probably not the way the Lord wants to resolve it. His resolve is higher than ours!!

"Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path" Psalm 27:11

~Jake Greene