Read Psalm 16:9-11 and 119:105 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
When you boil it all down, this is what you’ve got: You can live a wasted life or you can live a wise life. It all comes down to the trail you choose.
Throughout history, there have been many famous trails. The Appalachian Trail, the Oregon Trail, the Natchez Trace, and the Chisholm Trail are just few of the renowned trails of America’s early days. These were our nation’s first interstate systems.
But no matter what trail you might be talking about, history shows again and again how wise it is to stay on the trail. If you were going to Oregon, it made a lot of sense to follow the Oregon Trail, instead of trying to blaze your own way. It doesn’t take a lot gray cells to figure out why.
It look countless heartbreaking trips down dead-end trails before the right one was established. But those who had gone before finally found a trail that had all the essentials. And you could count on the fact that those trailblazing pioneers marked the trail for those would come after them.
The trail, then, was the path of wisdom. If you stuck to it, you could hope to find water, grazing for your animals, shelter, and resting places along the way.
Maybe you’ve never thought much about it, but you are on a trail, too. Right now, at this very instant. And just like the early pioneers, you’re hoping to find everything you need on it.
It may be the right trail, or it may be the wrong trail, but either way, you’re smack-dab in the middle of it. If you’re on the wrong trail, there’s still time to change your direction. If you’re on the right trail today, you could choose the wrong trail tomorrow. Every day when you get out of bed, you choose the trail all over again.
The Christian life is a trail. It’s one that begins at conception and ends at death. Perhaps now, you’re about to make a decision. A crucial decision. Which trail are you going to follow - and who are you counting on the blaze the trail for you?
-Steve Farrar-
Responding - Have I trudged though a wrong trail? What can I learn from my path?
Following - The trail of my life is marked by a set of nail-scarred footprints.
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