Our God-appointed Path
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
(Anglican Book of Common Prayer, Proper 7)
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NKJV
What does the LORD your God require of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and His decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own good.
Micah 6:8 NKJV
He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Psalm 1:1-3 NKJV
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.
Charles Spurgeon
Here the gracious man . . . does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He takes wiser counsel and walks in the commandments of the Lord his God. To him the ways of piety are paths of peace and pleasantness. His footsteps are ordered by the Word of God and not by the cunning and wicked devices of carnal men. It is a rich sign of inward grace when the outward walk is changed and when ungodliness is put far from our actions.
Note next he standeth not in the way of sinners. His company is of a choicer sort than it was. Although a sinner himself, he is now a blood-washed sinner, quickened by the Holy Spirit and renewed in heart. Standing by the rich grace of God in the congregation of the righteous, he dares not herd with the multitude that do evil.
Again, it is said, “nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” He finds no rest in the atheist’s scoffings. Let others make a mock of sin, of eternity, of hell and heaven, and of the Eternal God; this man has learned better philosophy than that of the infidel and has too much sense of God’s presence to endure to hear his name blasphemed.[1]
O Savior of Sinners,
Thy name is excellent, thy glory high, thy compassions unfailing, thy condescension wonderful, thy mercy tender.
Make me to abhor that which grieves thy Holy Spirit, to suspect consolations of a worldly nature, to shun a careless way of life, to reprove evil, to instruct with meekness those who oppose me, to be gentle and patient towards all men, to be not only a professor but an example of the gospel, displaying in every relation, office, and condition its excellency, loveliness and advantages.
Amen.[2]
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
[1]Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “Psalm 1,” The Treasury of David Volume 1, p. 1.
[2]“Living for Jesus,” The Valley of Vision, p. 58.
