The Right Path

Thursday, January 2, 2025
Listen to this devotional:
Listen while you read: "Hallelujah Chorus"1 (Lyrics)

Psalm 5:8 – Lead me in the right path, O Lord, or my enemies will conquer me. Make your way plain for me to follow. (NLT)

One wintry day, my husband and I were walking at the golf course, which has a trail that, along much of its way, parallels the river to our left. We hoped to see some overwintering river birds. At first, however, the river wasn't visible. Suddenly, we came to a fork in the trail, but we knew from previous walks that we were supposed to keep to the right, the main trail.

Terry decided he wanted to get closer to the river sooner, so we took the left trail. We followed it easily, but after a while, it dwindled to nothing. No footprints in the snow showed us where to go next. "I know the main trail is just over to our right," said my resolute husband. "We just have to get back to it." After a lot of traipsing through the bush, getting snow inside our boots and stumbling over hidden sticks, we finally found the main path again.

In Scripture, the words "path" or "way" are pictures of the life course that God sets out before us, or the one that we ourselves choose to follow. We have to make a decision. When we are in tune with the Lord, we can hear His guidance. "Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, 'This is the way you should go,' whether to the right or to the left." (Isaiah 30:21 NLT)

John 14:6 – Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." (NLT)

When we make the decision through Jesus, we find ourselves on the right path, the one that leads to eternal life. Jesus told His disciples that He is the only way to the Father.

Matthew 7:13a,14 – Don't look for shortcuts to God. … The way to life — to God! — is vigorous and requires total attention. (MSG)

Keeping to the path in the woods on the right would have led us by the river eventually. We needn't have wasted time and effort by looking for a shortcut.

God's Word is our roadmap. It guides and illuminates our journey through life.

Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. (NLT)

We don't have to see a great distance ahead. The Lord illuminates only the way just before us. We have enough light, or guidance, for the moment.

Psalm 23:3b-4 – He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. (NLT)

Let us continue this new year rejoicing that it is the Lord Who leads us on the right path!

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for Your leading, guidance, and protection. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Forward this devotional     Share this devotional on Facebook     Like PresbyCan on Facebook

About the author:

Alice Burnett <terrencera.burnett@gmail.com>
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

Send your feedback to the author

1 Comment

  • PresbyCan Feedback says:

    Thanks, Alice, for the great reminder.


    I loved it. God bless and thank you so much!!


    Another good one Alice. Thank you so much.


    Great reminder for the new year, Alice. Thanks and blessings!


    A great analogy, Thank you Alice.
    May 2025 be one for keeping on the right path for all of us.


    Happy New Year Terry and Alice,
    God’s directions are the best!
    Blessings.


    Thank you, Alice, for sharing this encouraging devotional with us today.
    To God be the glory! Oh the weeping when we wander from the right path into a field of stinging nettles, aka sin. Blessings.


    Thank you for writing this devotional but I am tone deaf.
    And I often suffer from selective listening, so I need writing like yours, that guide me on how to find the right path.
    Blessings.
    Happy new year.


    Greetings and Happy New Year to you and Terry!
    I liked your devotional today, Alice. Thank you for sharing your adventure with us. Even though we wander off the pathways of life, God is right there to guide us back on the right path – this is so comforting.
    Blessings!


    Hi Alice and Happy New Year to you and Terry and those you love.
    We spent Christmas with all but one grandson…the latter did come see us after Christmas. We are very fortunate…two adorable great grandsons who make us smile as we are getting older and older and older!
    Your devotionals are always thought provoking. Thank you.


    Greetings Alice and thank you for your very positive words in your devotional this morning. Yes, you are very right in expressing how the Lord’s guidance is our best route each and every day. His way gives us peace and security as well as much socialization, not only with other people who follow Him, but also with those who are in need of care and attention.
    He certainly is the most positive director in our daily path. Blessings for these writings you prepare and blessings for many joyous happenings in the New Year 2025.


    Good morning, Alice,
    Your message was very special to me today. Your analogy with the walk with your husband truly hit the mark in my brain about “the right path” and the shortcuts we make in life. I do thank God for his guidance and protection as I try to follow “the right path” that God has planned for me. These passages you use help me many times on my faith journey and they are so important not to get lost.
    May you continue to help others with your sharing of your faith as we begin 2025. Thank you. Blessings.


    Alice, You have highlighted my own most frequently uttered prayer. This was a frequent prayer among the biblical authors and poets too, so I can find plenty of verses to draw from. I’ve discovered their value through my own life trials: I face constant distractions and temptations trying to pull me off course.
    Psalm 27:11: “Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.”
    Psalm 16:8: “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”


    Thank you for this very uplifting message to start the year.


    Thanks for sharing.
    How true that some thing like this makes you think.
    (Ontario)


    Thank you, Alice, staying on the right path isn’t always easy!

Previous Post
«
 



PresbyCan is a community of faithful, Holy Spirit-filled, Christ-centred, God-honouring Christians.