Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
I want you to imagine this. You're on a hike with some of your friends in a place you've never been. You're a little ways away from your car. It's starting to get dark and you don't know the way back. You're not sure where to turn next. Everybody in your group wants to go in a different direction.
Lost in the Dark
Sounds a little bit scary, right? Well, that's exactly where me and my friends found ourselves one day when we were on a road trip. After I graduated high school, we drove all the way out to Utah. I don't know why. We just thought it sounded exciting. One night we decided to go on a hike and it was probably too close to sunset. But we were teenagers and we were having fun and it was starting to get dark. So we said, it's probably time to get back to the car. The problem was we had no idea where it was, and we had one flashlight to share with each other that didn't have a whole lot of battery life left in it.
I remember getting to this fork in the road, and two of us wanted to go one way, and one of us wanted to go the other way. The majority won and we said, hey, we're going to go this way. But our other friend was so determined. He said, I got this gut feeling. I feel like this is the way that we need to go. We said, well, we're going to have the flashlight. You're welcome to do what you feel is best. So, he went the other way.
I remember hearing his voice in the pitch black screaming out, help, help! So we ran back up the trail and we ended up finding him. I couldn't tell you how he did it, but he was standing on the ledge of a cliff, and he didn't know how to get back safely because he couldn't see in the dark. He had trusted his gut and he got lost.
Forks in the Road
I bring that up because in the same way, there's going to be moments in life where we have forks in the road where we're not sure which direction to turn. Usually when we try to find our own way, it just leaves us feeling more lost than ever. I want to turn to the Word of God and see what it says about finding direction in our lives, and we're going to do that in our Verse of the Day today. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.
Walking with God
Proverbs 3 is a beautiful passage of Scripture. It talks all about walking with God, about growing in wisdom, about trusting in His guidance, and ultimately it points us into the right paths that we're supposed to take in life. It's easy to hear these words, to say, trust in God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, and He will show you which path to take. You might go, that sounds wonderful. How do I know what path He's actually telling me to go down?
Well, that's why it's important to put verses like this in the context of the whole passage of Scripture. Because if you were to look at the preceding verses in the beginning of Proverbs 3, you would see that it talks about the importance of knowing God's Word and about keeping it close to your heart. See, it's God's Word that ultimately leads us deeper into His heart as we write them deep into our hearts.
God's Word as Our Guide
I want to say to all of us that if we're feeling lost or confused in life, leaning on our own understanding doesn't usually work out. But we have truth in our lives. Ultimate truth. We have a God who will give us wisdom and will not hold it back when we ask. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us that is moving us forward, closer to the heart of Jesus.
I know it can be scary. I know it can be confusing. But trusting in your gut doesn't work out. But following the light of Christ, using His Word as a guide, finding value in what He has to say, that does wonders in giving us direction in life. Let's follow Him as He leads us into life everlasting.