“You will show me the path of life.”—Psalm 16:11
Have you ever found yourself standing at a crossroads with decisions to make?
You can see a fork in the road from your current position and need to choose which way to go.
Sometimes there might not be a bad choice; either way will get you somewhere, and that might be OK. But most often the roads are more clearly defined.
One may look more appealing—if you ignore the warning signs. And the other could be what Jesus described: “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14, NIV).
Robert Frost captured this great human dilemma with these poignant lines:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.1
One part of the writer would like to stop and enjoy the adventure of entering the dark and lovely woods. There’s a little mystery there, a little of the unknown. Something different from daily life. But the other part of him recognizes responsibilities owed and promises he made—perhaps wedding vows—that need to be kept.
One direction could be the road to heartache, pain, and destruction; the other, the road to life. For believers, the dark woods might take us far from the Lord and out of His will.
How do we deal with this? I only know one way to stay in the will of God: to abide in Him, to spend time daily in His Word and in prayer, surrendering to Him, and leaning into His love.
Will we make wrong choices at times? Yes. But thankfully God will pursue us, even down those dark, wrong roads, and be the light that brings us home. Turn to Him every day and trust what the Psalmist wrote:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
1. Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
