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Proverbs 4:26 (NLT)
‘Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.’
I struggle to resist my natural inclination to make assumptions. Hearing a story, holding a conversation, I find that I readily fill in the back story in an attempt to make meaning of what I am hearing in a wider context. Such assumptions are often wrong yet exercise power over my responses and perceptions. This is dangerous since I can leave convinced of a story that is far from the truth.
My wife Jayne has experienced a lot of rejection in her life. Even though we know we love each other, I’ve discovered that her default position, even though this is not her heart, is to fear the worst. So if I fail to respond in a constructive way or act off-hand or distant, even when my mind is simply elsewhere, the ghosts created by previous rejection are awakened and she seeks immediate reassurance that she has done nothing to upset me. If I fail to respond appropriately, which I can, when I in turn react with a sense that she doubts my profession of love and commitment, then we have to navigate our way through with restraint and grace.
While our reactions and responses can be explained, and in part justified, we are invited to ‘ponder the path of our feet.’ In other words to take a moment to pause, draw aside, look to God and remind ourselves of how frequently this has been an instinctive reaction and allow God to remind us that we are loved and that our life together is safe within his hands. If we choose to do this, and it requires willpower and self-discipline, we can avoid an overreaction. This means we don’t act not from our default positions determined by historic scars, but instead out of confidence that God loves us directly and through each other. Then our way forward can be sure as opposed to the uncertainty assumption, doubt and over reaction stimulates.
QUESTION: Are there any areas of your life where you may not be on a safe path?
PRAYER: Lord God, if in any area I have gone astray, please correct my course and lead me back to a safe path.
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