walk

Opening Prayer: Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth.  For walking in my way and my truth will get me lost in a hurry.

Scripture: Psalm 86:11

Journal: Whose truth are you walking in these days?  How do you begin to walk in God’s truth in your life?  In your marriage?  In your job?  In your friendships?  How will you know you are walking in God’s truth rather than just another false narrative?

Reflection: The scriptures talk a lot about walking.  Particularly about walking in step with God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:25, NIV) and God’s truth (Psalm 86:11, old NIV).  They also talk about walking in love (Ephesians 5:2, MSG), walking in humility and gentleness (Ephesians 4:2-3, ESV), and walking in unity (Ephesians 4:3, MSG).  And there are so many more.  

     Why all of this emphasis on walking?  Because, at the end of the day, it is how we live our lives that really matters.  It is not so much about what we say we believe, as it is about what we actually do.  Talk is cheap.  Actions speak louder than words.  It is not how you talk the talk, but how you walk the walk.  We’ve all heard the expressions.  The truth is that we can choose to walk in God’s way and in God’s truth, or we can walk in our own.  It is that simple.  Simple in theory, that is, bit not so simple in practice.

     For my heart and my mind can spin an entirely different narrative (truth) than the one God is telling me.  One that subtly diverts me from God’s way and God’s truth to something far less than that.  And it is such a subtle shift that, at times, I cannot tell the difference from God’s truth and the truth that is spinning around in my head and my heart at the moment.  It happens most often for me in relationships, particularly in conflict or differences of opinion.  That old inner voice of my anxieties and insecurities (the false self) begin to defend or rationalize or make a case for why I am right.  And subtly I have crossed over from God’s truth to my truth, without even knowing it.

     That is why I love the words of this ancient prayer; they keep me focused on seeking God’s truth and walking in it.  Sometimes it takes silence and solitude to finally figure it out.  Sometimes it takes relentless reflection and introspection and prayer.  Sometimes it takes realization and repentance.  But it always involves God’s word and God’s Spirit, they are the final authorities on truth, so I best listen to them with all that is within me.  I must immerse myself in the scriptures and give myself wholly to prayer.  For when I immerse myself in what is true, I will more easily be able to identify what is false.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Immerse us in your truth, O God, that we might walk in your ways rather than our own.  Help us to be so in union with you, that we are easily able to spot the counterfeit and pursue the true.  Amen.