The Path to Becoming

The path to becoming

Psalms 138:8
⁸ The LORD will vindicate me;
your love, LORD, endures forever —
do not abandon the works of your hands. (NIV)

Who we are and who we want to be are often two very different things. We construct many plans with good intentions to become the one we desire to be only to sense we are still not that person. We fail. We fall. We limp along searching for a path we cannot find. The truth is we are blind to the passageway that contains upon it all we need to be that person we want to be.

Many of us will tire of trying assuming we are on the right path, but not diligent enough, strong enough to travel it. But the truth is that we are on the wrong path. The path we choose is a path that seems right to us, but the depth of transformation that must take place to become what we desire to be required twists and turns, obstacles and pain that we would never choose for ourselves.

There is a way that seems right to man, but it only leads to destruction. What a powerful proverb!

But the Lord, unbound by time and space, is fully aware of the path we will choose. His foreknowledge moved Him to construct dead-ends along the path He knew we would choose to re-route our journey to another path. This is not the way we would have chosen, but it is the way that must be taken to become the person we wish we were.

Our passage today reminds us that God will vindicate us. Along the path we chose, we have failed and accused ourselves of not being good enough, smart enough, holy enough. We have declared ourselves too guilty to travel on. But He will prove that we are worthy for travel. He values us enough to not give up, turning us again and again from our own path to His path to our becoming who we desire to be. Though it is littered with suffering and disappointment, He who knows our soul best knows it is exactly what we need.

He loves you too much to let you wander and squander your life. Working all things for good, He may force you through rejection and failure but to a path that never ends in darkness. He is leading you into the Light, the Highway of holiness where there is dancing and utter joy. You would have stayed on your own way until you gave up on life, but He has vindicated you, set your feet upon a rock, and led you a new way to becoming who you always desired to be.

Prayer: Lord, let me be thankful for the dead-ends you gave to force me back on your path for my life. Amen.