Bend in the Road - Lesson 6 - Right Paths

Samuel’s people earnestly begged him to pray to God for them,
that they might not die;
and he tells them that he should consider himself a sinner,
should he cease to be their intercessor.

Men, you are the prophet, priest and king for your family,
Whether you want to be or not.
Whether you are fulfilling your roles or not.

A prophet hears the word of God and tells others.
A priest makes intercessory prayers for his people.
And the king is ultimately responsible for his people.
Hopefully not as a ruling dictator,
But in the role of servant leadership.

What I read is that Samuel knew his role,
And the awesome responsibility he had to lead his people in the right way.
On the right path.

As long as he was with them he pledged to show them the true path.
The way to happiness and to heaven.
A trail of happiness with no crookedness,
And with no evil in it.

1Samuel 12:23, ‘Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:’

However ungratefully we may have been treated,
We need to labor to do good even to those who have appeared to do us evil.
We need to remember that there can be no real blessedness
but in cheerful obedience to the commands of God.

Have we ceased to pray for others?





Have we told others we would pray for them and we haven’t?





If we have backslidden the Lord slides us towards Him.
He heals us and restores us to his favor.

Like a planet revolving around the sun on its path.
Is the planet traveling under its own power?
No the sun is moving it through space by gravity.

Does the earth generate its own energy and warmth?
No it is given to the planet by the sun.
Do we travel by our own power?
Do we warm and energize ourselves?

Psalm 23:3, ‘He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.’

How does the Lord restore our soul?

And why does it need restoring?





Let’s think about traveling down a path.
When we are there for the first time it seems foreign to us.
After we have been there a few times it becomes familiar.

If we travel the same way to and from work in our car
We become very familiar with the path.
Have you ever ran out of gas or broken down and had to walk.
You see things you have never seen before.

Psalm 25:10, ‘All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.’

Do we need to slow down some times and look at what is really around us?
Rather than racing to our destination?





Since we are not sufficient of ourselves much like the planet on its travels,
our dependence must be upon the grace of God,
From Him alone all our sufficiency is.

God puts His Spirit within us,
and so causes us to walk in his statutes.
And if we are not walking there we are not content and possibly miserable.

Psalm 119:35, ‘Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.’

If we delight in his path so much why do we need Him to make us go there?





We need to be directed by God for His purposes,
However many afflictions we need to endure in the meantime.

Isaiah 26:7, ‘The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.’

Dost weigh meaning examine.
After the Lord has examined our path how would He find it?





Our ways are known by the Lord.
When we are running and when we are resting,
The Lord surrounds us even as the air continually surrounds us.

Waking or sleeping He still observes us.
We may leave the path, but He never leaves ours.
We may slumber and forget Him,
But He never sleeps.

The Lord judges our active life and our quiet life.
He discriminates our actions and our reposes.
He marks which are good and also which are evil.

He is acquainted with all our ways.
He is familiar with all we do.
Nothing is concealed from Him.
A surprise to Him,
Or misunderstood by Him.

Our paths may be habitual or accidental,
Open or in secret,
But with them He is well acquainted.

This should fill us with awe,
To keep us from sin; with courage,
So that we fear not; with delight,
And so that we mourn not.

Psalm 139:3, ‘Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.’

All means all, how does that make you feel?

Don’t we think we slip some things by Him at times?





We constantly need the Lord’s instruction
So that others can see a little of His perfection in us.

As believers we need to pray for God to deliver us from our troubles,
and daily commit ourselves, our lives,
and all our interests to His disposal.

Psalm 31:3, ‘For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.’

What advice can you offer us here?





I started out saying to you men that we are the prophet, priest and king to our family.

Proverbs 4:11, ‘I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths’

The Lord can say that to us.
Can we say that to our children?





In hindsight we can always look back and know what we could do better.
Let’s start right now, today
With a clean slate and accept the challenge the Lord has laid before us.

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