Walking a Wider Path - Martin Wiles

You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way. Psalm 18:36 NLT

Wide paths make for better walking.

When I hiked in the mountains, I walked on several types of paths. Some were so narrow that one misstep would have sent me pummeling down the mountainside. Others were so wide that I and several others could walk side by side. But most were medium in width. Narrow enough to keep down a crowd but wide enough to make walking less treacherous.

The psalmist was a shepherd and familiar with paths. Broad paths would accommodate him and the sheep without them having to follow him in a single file. But through poetry, the psalmist has more in mind than a literal path.

Life is filled with challenges. What college to attend, which person to marry, which fund to invest in, whether to rent or buy, whether to buy a used or a new vehicle, whether to follow God’s plan or my own, whether or not to have children, how to trust God when life takes a sour turn and makes no logical sense.

In the challenging times, God will broaden my path if I allow Him. He will widen my perspective—which is naturally limited. I can only see what is present at the moment. I can’t even see the rest of the day I’m currently living in. But God? He has lived in the future I haven’t experienced. He can help me see with more than my physical eyes if I’ll seek Him.

God can widen my patience. Challenges tax my patience. Trials push it to the limit. The very things I distaste are what God uses to develop patience in my life. And life will be more peaceful when I learn to walk the wide path of patience.

God can widen my faith. As a believer, this is what I live by. Faith is my trust in a God I can’t see whom I believe directs my life’s path. Though challenges, God builds, develops, and hones my faith.

And God can also widen my endurance. In my own strength, I’ll falter under the least turbulent circumstance. But with God’s help, I can do all things, weather all things, and learn from all things. I don’t live this life with my strength, but with the strength of God’s Spirit residing in me.

Depend on God to widen whatever path you’re walking on. He will never leave or forsake you.

Prayer: Father, whatever path life takes us down, we depend on You to widen it so we won’t slip and fall. 

Tweetable: God can widen your path. 

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