The Way of the Righteous

Just what is the way of the righteous?

“⁵Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.”

— Psalm 37:5 (ESV)

And there you have it. The way of the righteous is to commit to the Lord and to trust Him.

As a christian, the way of the righteous is the way that I should be going. I have to strive to be righteous in hopes that I will measure up when the time comes for me in the presence of God and the judgment. I am to be committed to the LORD and trust that He leads me in the path He would have me go. I have to remember and understand that it is His will, not mine that takes we there.

“⁶for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.”

— Psalm 1:6 (ESV)

There are different paths to take in this world, and where they seem to lead to the good, it is not the way of the righteous. There is the path of positivism. There is the path of empowerment. There is the path of being good. Each of these can seem to get thing done and move you in the right direction. But, they will fade if they are not rooted in the LORD. Each of these when they come from us are simply not enough to overcome.

Now, I am not saying that it is not worth it to be positive, empowered, and good. It is certainly part of the will of God to be so. The thing that I have found in my study of God’s Word is that these are products of committing to the way of the Lord. These in and of themselves do not get us to the way of the Lord. These come from the way of the Lord. We cannot force ourselves into being righteous. I will also say that where we cannot force it, it is not a bad place to start.

When we are positive, empowered, and good we will see some results for sure. We will certainly move forward and things will fall in place for us. The thing is that it will not always fall into place and without being rooting in God, there will be limited if any staying power. As soon as things take a turn away from the direction you want them to go, there will be failure that is difficult to overcome.

The way of the Lord is full of staying power. I may get down when things do not go my way, but when I know that I can count on the goodness of God, I am able to keep going as everything is in His plan. I may not reach my destination when I wanted to, but the LORD knows that has I done so, I may have missed another opportunity that would make the destination just that much sweeter. I may experience loss as a result of life, yet I would be able to see the good that is because of it.

“The LORD knows the way of the righteous” and where I am not sure if I measure up, I have to continue to commit my “way to the Lord”. I am committing to leading a life with Him as my example. I am committing to the path He has for me. I am committing to all that comes. I have to remember that Jesus did not have it easy. He was persecuted way beyond anything any of us will experience. He worked daily to bring God’s Word to all even as He was spit on, beaten, and even killed. I may not be killed, but the way of the LORD will not be easy, yet it is worth it.

What way are you going? Are you taking the positive, empowered, and/or good way? What if you took the way of the LORD and allowed Him to provide the results?