Day 9: The Right Path
“Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.”
We have a hard time considering our own righteousness. Because we know how badly we have blown it in life, the idea that there is good within us feels too bold and presumptuous. But the righteousness of this verse is not something manufactured by the clever inventions of your own imagination and goodness. This righteousness is a right-ness of living birthed out of the surrender of your will and emotions to your Creator.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
This is the Master Craftsman Ephesians speaks about as creating within us something good; something He intended for us to walk in from the time we were born (Ephesians 2:10). In this verse, notice the words “walk in.” Walking requires a path; a direction to go. When you are walking by the Spirit on the path God prepared for you long ago, by definition you are walking in righteousness. When you are living rightly as God intends, you are led forward by the light of health and truth, aligned with the heart of God. Worry, fear, anxiety; a bound up soul that once dominated your thinking, no longer leads you. Your thinking has been transformed to a new pattern; a new pathway – walk in it with confidence and boldness!
A righteous path will show the way, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard! A rear guard is a sentry posted at your back. Why does God’s glory cover our rear guard? When familiar struggles and temptations rise in front of us we are quick to look to our past. In doing so, we become obsessed with our past failures. We easily return to the old patterns left behind. The familiar habits of the past provide a deceptive comfort. If what you see when you turn around is the glory of God, it changes your motivation and keeps you moving forward. You see the glory of what God has done; the glory of how God has changed you; the glory of how God defines you and the glory of how God is transforming you. Oh how glorious God is and how secure your future before you! Be emboldened in your strides forward.
Be led by the righteousness before you – that pathway God has already laid down for you, and if ever you find yourself looking behind you for the way, instead see the glory and presence of Jesus, then turn forward and press onward.