A Bend in the Route

I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. – Psalm 32:8 (NRSVUE) 

On a Friday night when other plans fell through, we decided to order from an Asian fusion restaurant that was new to us. I had a vague sense of where it was, but I put the address into the map app on my phone. About halfway there, holding the phone in my hand in the passenger seat, I glanced down. The longest road on our route lay before me, and although I have driven on it many times, I had no idea that such a dramatic bend lay ahead of us. 

If you are anything like me (born in the waning Baby Boomer era), you probably grew up in church hearing you ought to walk a straight path, through a narrow gate. Certainly those images abound in scripture. But the way of Jesus is so often a reversal of expectations. Whose voice are we listening to?  

In Psalm 32, we hear the voice of David, confessing his sins, but in verse 8 the perspective shifts, and we hear the voice of the Holy One. David has done wrong, but God still loves him. Their relationship remains intact. 

Those moments of recognition—those moments when we acknowledge doing what we should not have done or not doing what we were meant to do—can take us to a place that feels new, a deeper connection to God. God will still teach and counsel us even when we have messed up, guiding us to a new way of being. 

This Lent, let’s look for that bend in the route.  

Prayer
Holy God, you know where we are going, even when we do not. Counsel us, we pray. Amen.

About the Author
Martha Spong is a UCC pastor, a clergy coach, and editor of The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle, from The Pilgrim Press.