Follow the Leader

Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.

Psalm 143:8 (NLT)

When is the last time you played the game Follow the Leader? I used to play it all the time in elementary school. There was recess time, lunch time, PE time, and after school time to play. Of course, when you’re young, most people would keep their eyes open. Not us, we’d play the game with our eyes closed. It was always fun to see if you could get someone hung up, like walking under a low tree branch that would snag them in the head, or stepping over a curb to see if someone would trip. Of course, as we matured, we played the game less and less. I mean, after all, cool kids wouldn’t do something so silly. We had more grown up sports to play like soccer, or football, or softball. So, Follow the Leader faded into distant memory.

The unfortunate reality is that we often adopt the same attitude when it comes to our daily life. The message most people hear is that you have to carve your own path in life. You have to prove yourself. You have to make it on your own. Except, that’s a lie. Now, hear me clearly, you need to put effort into things (job, friendships, marriage, etc.), but the path we carve is not the best one for us. We actually don’t know the best path to take.

King David, who was the top dog in Israel and had basically everything he could possibly desire, knew a thing or two about the issues of carving your own path (the whole Bathsheba thing comes to mind). It didn’t end well and left him distraught, depressed, and at an all-time low in life. He discovered that following his own desires didn’t actually fulfill him at all.

It’s because of this life experience that David penned our verse a few thousand years ago. He wrote, “Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.” In other words, David was saying, each day I commit to following your lead. It’s not my path I want to walk, but the one which you choose for me.

In our walk as Christians, it’s not about being in the lead, it’s about following the lead of Jesus each and every day. When we rise in the morning, we must give thanks for the blessing of another day. When we climb out of bed, we must commit to following the true Leader. Let Him show us where to walk, when to duck, and when to jump. Let Him lead us through this life and then through the pearly gates of Heaven.

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