The Path I Must Choose

[Psalm 25:8–15]

Do you ever feel regret when you look back on the road you've walked in life?
Have you ever thought, “What if I had taken a different path? Would my life have turned out differently? Would it have been better? Could it be that I’ve walked the wrong path?”

When I look back on my own life, I sometimes wonder, “If I hadn’t wandered during my adolescence, what kind of pastor would I be today?”
But really, what good is it to regret the path we've already taken?
It serves little purpose, but even so, I believe there’s value in looking back and learning from the past to reflect on what kind of path we ought to walk now and in the future.

In today’s Scripture, Psalm 25:12, the psalmist David says,
“Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.”
When we consider the path David chose, I believe it was the "path of the righteous" mentioned in Psalm 1:1.
David declares in Psalm 1 that there are only two paths in life: the path of the righteous and the path of the wicked.
The path of the righteous is the path of God’s Word.
Those who walk it delight in the Word of God and meditate on it day and night (v.2).
David, who walked this righteous path, was deeply rooted in God's Word, and because of that, like a tree planted by streams of water, he was continually nourished with the living water from the Word (v.3).

So then, what is the path of the wicked?
It is the path that ignores God’s Word and follows the counsel of the wicked.
The wicked do not strive to live righteously or examine their conscience in light of God's Word; instead, they live according to their own desires and the ways of the world.
As a result, they enter the path of sinners.
Then they sit in the seat of the arrogant—those who deny God.
Such people are not rooted in the Word of God, so they bear no lasting fruit.
The only thing they produce is chaff blown away by the wind.
And like chaff, they eventually fall to the ground.
But even when they fall, they have no seed or substance to take root in the soil.
The wind blows them away again.
In this way, the life of the wicked is always light, unstable, and marked by constant rise and fall.

Although we have two feet, no one can walk two different paths at the same time.
We must choose either the path of the righteous or the path of the wicked.
We must do our best to always choose one clear path—and accept the consequences that come with it.
In life, the two paths are clearly laid out.
So then, what kind of path are you and I choosing to walk?

Today, focusing on Psalm 25:8–15, I would like to reflect on three aspects of the path we must choose, so that like David, we too may choose the path God desires and walk it faithfully.

First, the path we sinners must choose is the path of goodness and integrity.

Let us look at Psalm 25:8:
“Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.”
Here, we are shown two paths that we, as sinners, must choose and walk:

(1) The first path is the path of goodness.

The path of goodness refers to a morally good path.
In other words, the path that we as sinners must walk is the path of “turning from evil and doing good” (Psalm 34:14).
To walk the path of goodness means to turn away from sin and live a life of doing good.

Pastor Tommy Tenney, in his book The God Chasers, said:
“God wants to use your emptiness to transparently reveal His fullness.”
We must empty our hearts of sinful thoughts.
We must also empty our hearts of love for the world, of hatred, of evil thoughts—empty them all.
When we do so, God fills our hearts with His Word and His love.

The path of goodness can also be described as the path of mercy.
In the verse “the Lord is good” (Psalm 25:8), the word “good” refers to God's mercy toward sinners (according to Calvin).
To choose and walk the path of mercy means that, just as God is good (merciful) and does not abandon a sinner like me, we too must not abandon other sinners, but look upon them with the same merciful heart of God.
Ultimately, the path of goodness means rejecting sin but not the sinner—it means forgiving and caring for them with love.
We must have compassion for sinners, just like Jesus, who came to call the sinners.
We must extend mercy to them.
We must not fall into the sin of judging and condemning others based on our own standards.
Rather, just as God has forgiven our sins, we must live a life that forgives the sins of others.

That is why David prayed,
“For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.” (v.11)
Isn’t it amazing?
Even though David was surrounded by enemies who persecuted him with deceit (vv.3–4), instead of exposing their sins, he confessed before God how great his own sin was, and prayed for forgiveness for his great sin.

(2) The second path is the path of uprightness.

In today’s passage, Psalm 25:8, David says that the upright Lord teaches us, and that teaching means we too must be upright like God.
David knew that God is a God who “searches the heart and delights in uprightness” (1 Chronicles 29:17), and therefore, he sought to live uprightly before the God who examines hearts.

So what does it mean to walk the path of uprightness?
Luke 1:6 says,
“Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.”
An upright person lives in obedience to God’s commandments.
Furthermore, just as God leads us sinners on the right path, the upright also lead sinners onto the right path.
That is, they lead sinners to Jesus.
Because it is only through the blood of Jesus that sinners can receive forgiveness.

Secondly, the path that we, the meek, must choose is the path of justice.

Look at Psalm 25:9:
“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.”
Here, the term “humble” refers to those who have received God’s discipline and whose spirits have become humble (Calvin).
When His children sin, God disciplines them in righteousness to make them meek and humble (Park Yun-sun).
Ultimately, David’s heart became meek because he acknowledged before God that he was a great sinner and prayed in repentance for forgiveness.
It is through repentance that our hearts can become meek (humble).
When we, as sinners, do not repent after sinning, God, in His righteousness, disciplines us with the rod of love to make us meek and humble.
Then, God teaches the way of righteousness to hearts that have been humbled.
Thus, we become able to walk in the path of righteousness.

The age we live in today is filled with lawlessness, just as in the time of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 9:9).
In such an age, what kind of path should we choose?
Through God's goodness and uprightness, being instructed by His Word and becoming humble, we grow meek and are able to choose His righteous way.

Third and finally, the path that those who fear God must choose is the path of the covenant.

Look at Psalm 25:14:
“The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them.”
David lived in an era filled with lawlessness and the deceit of his enemies, yet he lived a life that feared God (verses 2 and 3).
That is why he was able to choose the right path (verse 12).
At a time when few people feared the Lord, and many around him “in reality were asleep, wrapped in the weakness of the flesh,” God taught David the path he should choose (Calvin, Park Yun-sun).
That path was the good, merciful, upright, and righteous way.
David walked these paths faithfully and had intimate fellowship with God.
In other words, only those who share intimate fellowship with God can choose the path He desires.

The path we must choose—the path God desires—is the path of the covenant.
That is, the path we must walk is the path of God’s promises.
We must hold fast to His promises and walk by faith along the way He opens before us.
This path is the Lord’s way, the way of steadfast love and truth (verse 10).

Dr. Park Yun-sun said this:
“God’s promises (His covenant) concerning the salvation and blessing of the saints can only be understood by those who fear God. Hypocrites and the unchosen cannot understand them.”
That is true.
Hypocrites and the unchosen do not fear God, so they can neither know nor enjoy the blessings of His covenant.
But we are those who know the way of the Lord’s promises and walk that path with patience and faith.

Therefore, like David, we must fear the Lord and live in intimate fellowship with Him.
In doing so, we must walk faithfully the path of the covenant that God reveals to us (verse 14).

The path we must walk is the path of the righteous, the path of goodness, the path of integrity, the path of justice, and the path of the covenant.
In short, the path we are to walk is the way of the cross that our Lord walked.
This way of the cross is by no means a broad path.
The Bible tells us it is a narrow road.
Denying oneself, taking up the cross given to us, and walking the road Jesus walked—this is the path we must choose.
We must choose this path and walk it faithfully.
To do so, I pray that you and I will always look to the Lord (v. 15).

With a heart of gratitude for the privilege that a sinner can walk the Lord’s path by the grace of God,

Shared by Pastor James Kim
(Hoping to walk to the end the narrow way of the cross that lies ahead)