The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
Summary: Describing something you cannot see or touch is an enormous challenge. God wants us to understand the difference between life and death. He wants us to avoid death and choose life.
How do you describe something that you cannot touch or feel? It is challenging! In his nighttime conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus said —
“I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (John 3: 12)
How indeed?
In the next verse, Jesus points out something that should be obvious, but is not —
“No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.”
Jesus knows what life is like on the other side of the grass. He knows that life in the flesh is not all there is. In fact, it is a tiny part of all there is. Outside of our personal experience with our own spirit, we are blind to the things beyond this world, except for what the Holy Spirit reveals to us.
Solomon has the same problem. God has given him wisdom beyond measure (1 Kings 4:29). He can see things no one else has seen. The challenge is explaining what he sees to the rest of us.
The path of the righteous is like… what? How would you describe it?
The righteous are people who are right with God. The righteous walk paths that God approves of. The righteous walk in accordance with the words of God’s prophet Micah:
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)
Getting back to Jesus and Nicodemus, Jesus explains how this relates to light:
“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3: 20-21)
Today’s passage is a good description of my own experience. In my youth, I walked in darkness. I could not see what all the fuss was about, nor could I see the dangers that surrounded me. Slowly, I saw the light. Eventually, I started reading the Bible every day. The Bible shed more light on my world and my understanding increased. These days, it feels like the sun is shining “ever brighter.”
Application: Here is a bright idea: Do some “light” reading in the Bible every day!
Food for Thought: Give examples of the paths the righteous might take.
It reminds me MLKJ quote talking about how darkness cannot drive out darkness “only light can do that”. I appreciate the words this morning and I too recognize how blind we can become, if we are not allowing the Son and his light to penetrate all of our being.
Mr. B —
Thank you for chiming in! I like the MLKJ quote – so true!
I’m not sure if I am reading the question correctly; I believe an example of the path the righteous might take would be to follow the commandments. Although following the commandments will not bring you salvation, they are God’s Word and following them with a heart that desires to serve God I believe will bring you closer to Him. Not only the commandments from the old testament, but also the two greatest commandment that Jesus spoke of in John Chapter 3. Following those two are an example of a path to righteousness. Having said that, and reading how Jesus spoke of how we should be toward God and each other, I think doing as Jesus did and said to do would also be an example of a path to righteousness. I think the important thing to remember is that we cannot achieve righteousness on our own, it must come from God. We talk about the path, I believe the path is the willingness to humble ourselves, read the scripture, and listen for God’s leading.
Chris,
You understood the question just fine. 🙂
You are right; we cannot achieve righteousness on our own, but we can put on the righteousness of Christ, and we can do the occasional righteous act. Both are worthy of our time.
Psalm 1 tells us the path not to take and compares it to the path of the righteous. The righteous delight in the law of the Lord, they meditate upon that law day and night, the Lord guards their path and they live fruitful lives. It is clearly the better path.
Rich,
Thank you for the reference to Psalm 1. David provides an excellent summary of the two paths we are discussing.
02-23-2022, Proverbs 4:18, Give examples of the paths the righteous might take.
Psalm 23:1-3, The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
We remain on earth to be light in the darkness of this world as we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the one and only path of righteousness, Jesus Christ.
Matthew 5:16, Colossians 1:12, 3:1-25, Romans 14:6-8,
Ephesians 5:20, 6:6-7, 1 Peter 4:11
Ron,
You speak to an important point this morning: Why are we still here? Our lives are the oil and Jesus is the light. Our job is to allow Jesus to illuminate us so that we can shine his light in the world.
Give examples of the paths the righteous might take.
The righteous might take a narrow path but I think that they would try to stay on a well lit path. A path that is well lit by themselves, the Holy Spirit, other believers, but ultimately by God.
One path that would be a great path is the one that would help others to go in the same direction.
Psalm 119:35
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
It’s nice to Know that you can ask God to make you go down the path of righteousness. I can only imagine looking back how some of our paths must look like those footprints down the beach in the sand, sometimes going through the roughest terrain, swamps, long deserts, a huge thorn brush ( when you could have walked around it.) Even when the footprints stop and then there’s a long line where God dragged us kicking and screaming. Sorry Maybe I’m just describing my path and getting sidetracked.
There’s also what you do down the path you take, but I think that’s another 3MB question.
Tim,
I love your description of the path! In my mind’s eye I see a path marked by the Lord’s Light shining from the faces of the believers we meet along the way. It is a beautiful vision. Thank you!
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