It Matters How You Get There
Following a pause for reflection (the “Selah” at the end of verse 7), the Lord takes over the speaking in this Psalm. Up to this point, it has been David confessing and extolling the blessings of being a forgiven man. What the forgiven man needs is God’s guidance. David’s slowly walked himself into his most devastating sin by first being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He didn’t set out to commit adultery with Bathsheba and have her husband killed, but that is the path he went down, and it started with his first misstep. Forgiveness was no guarantee he wouldn’t err again. He needed God’s instruction.
God isn’t interested in forced compliance. “Be not like a horse or mule…” A horse’s nature is to run away. A mule’s nature is to stubbornly refuse to move. Both have to be forced to do what their masters demand of them. It takes a bit and a bridle. They submit. By that I mean they do what they are told by their master’s hands’ pull on the reigns. Physically obeying while their heart is walking a different path.
The Lord desires our submission and obedience to be from the heart. He wants you to learn from Him “the way you should go,” and walk in it. He doesn’t want to drag you along. He wants you to walk joyfully and willfully alongside Him.
He cares about getting you there, but He also cares about how He gets you there.
