Isaiah 48:17-18 (NLT) This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.

There have been movies, cartoons and books with the theme of someone who found a treasure map and who then goes on an adventure to find the treasure. In order to be able to find it, the person has to follow the directions on the map perfectly. Sometimes there are challenges and obstacles along the way but if the person stays the course, they eventually find the treasure.

Following directions is something that we do on a daily basis. Whether you are going to drive to work or whether you are going to take a trip, there are directions that you must follow to get there. If you veer off of the right path, you will not reach your desired destination. Many Christians are careful to follow directions but have not fully learned to follow God's direction. God has a path for each one of us that He wants us to follow according to His will and plan for our lives, but we have a tendency to go off the path that He selects for us in order to go on our own path. Every time that we do that, we are either going to lose a lot of time or worse, we can get into a lot of trouble. The last thing that we should do as followers of Christ is to not follow Him to go where we think and feel that we should go. The Israelites had a history of doing that and in the passage of scripture above, the Lord is reiterating that he has a path for His people and it is one that leads to good things in our lives. The Lord then laments because His chosen people had not obeyed or followed the path that He had laid out for them. The result was that they forfeited their peace and their opportunity to live upright lives. The Israelites, God's chosen people, have a very sad and tragic history, and it's all because they refused to listen to the Lord and did not follow His commands. They refused to follow God's lead and wound up in exile, with many of them losing their lives.

Today, we have an opportunity to allow God to lead us in the paths that we should follow. We have an opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to teach us what is good for us and to learn the ways that lead to life to full measure. Any other path that we take outside of God's will is a bad risk and usually winds up causing a lot of pain and sorrow. We not only have history to teach us what happens when God's people decide to go their own way but we also have our own bad experiences, which have come when we have done the same thing that the Israelites did when they went their own way. Let's allow our Redeemer, our holy and righteous Heavenly Father, to guide us along the right path that leads to righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Then we will have no regrets and will reach the treasure that the right path leads to, which is eternal life in the presence of God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Pastor Joey Vazquez