He Makes My Way Perfect

Do you have passages of Scripture that you return to over and over again through the years? I love to revisit verses that have carried me through difficult seasons. When I read them again I find new strength as I am reminded of God’s faithfulness to carry me through those difficult times in the past. One of my long-time favorite passages is Psalm 18. It is a declaration of love and thankfulness for the strength and love of God towards us. In my darkest seasons, God has met me in the words of Psalm 18 with vivid descriptions of how He rescues me. It’s beautiful. 

While reading through this familiar passage recently, my soul drank in the words, lingering over familiar lines. I love You, Lord, my strength…He reached down from heaven and took hold of me; He pulled me out of deep waters...but the Lord was my support...He brought me out to a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me...with You I can attack a barrier, and with my God I can leap over a wall...the word of the Lord is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him...

As my eyes continued to scan the passage, I stopped when I came to verse 32: God--He clothes me with strength and makes my way perfect. These words stopped me in my tracks for two reasons. 1. I love the imagery that God clothes me with strength, and 2. He makes my way perfect?

In that moment when I was reading and saw that God “makes my way perfect,” I was honestly questioning the truth of that statement. Like all of us, I’ve had life circumstances that were simply not perfect.

So how did these words fit with the previous verses about the way the Lord hears me and loves me and rescues me? How can my way be perfect when it holds pain or hardship? No sooner had I asked these questions, then it hit me: God doesn’t promise to make my way problem-free (my definition of perfect), but He does promise that it will be the way that is perfect for me. Because God’s character is good and pure, the way He loves is good and pure, too. Though our path may be marked with pain, it becomes part of the story of our lives that He is writing for us and through which He will shine the brightest.

And then the verses of His provision and redemption in the pain came flooding in—He has numbered my days...You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is stayed on You because He trusts in You...I will give you a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness...beauty for ashes...I am making everything new.

It is a wonderful thing to be able to rest in His plan to bring good and beauty from what has been dark or painful.

-Psalm 18: 1, 16, 18-19, 29, 30, 32; Psalm 90:12; Isaiah 26:3; Isaiah 61:3; Revelation 21:5-