The Good Shepherd leads His sheep beside still waters. He restores their souls. He leads them in paths of righteousness. But those paths of righteousness are not always smooth. Walking with God may even be difficult, at times.
As Kid President put it, when you take the road less traveled, it is HARD. There are stones and thorns; it is not easy. And as he states in this video, which I often quote, “Not cool, Robert Frost!” The poem by Robert Frost, included below, is a picturesque description of what God first described in Matthew 7:13-14.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matt. 7:13-14)
Our first choice would not be a path that we know is more difficult. Yet I would rather walk with God through challenging times than walk alone on a smooth path.
The same God that leads us beside still waters also accompanies us through the valley of the shadow of death. We need not fear. He is our comfort.
Think back over your time of walking with God... we can see how He never left us, no matter how many times we stumbled or fell. We grow through the hard times. And our choice to continue to walk with Him makes all the difference.
Lord, direct my path beside still waters, please. But if I must traverse a valley or survive a defeat, endure a hardship or face my enemies, may I always remember how You, the Good Shepherd, faithfully walk with me on the road less traveled. And You have made all the difference.
The Road Not Taken/Less Traveled, by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.