Daily Reading: Psalm 143:7–10
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground. (Ps. 143:10)
A friend recently completed a cross-country bicycle ride of some seventeen hundred miles in thirty days to raise awareness for a charitable cause. As an avid cyclist myself, I was interested in hearing about his experience. How many miles did he ride a day? Was it difficult? Would he ever attempt such a ride again? “What I learned,” he said, “is that it’s not the number of miles you ride but the type of miles that counts. One mile climbing a hill is harder than ten on level ground.”
Level ground is what we crave in life as well as on the bike. One hour spent sitting in the emergency room is more stressful than ten hours spent with friends. Ten minutes of angry confrontation with a coworker is more difficult than ten days of working on an exciting project. It isn’t the number of our days but their quality that counts.
The psalmist gave us a roadmap that leads to a level place: learn to do the will of God. As we grow in godliness, developing the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, and self-control, the Spirit leads us into a place of joy and peace. We experience the reality of the traditional Irish blessing, “May the road rise up to meet you; may the wind be always at your back.”
Choose one fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23) to meditate upon today.
Lawrence W. Wilson is a pastor, author, blogger, and avid cyclist from Fishers, Indiana. He is the author of A Different Kind of Crazy (WPH).
