I SHALL INSTRUCT YOU AND TEACH YOU THE WAY TO GO

159th Meditation

 “I shall instruct you and teach you the way to go; I shall not take my eyes off you” (Ps. 31:8).

Our Father’s ways are perfect and, as long as we listen and follow His instructions, we will not go astray. 

Could it be otherwise? Our Father, who created us and redeemed us, calling us to His Eternal Kingdom, will He not lead His own along the right path? It would be impossible to imagine that He would not, since God is faithful and loves us with an inexpressible love. He would never betray His love nor would he play with our feelings. In the Person of His Son, He opened for us the sure way to Him (Jn 14:6). Did He not show us His unsurpassable love on the Cross? When we betrayed His love, did He not respond with an even greater love? Did He not establish His Church as Teacher for all peoples?

All this our Father has done in His love for us, and He sent us His own Son to point the way to Himself. Just as He delivered His people Israel with a strong hand from oppression in Egypt and led them through the wilderness to the Promised Land, so the Lord delivers all from the bondage of sin and the tyranny of Satan, and leads them through time to their Eternal Homeland, provided they listen to His voice.

The gracious eyes of God watch over us, and nothing escapes His gaze. Everything that concerns us is important to Him. There is nothing that seems too insignificant for Him not to take loving care of it. Just as a mother never loses sight of her little child nor can she take them out of her heart, so does our loving Father care for us.

“If my father and mother forsake me ,

the Lord will gather me up” (Ps 26:10).

The verse of the psalm we have heard today assures us that, in the midst of difficult times, the Lord leads His own along safe paths and accompanies them day and night. No one can snatch His sheep out of His hand (Jn 10:27), and they can be sure that the Lord will always guide and instruct them, and that His counsel will never fail. When they call upon Him, He will listen to them (Ps 33).