The invention of GPS has made getting lost and uncommon experience. GPS was a great invention because no one likes getting lost. It can feel like you’ve been punched in the gut or a sinking feeling in your throat like when you swallowed something that hasn’t been chewed properly. Twenty years ago, I had a job as a Field Representative, before there were Google maps and GPS. I carried a Thomas Brothers guide in my car and spent hours looking up addresses and charting courses. I got lost a lot and there were many instances when I finally arrived at my destination and thought to myself, I made it!

David said in Psalm 25, “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths” (Psalm 25:4). The path David was referring to was “a marked-out, well-traveled course” (734). In a way, you could say that David was asking the LORD to be his GPS system, telling him when to make a right or U-turn. David had recently become king of Israel and realized that his lack of experience in making decisions could be a problem. He wanted to make sure he didn’t get off course in the role God had given him.

David said, “The meek will he guide in judgement: And the meek will he teach his way” (Psalm 25:9). David was probably thinking about Moses when he wrote this. Moses was described as being very meek, “above all the men which were upon the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). The word translated meek, ͑ânâyv (aw – nawvˊ) literally means to be depressed in mind or circumstances. “Anayv appears almost exclusively in poetical passages and describes the intended outcome of affliction from God, namely ‘humility’” (6035).

I think it is interesting that people that don’t know the Lord are described as being lost. I think it is because inside every person is the sense that life is a journey. We are all travelers on the pathway of life, but not everyone knows where they are going. When a person accepts Jesus as his or her Savior, it is like the street lights get turned on and you can begin to see in the dark. You know there is a road and that you will eventually reach your intended destination, but you have no clue how or when you will get there.

David was aware of his destiny or the destination that God had planned for him. After he became king, David realized that every step he took mattered. When he said, “Teach me thy paths” (Psalm 25:4), he was basically saying, guide me every step of the way. The word translated teach, lâmad (law – madˊ) means to goad or hit with a rod. Rather than teach, David could have said cause me to learn (3925).

When David became king, I’m pretty sure he thought to himself, I made it! But then, he realized, now I have to do my job and I have no clue how to be a king. God wants us to realize that we are helpless without him. Humility is knowing that you are entirely dependent on God. He can see and understands everything. There is nothing that He hasn’t already experienced and He wants to help us. All we have to do is say show me and He will.