Only you can walk the path you are on. I wish it was different. I wish someone could walk it for you or perhaps make it just a little bit easier. For years I have wished that my path could be a different one. Perhaps I made a wrong turn. Perhaps there is something I need to do to get on the right path. As much as I wish the path looked different, only I can walk this path. And only you can walk the path you are on.
It is often said to those who dream of the greener pasture that those who may look happier may not actually be. Whatever we have to go through in life, nobody can walk it out for us. Those with different circumstances still have to live out the frustrations, burdens, disappointment, and grief that comes with life. No amount of better circumstances can save us from this.
Nothing we do can spare us from having to walk out the path. Your journey is uniquely yours.
This week I was reminded of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knew where the path He was on was going and the night before it got really hard, He desired two things: community and another possible way. He asked his closest friends to stay up late with Him as He prayed. They were close by but they all fell asleep. And if there was any other way for God to do what He was about to do through Jesus, I am sure He would have made another path. But Jesus feeling alone was about to embark on the single most difficult event in all of human history. Only He could walk that path.
I often go back to scripture when God says that He will not lead us in things that are too difficult for us. But so often the things of life are unbearable. It would seem that just making a new path would be easier. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when God delivers us, heals, or provides. But even in those times we still have to walk through the pain, the confusion, and the questions. God never spares us from the process.
I am on a portion of this path that makes absolutely no sense to me. The path only looks vaguely familiar. I have to remember that I got on this path because I was following Jesus and this is the path He was walking. I am tempted to wonder if I got lost or possibly He lost me. All I know is that this path is not the one I thought it would be.
Peter comes to mind. He would have given anything to follow Jesus. But He soon found himself in circumstances that didn’t make any sense. And through this path, He found Jesus again on the journey. And to be honest, the interaction between Jesus and Peter at this point never really made sense to me. In seeing this movement from John 13:36-38 to John 21:15-19, it is not enough to see Jesus meeting with Peter again as simply Jesus reinstating Peter. It is also not enough to see the juxtaposition of Jesus using the Greek word for love that conveys sacrificial love while Peter only uses the word for love that refers to relational bonds. The mere fact that Jesus asks the question of Peter’s love using sacrificial love only points to the previous occasion in John where Peter said that he would give his life for Jesus.
So in paraphrasing the Greek language, it is as if Jesus asks Peter in John 21, “Will you give your life for me?” And Peter responds, “Yes, I will walk with you.” In the appearance that they are talking past each other, Jesus actually responds to Peter as if Peter had answered, “Yes, I will give my life for you.”
Through this interaction, each time Peter responds with, “You know.” Jesus, in fact, did and also does know Peter’s heart. In essence, Jesus asking Peter three times is the way of Jesus confirming with Peter, “Yes I know your heart, and I knew your heart while you denied me, and it is for this reason that I am asking you to do the very thing that you said. I am asking you to lay down your life for me by laying it down for my sheep.”
This passage in John continues to be intriguing. The third time Jesus asks Peter the question, Jesus actually uses the word for love that conveys relational love instead. It would seem that Jesus’ point to Peter was driven home. Peter’s response is so much more gut wrenching. It is as if the deep love of Peter’s heart was now reflected. Although Peter did not respond with the word for sacrificial love, he expresses this idea from his heart. At the end of the interaction, Jesus then confirms for Peter, “Yes, Peter, you will give your life for me.”
So it is not until this point that Jesus actually confirms for Peter that what Peter said he would do (chapters before hand in John 13) will actually happen. It took this whole time for Jesus to validate Peter’s heart and intention.
Jesus could have just told Peter all of this ahead of time. Jesus could have mapped out the exact path of the journey for Peter. But there is something only the long journey down that path can teach us. The destiny and the journey are inseparable.
I wish I knew what part of this path I was on. I wish I knew ultimately where this path is going. But what I do know is that nobody can walk it for me. I have to trust that the Lord hasn’t forgotten this path I have set on. I have to trust that He is in control in ways I do not understand. I have to trust that if I respond to God with all that I have left, that it is enough for God to meet me here on the path.
God spoke something to me very early on this journey, “I am with you and will never leave you.” I hold onto this as I continue down the path.