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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily

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Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day

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Speaker 1: to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Carol McCracken, and after a short word

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Speaker 1: from our sponsor, will dive into today's Bible verses Psalm

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Speaker 1: twenty five four through five. Today's Bible verses their Psalm

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Speaker 1: twenty five four through five. Show me your ways, Lord,

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Speaker 1: teach me your paths, guide me and your truth, and

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Speaker 1: teach me for you are God, my Savior, and my

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Speaker 1: hope is in you all day long. A few weeks ago,

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Speaker 1: I attended a writer's conference that was held in one

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Speaker 1: of the largest conference centers I've ever seen. Looking at

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Speaker 1: the map my conference packet, I remember thinking this shouldn't

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Speaker 1: be too hard. There were meeting rams, ballrooms, elevators, staircases,

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Speaker 1: and plenty of signs. It all looked organized enough, and

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Speaker 1: I started walking. It didn't take me long to realize

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Speaker 1: the building had grown over the years. One addition connected

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Speaker 1: to another, and then another, and a hallway would suddenly

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Speaker 1: end in a lobby that opened into an entirely different wing.

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Speaker 1: Some elevators stopped on certain floors, but not others. The

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Speaker 1: signs made perfect sense if he already knew where you were.

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Speaker 1: If you didn't, they just made you question yourself even more.

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Speaker 1: The first day, I depended on the kindness of complete strangers.

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Speaker 1: Go through those doors, they said, turn right at the

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Speaker 1: coffee shop. Oh, don't use that elevator, take the stairs instead.

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Speaker 1: Everyone was patient, everyone was helpful. By the end of

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Speaker 1: the day, I honestly thought I had the place figured

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Speaker 1: out now. The next morning I had an appoint what was

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Speaker 1: someone I'd been looking forward to meeting. I left early

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Speaker 1: because I wanted to make a good impression. I took

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Speaker 1: my notebook under my arm and headed out with complete confidence.

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Speaker 1: About five minutes later, I realized I had no idea

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Speaker 1: where I was. I stopped and looked around, convinced something

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Speaker 1: would look familiar if I just stood there long enough.

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Speaker 1: And it didn't. I retraced my steps, and that didn't

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Speaker 1: help either. My confidence disappeared in a hurry, and I

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Speaker 1: could build my stuff, tightening with every passing minute. What

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Speaker 1: bothered me wasn't simply that I was lost. It was

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Speaker 1: that someone had already shown me the way. I kept thinking,

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Speaker 1: you should know this by now. Eventually I stopped another

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Speaker 1: volunteer to admit that I needed help. She smiled as

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Speaker 1: though it were the most ordinary question she'd been asked

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Speaker 1: all day. Pointed me in the right direction, and within

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Speaker 1: a few minutes I arrived exactly where I needed to be.

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Speaker 1: As I walked away from that appointment, later, I realized

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Speaker 1: the only person expecting me to have it altogether was me.

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Speaker 1: The experience stayed with me because I wondered if many

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Speaker 1: of us carry that same expectation into our relationship with God.

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Speaker 1: We assume that after enough years of following Christ, we

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Speaker 1: shouldn't have to ask for directions anywhere. We shouldn't struggle

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Speaker 1: with the same questions. We shouldn't find ourselves saying Lord,

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Speaker 1: I need your help with this again. That's one of

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Speaker 1: reason I love so I'm twenty five. David begins by praying,

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Speaker 1: show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths, guide

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Speaker 1: me and your truth, and teach me the Lord. I've

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Speaker 1: studied that prayer. The more remarkable it comes because of

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Speaker 1: who's praying it. David isn't a young man trying to

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Speaker 1: find his footing here. He's lived with God long enough

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Speaker 1: to have a lifetime of stories to tell. He knows

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Speaker 1: what it's like to wait for promises that don't seem

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Speaker 1: to arrive when you expect them. He knows what it's

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Speaker 1: like to lead people, to make difficult decisions, to experience

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Speaker 1: deep personal failure, and to watch God remain faithful through

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Speaker 1: every season. If anyone could have thought I've learned enough

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Speaker 1: by now, it would have been David. Instead, he asks

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Speaker 1: God to keep teaching him. And I don't think that's accidental.

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Speaker 1: One of the things you notice is you read the

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Speaker 1: Psalms is that David never confuses experience with independence. The

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Speaker 1: longer he walks with God, the less self sufficient he becomes.

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Speaker 1: Years of following the Lord haven't convinced David that he

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Speaker 1: needs God less. They've convinced him he needs God more.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's the heart behind Psalm twenty five.

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Speaker 1: In Hebrew, David uses three different verbs show me, teach me,

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Speaker 1: guide me. Each one adds another layer to the picture.

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Speaker 1: To show is to reveal something that isn't obvious. To

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Speaker 1: teach is the language of a teacher patiently training a

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Speaker 1: student over time, and to guide describes leading someone as

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Speaker 1: they continue walking. David isn't asking for a quick answer

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Speaker 1: to one difficult decision. He's asking God to shape the

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Speaker 1: way he lives. Then he asked God to show him

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Speaker 1: his ways and his paths. Those aren't simply two words

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Speaker 1: for the same thing. God's ways speak of his character,

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Speaker 1: how he works, what he values, and how he accomplishes

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Speaker 1: his purposes. God's paths or where David's own feet will walk.

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Speaker 1: In other words, David isn't simply praying, Lord, tell me

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Speaker 1: which direction to turn. He's praying, help me know you

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Speaker 1: so well I begin walking your way naturally. I've come

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Speaker 1: to think that's one of the biggest differences between information

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Speaker 1: and discipleship. Information answers today's questions. Discipleship shapes tomorrow's decisions.

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Speaker 1: We usually come to God in wanting immediate answers. We

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Speaker 1: want him to point toward the correct hallway so we

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Speaker 1: can get over our lives, and God often chooses something better.

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Speaker 1: He patiently forms us into people who recognize his voice

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Speaker 1: because we've spent time learning his heart. Maybe that's why

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Speaker 1: David prayed this way, even after all those Every new

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Speaker 1: season brought questions he'd never faced before. Being taught yesterday

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Speaker 1: didn't eliminate his need to be taught today. Neither desires.

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Speaker 1: Looking back, I smile about getting lost at back conference

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Speaker 1: because it reminds me how much pressure we put on ourselves.

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Speaker 1: No one seemed surprised that I needed directions. No one

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Speaker 1: made me feel foolish for asking. Again, only I did.

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Speaker 1: I'm grateful God doesn't respond that way. He never says.

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Speaker 1: I already explained that he never grows impatient when we

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Speaker 1: come back asking for wisdom in a new season. Instead,

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Speaker 1: he welcomes the prayer, David, pray thousands of years ago,

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Speaker 1: show me your ways, teach me your paths, and guide

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Speaker 1: me and your truth. If that's still the prayer of

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Speaker 1: a king who walked with God for decades, it's certainly

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Speaker 1: a prayer we never outgrow. Will you pray with me,

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Speaker 1: dear Lord? Is that taking breath? And take this all in.

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Speaker 1: I love it that you're kind to me. Lord. I've

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Speaker 1: been with you a long time, and I'm sure many

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Speaker 1: listeners have too. Relieve us of the pressure that we

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Speaker 1: put on ourselves. Remind us that it's unnecessary that you

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Speaker 1: were there every step of the way. Lord, teach us

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Speaker 1: to be so close to you that we know the

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Speaker 1: sound of your voice and it's guiding and sometimes we

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Speaker 1: still need a little help with direction, and that's okay,

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Speaker 1: even if our hair is turning silver, or even if

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Speaker 1: we have walked with you for a long time. God,

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Speaker 1: you love us, and you show us, and you guide

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Speaker 1: us in love and your precious name. We pray Amen.