Following the One Who Knows the Way

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Posted by: Megan Sweitzer, Social Media and Podcast Assistant | Monday, January 5th, 2026 (12:00am)

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.—Psalm 25:4-5   

Welcome to the new year!      

I’m grateful for another year, excited and eager to see all that God is going to do, and yet I don’t like thinking about the future. All this talk about New Year’s resolutions; how to make this year better than the last and setting expectations for the year ahead. I’m not a dreamer, so I wrestle with this conversation. Add to that all the demands we’re coming out of from the holiday season—work obligations, church commitments, Christmas shopping (making sure I didn’t forget anyone!), getting to all the gatherings...trying to think of ways to improve myself, my family, and my life sounds exhausting! The last thing I want to do is create a plan for yet another thing I need to achieve. Maybe you can relate.  

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a good to-do list (I just don’t need more on it!). And I do deeply admire people who are ambitious about their New Year's resolutions. However, when it comes to achieving more and adding more tasks to my plate, for me it feels less like growth and more like noise. So this year, I am praying this simple prayer from Psalm 25 to help release me from my “resolution paralysis.”        

Originally a psalm that David wrote, Psalm 25 is a prayer for guidance, protection, trust, and patience; all things I need to be reminded of as I transition from one year to another:  

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

How comforting! In all the hustle and bustle of the season, the new year begins with excitement, nervousness, exhaustion, and yet, this verse provides reassurance that I don’t need to make my own path. I don’t need to lead myself. I don’t need to hope in myself, in my own strength, in my own will, because I have hope in the Lord. Without looking to Him, I am paralyzed in the unknowns, stuck in the exhaustion of life, and consumed with the full schedule I have. If I look to myself, I have no direction, no way to achieve my goals, and no clear path to pursue. I need Him to show me the way, to teach me the plan He has for me this year. If I don’t want to be disappointed and heartbroken, then my trust must always be in Jesus, nothing else. Because his Word is the source of life and hope in everything.  

So as you begin a new year, when new expectations begin to feel overwhelming—whether they come from within or from others—look to Jesus. Psalm 25 gives us permission to let go of our own plan, our own way, our own path, and to focus on the One who is ultimately in control. Find rest in knowing that as you pray, worship, and spend time in His Word. He will faithfully make His plan for you clear in the days ahead.

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