The map of life is a network of roads; and the broadest and those that present themselves most readily to the eye are not generally the best, and the narrow ones are very hard to find, while every heart is naturally bent to its own way wayward.
I. Notice, first, the Teacher. And here we find at once the Three Persons in the Trinity, all uniting to make the one office of Teacher. David, addressing the Father, says, " Teachme to do Thy will;" of Christ Nicodemus bare witness, "We know that Thou art a Teacher come from God;" and of the Holy Ghost Christ Himself foretold it as His blessed office, "He shall teach you all things." So the teaching enshrines itself in Trinity.
II. The expression is not "Show me Thy way," but "Teach me Thy way." Showing may be an instantaneous act, but teaching is a process. We learn gradually; we learn by study; we learn by effort; we learn by discipline. It is no little thing you ask, and it is no little submission and work and faith that you commit yourself to, when you say to God, "Teach me Thy way."
III. One of the most difficult things in life, and a difficulty often repeating itself, is a distinction between a leading providence and a temptation. Never accept anything as a providence till you have asked God to throw light upon it, to show whether it be indeed of Him. You may, through the not seeing or through the not using all the answers which God will assuredly give you, make mistakes in life; but if you are diligent in the use of this little prayer, you may say, with David, "I shall not greatly err."
J. Vaughan, Sermons,11th series, p. 5.