First thing. Note that it is the path of the righteous, not the path of the self-righteous. It is unfortunate that righteousness has such a bad name nowadays. Really the thing that is so unsavory is self-righteousness. Being in the right is not necessarily a bad thing, but most people do not handle it very well.
Recently my wife had a sprained ankle. It is a re-injury. Parts of her ankle and foot have become weak over time. The bones in her leg have shifted. She is having to learn how to walk rightly again with the right support and exercise. This is what righteousness is like. Training. Recovery. The joy of such training is walking rightly. Less pain. Greater freedom and strength.
In this case the freedom is expressed as the coming dawn. I like this quote from Dallas Willard: "As you grow older, the soul beings to function like a storehouse." For most of us, it is easy to store up anxiety and regret and dark thoughts. But I am happy to have even just a little glory being stored up in my life. Sometimes it is something good I was a part of, someone really good that I met, or something wonderful I've seen. I know when I'm on the right path when smaller and smaller things bring greater and greater praise and thanksgiving from my heart and mouth.
Wickedness is like a steamroller over the innocent. We always have such good reasons for it too. In the end it is constant instability and anxiety and frustration. It is not only stumbling, but running into horrible things you never quite expected. It's like bleeding in the middle of a frenzy of sharks. The language of the wicked is complaining and arguing and accusing. It takes less and less to make me more and more frustrated when I'm headed into darkness.
In the end, we will follow our teachers. Into light or into darkness we follow them. It reminds me of a prayer my family says during Advent season: "O Rising Sun, come to us from heaven and shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, and guide our feet into the path of peace."
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