Ps 37:23 - The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delights in his way.
As we stand on the threshold of a new year some of you may be setting goals and that is a good thing. The difficulty I have found, however, is not with the goal setting, but with the goal keeping. I had a friend of mine who always said (before he was born again) that he would make a New Years resolution on the 1st of January and before January 31st arrived, he had broken it.
I was meditating on the above scripture and thinking about how it applies to my life. I have made many steps in life and realized (sometimes too late) that they were not good steps for me. I tried to be a good person, do the right thing, be the right type of son, brother, friend and oftentimes failed at those endeavors. However, when I made Jesus Lord of my life and bowed my heart to Him, things changed. No, they didn't become perfect over night, but the capacity to make right decisions and carry them out to completion was now possible. What happened? The Lord began to order my steps.
What does that mean exactly? I began to listen to Him and follow His direction as He spoke to my heart, both through His Word and the witness of the Spirit of God in my life. Even though we have the word and the witness, we will still miss it and make mistakes and thats okay as long as we grow from the experience. There is a saying that goes “the bad thing about a mistake is when you don't learn from it.
Sometimes we learn from our mistakes and we are too hard on ourselves with the lessons we learn and it ends up incapacitating us. In other words we lose the will or desire to go on as a result of what we have done. That should never be the case.
The scripture above tells us that God orders our steps and we take pleasure in the path the Lord has chosen for us. Our serving the Lord should be enjoyable. Our walk with Him should be enjoyable. Our life in Him should be enjoyable.
He orders our steps, but following those steps has a lot to do with our working in partnership with Him.
As we start this New Year, let's make more of an effort to partner with the Lord and allow Him to order our steps – the way you go as a result will be more delightful.
With Purpose,
Dr. Brian K. Hayes
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