Don't Step where you shouldn't Step!

Life is like a walk in the shallow waters of the ocean. There is much soft sand, and many safe places for your feet, but there are also many times and places where one wrong step could result in you stepping on something sharp, slipping on something slimy, or getting stung or bit by something unexpectedly.

Ponder the paths of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove your foot from evil.- Proverbs 4:26-27

How do we keep from stepping where we shouldn't step? There is no way to see or predict everything that is under the water when we take a walk in the ocean, and so it is with life. How do we know where not to step? The answer is to be rooted and grounded in Christ.

Yesterday I mentioned that there is a Hebrew word "mote" that means to totter, shake, slip, fall, be moved, be turned aside, be dislodged, or be greatly shaken. (It's not a hard word to remember if you think of our English words, 'demote' and 'promote', which both have 'mote' at their root since both involve moving someone. Be glad your Lord wants to promote you, and not demote you!- Jeremiah 29:11)

King David understood both spiriutal defeat and spiritual victory, and he knew the key to not stepping in places that would cause us to 'mote' (i.e., slip, fall, stumble, be shaken, be dislodged, be turned aside).

I have set the LORD always before me: because [he is] at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Psalm 16:8

Now, look at this mighty prayer of David:

You have proven my heart; you have visited [me] in the night; you have tried me, [and] shall find nothing; I am purposed [that] my mouth shall not transgress.

Concerning the works of men, by the word of your lips (i.e., the Word of God) I have kept myself [from] the paths of the destroyer.

Hold up my goings in your paths, [that] my footsteps slip not.

I have called upon you, for you will hear me, O God: incline your ear unto me, [and hear] my speech.

Show your marvellous lovingkindness, O you that saves by your right hand them which put their trust [in you] from those that rise up [against them].

Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me under the shadow of your wings

Psalm 17:3-8

What walks have you been taking lately in your mind and heart? In your daydreams, your thoughts, your desires? If the Lord spent some special time with you today to discuss the desires and aspirations that you have been pondering most lately, would He find no fault with you? Do you just want God's protection in your life, or do you also want God's will in your life?

Those of us that are God's children are the apple of His eye. Let's do our part to not walk down paths where we shouldn't walk, and not step where we know we shouldn't step, and let's trust our Heavenly Father to protect us from those unseen or unexpected dangers, as we faithfully serve Him under the shadow of His wings.

Yours in Him,

Pastor B.