I remember when all four of my kids started to walk. Well…they were trying to walk. It normally started when they accomplished the whole "pulling myself up on something." Once they were standing beside a chair, a table or our leg, they would begin to realize that they had these legs that could potentially take them from point A to point B.
The process, however, in getting from point A to point B proved to be a challenging one for each child. They would take a step, and then fall. After saying in our creepy little adult baby talk words (you know what I mean), “Oh you did such a good job, yes you did,” we would pick them up and get them going again. We would not leave them down because they failed.
Take that mental picture (minus the baby talk), and think with me for a moment about the Christian race that we are running. This Christian race is difficult at times, isn’t it? Do you ever feel defeated because you find yourself on the ground more than you do moving forward? Do you ever get discouraged because you don’t know what your next step is and are waiting on God to show you what is in the future?
Take those struggling thoughts and look at these encouraging verses with me:
Psalm 37:23-24 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
Who is the verse written about? - a good person.
Well does this mean any good person? No, earlier in the chapter, David shows a contrast of the good person and the wicked person. The good person will trust (vs. 3), do good (vs. 3), delight in God (vs. 4), surrender to the Lord (vs. 5), and rest/wait on the Lord (vs. 7). This verse is for you if you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. So what is this verse telling me about the path before me?
The word “ordered” means to be secured or established. You know what this tells me about your future?
1. Your future steps are established by God
It is impossible to know every step ahead that God has planned for us. But we must trust in Him, that each step we take is according to His plans for our life. When we plan our life, we leave God out of the planning. Leave the planning up to Him and trust (as David reminds us earlier) that His way is best.
2. Your future stumbling is handled with grace by God
There will be times that we stumble and fall. But as we fall and look up, we do not have a Father than completely casts us out, but rather helps restore us to Himself. He desires that we come back to Him!
He is able to pick you back up and set you back on the path to continue to learn to walk in Him.
In fact, with Christ, there is now power to keep from falling!
Jude 24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Learning to walk in Christ means that we understand that our steps are established by Him and our future stumbling is handled with grace by our Father.