Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
Summary: It is possible to get so caught up in where our feet are that we forget where we are going. God has made it simple for us. Love him above all else, and our neighbor as ourselves.
Do you know the best way to mess with somebody’s golf game? I do!
Years ago, when my wife and I were first married, my father-in-law, Dave, would drag me out to the golf course with him and a couple of other buddies to play eighteen holes on Saturday mornings. His preferred time for heading to the golf course was before the birds were awake or the sun had come up. Just as the sun peeked over the horizon, our little troupe would head out to the first tee. No waiting for anyone else to tee off, and no one behind us.
It was an ideal way to play golf if you were fanatically addicted to the game enough to want to get up that early. I am not a golfer, and I certainly did not want to get up that early. But for the sake of family relations, I did.
Dave was a steady, down-the-middle-of-the-fairway golfer. I was a swing-for-a-hole-in-one-every-time golfer. Dave had a lot of laughs at my expense over the years. One of his favorite tricks always caught me off guard. Whenever I was having a good game, he would take me down a peg by giving me a lot of compliments and then asking some innocent-sounding question.
“Nice shot, Jeff.”
“Thanks, Dave.”
“Wow, you got a lot of yardage. You really connected with that one.”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” (I am feeling a little puffed up at this point.)
“Do you breathe in or out when you take your backswing?”
** Silence **
“I don’t know, Dave. I guess I never thought about it.”
After that, all I could think about was whether I was breathing in or out during my backswing and the rest of my game would be a disaster.
Solomon’s advice today reminds me of that feeling I got trying to figure out my breathing and backswing. If I give “careful thought to the paths of [my] feet” will I even be able to walk?
I think that maybe Solomon is being metaphorical again. The “paths” he is talking about are the choices we make in life. The biggest choice is whether we are going to obey God’s first commandment; to love him above all else (Exodus 20: 1-6, Matthew 22: 37-38). After that, every other question in life is about serving God or serving self.
In a sense, when we are careful about the “paths” of our feet, we are doing both. By serving God, we also serve our own best interests. Ultimately, we have to ask ourselves the question, “Where do I want to spend eternity?” If the answer is the “lake of fire” (Rev 20: 14-15) then serve yourself. If the answer is, “I’d like to spend eternity in a wonderful place with my God and Creator,” then it is in our best interest to serve God. After all, he doesn’t really ask that much, just that we love him above all else and our neighbor as ourselves (Matt 22: 37-40).
Application: Ask yourself the question, “What does it mean to love God above all else?”
Food for Thought: How does being “steadfast” help us with the paths we follow?
“Steadfast” : firmly fixed in place : immovable.
1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
aman- to be firm, faithful, true, to trust; have belief; to believe.
If we are steadfast in our Lord how does it not help us glorify God. It helps us choose the right path out of love to our God always looking to Him for the path you should take, even if it’s the path we don’t want to take because of our fleshy desires. It helps us follow Gods will. We don’t know His whole plan but He does. Trust in our Lord. I’m sorry for saying it more like I should say it. Screw how it helps us with the paths we follow, He might want you to take the path through the Blackberries if that’s what he wants then do it. You may never know what the reason was for. But if it delights God then do it. Maybe He has someone waiting on the other side to help you.
Anon-
Interesting point! Proverbs 3:5-6 says,
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”
You are making the point that sometimes God’s ways take us through challenges we would rather avoid. Being steadfast helps us meet those challenges.
Thank you! Well said!
Jeff I’m thankful for your kind and understanding heart. Your always such an encouragement. Keep doing just what you are already doing. Glorifying our God and helping others to do the same by wisdom knowledge and understanding of Gods word.
N.S.A.
Thank you for the kind words! You are a BLESSING to me, too!
🙂
Part of being steadfast means we are devoted to the Lord no matter what the news of the day might be. Since we trust in the Lord, we rely on Him and are committed to Him through all of life’s struggles and joys and everything in between. Psalm 112: 7; James 1: 2 – 4.
Rich,
Thank you for these encouraging words. They are especially needed these days!
03-03-2022, Proverbs 4:26, How does being “steadfast” help us with the paths we follow?
Steadfast is marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable.
We know our salvation is secured by our act of faith, as we by God’s Grace receive the power of the Holy Spirit to live in His Will.
John 1:12-13, Acts 16:30-32, Romans 6:23, 8:2, 10:9-13
Our calling is to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. As a new believer, my first thought was this meant I was to teach all those around me about Jesus. But of course I actually had no idea what I was doing, so the Lord pointed my nose into studying His Owner’s Manual. In time I learned this verse as well as all the verses in the Bible were for study and application to MY life and growth in Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:58
That was a lifetime ago, I am still studying this one Holy Book. I am still working to apply what I am learning to myself first, and Our Lord will occasionally use me to minister with others along the way.
The power to be “steadfast” like all good things comes directly from God. We grow as we regularly provide our spirits with their food, and continue to die to self each day. Serving God, allowing God to work through us causes us to desire more time with Him and builds a quiet determination into our spirits as the powers against us simply lose their relevance and we move forward in the truths of God.
2 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Peter 3:18, Hebrews 5:12-14
Ron,
Amen to “the power to be steadfast comes from God.” I don’t know how we would make it without His support and steadfastness.