#094 – The Request Concerning My Steps

THE REQUEST CONCERNING MY STEPS

Psa. 119:133 “Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.”

The guidance of the Lord is of primary interest in the Christian’s life. I am afraid that many christians do what they want to and at the end of the day say, “God how do you like that?” As if they expected God to rubber stamp what they do. If you do that, you are operating on the same principle as the world. God does not rubber stamp what He does not order.

The Psalmist clearly declares his need and desire of the Lord’s guidance. Let’s look at three things about this request.

THE ORDER REQUESTED

The Psalmist says, “Order my steps in thy word.” The word “order” translates the Hebrew word “kuwn” and means, “to establish, to fix, make ready, direct toward (moral sense), to arrange.”

We are not born in this world to know the right way for our lives. Adam’s transgression fixed that for the whole human race. For a person to be right with his Creator, he must know what He wants. So we have the wise request to “Order my steps in thy word.”

This is not the same as saying, “Lord make me do right whether I want to or not.” There are those who would like for God to turn them into robots so that they would not have to make moral choices. Right choices get one into trouble with those around the ones who make wrong choices. The right always exposes the wrong and the right suffer criticism and persecution from those who are made uncomfortable. So there are those who don’t want to make choices that get them into trouble.

The Psalmist is wise and solicits God’s help in the ORDER of his life. We need to do the same. When we were saved we were brought into a spiritual kingdom and Jesus is King in His kingdom. We need His guidance. We need His ORDER for our lives. Next lets look at,

THE GUIDE TO BE USED

The Psalmist says, “Order my steps in thy word.” The Word of God is the standard of conduct for the Christian. The Word of God is under attack. The many different translations that have flooded the market is a front line attack. Is the Bible the verbally inspired inerrant Word of God? Now think for just a moment. If God so inspired and superintended the writing of the Bible so that there are no mistakes, how can there be scores of translations out there that do not say the same thing?

What does the Bible claim for itself? Now some will pass this off with some remark or the wave of the hand. It is easy to bury ones head in the sand and be intellectually dishonest in this matter. 2 Peter 1:21 says, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” Now lets notice what this verse says:

1. The Word of God is not declaring the will of man: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.” That is a simple and understandable statement, i.e., the Word of God is not man’s idea.

2. The ones who spoke the Word are called “holy men of God.” God is the one who calls them holy. They are not men whose denomination gave them sainthood or exalted them to a position of honor. God said they were holy men.

3. These holy men of God Spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The word “spake” means, “to utter by speech.” I believe this means that most of the Scriptures were vocal utterances that were later written down and recorded because the truths declared are timeless. They are for all generations.

4. The words “were moved by the Holy Ghost” translate “phero” and means, “to move by bearing; move or, to be conveyed or borne, with the suggestion of force or speed of the mind, to be moved inwardly, prompted.” Peter is saying here that the holy men were moved inwardly, prompted by the Holy Spirit to give out the Word of God. This makes holy men INSTRUMENTS but not the SOURCE of the Word of God. Peter says, “though men were used to give us God’s Word, the SOURCE was God Himself.