Steady Steps

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 119: 5-8 MSG Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course you set; Then I’d never have any regrets in comparing my life with your counsel. I thank you for speaking straight from your heart; I learn the pattern of your righteous ways. I’m going to do what you tell me to do; don’t ever walk off and leave me.

THOUGHT: Regret is a powerful emotion. As a 20-year-old, I remember making my personal motto, “no regrets.” Shame was the enemy, to be avoided at all costs. I really thought I could live that out, but looking back, I don’t think it was even possible. In order to live without regret, you have to make yourself the judge and jury of your actions, rather than comparing yourself to God’s counsel. Now, I’m much more apt to pray that my steps might be steady – it doesn’t sound as sensational, but it’s taking me places that trying to live without regrets couldn’t.

This (long and beautiful!) Psalm says that steady progress on the path God has marked out is the antidote to regret. As the writer watches and listens closely to God, the teacher, trust is growing, patterns are established. The teacher speaks clearly and “from the heart,” and the hearer finds not only the desire to follow but a growing reliance on the presence that helps steady the steps.

PRAYER: Triune God, steady my steps as I watch and listen to you. It is your counsel I desire above all others, to follow the pattern you set out – the patterns you follow yourself. It is your voice speaking from the heart that converts my soul. Never stop speaking, never stop leading, never turn away from me.