The steps of a good
man are ordered (fixed, set up, established) by the LORD: and he delighteth
in his way. Psalm
37:23
I listened the other night as a minister explained this
verse in a fresh new way for me. He said the steps of a good man are ordered of
the Lord. The word ordered means fixed or
established. In other words it is already set. The minister said we don’t
have to make the road or the way we simply need the illumination of the Spirit
to show the way. Much like one would travel a highway at night. They don’t have
to build the road they just need the head lights on to see it. God has already
fixed our directions we just need the light of the Spirit to show us the
direction we need to go. God already has the path set and made. The rest of the
verse shows us God must delight or have pleasure in the fact that He has some wonderful
things coming our way. We simply need to get the light of the Spirit shining on
what He has planned.
I have also marked verse 34 and 37. Take your Bible and
breath in this wonderful psalm.
On this note I want to share something I was given almost 30
years ago that was a hand out from a bible class taught by Vesta Mangun. It
called seven ways to continue my hope. I hope you glean as much from this as I
have over the last thirty years. I
have kelp them and studied them and even taught them. I don’t believe they are
the only ways but simply seven things we can do to continue our hope. I have added my own thoughts in with them as
well. I will share the first three this week and the last four next week.
Seven Ways to Continue my Hope
1.
God
accepts us where we are and will help us there!
15 For we do not have a High Priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are,
yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. Hebrews 4:15-16 NKJV
This will have to get in us or we will go
under! My righteousness is as dirty rags but I can bring my hopeless life to
God and He covers my life because of the blood of Jesus. I don’t have to accomplish
some daring feat I simply go to Him, the Lord will touch me where I am and help
me there. The Lord can be touched! Whatever the need, I belong to the Lord of
the house and He will help me where I am at.
2.
Sometimes
resting is better than reaching, trusting better than trying.
I waited patiently for the Lord; and he
inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible
pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my
goings.
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth,
even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the
Lord.
4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord
his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Psalm
40:1-4 KJV
After we have done all we can do, after
praying, after fasting, the next move is God’s move. We can’t do the impossible
only He can. So we call on Him and rest in the fact that The Lord of the House
is in control. T.F. Tenny said, “We praise God for open doors, but we don’t
praise Him for closed doors. A closed door can be as much the will of God as an
opened one.” I challenge you to wait
and see what God will do.
The Shepherd will hear the voice of the
sheep. So take a deep breath and watch God work, wait patiently. Don’t cast
away your confidence.
3.
Whatever
your trial is, God will use it for good, if we will let Him.
And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his
purpose. Romans 8:28 KJV
A.D. Urshan said, “Thank God for anything that makes you pray.”
God will not leave us there to wallow in our
valley; He will deliver us but in doing so the Lord will do a great thing with
the ones whose hope is in Him. It’s God’s way of putting something in our hands
to fight with! Cut the devil’s head off with your circumstance. Use your
circumstances for the Glory of God; use them to come at the devil with a second
wind. The song “All is Well With My Soul,” was written while Mr. Spaford
hung over the rail of a ship weeping because his children had drowned. Thomas
A. Dorsey wrote the hymn “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” while mourning
the death of his young wife and son who died in the child’s birth. While
sitting in the music room of a friend on a Sunday, he thought he was through
with God, he said, “As my fingers began
to manipulate over the keys, words began to fall in place like water drops
falling from a crevice of rock.”
Keep your hope in the Lord. Trust in the Lord at all times.
We will finish these next week.
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