Direct my footsteps according to your word…  Psalm 119:133

For most of my adult life, I have exercised at least several times each week.  While I’ve tried different types of exercise over the years, my current routine includes walking on a treadmill. Although that may sound boring, the treadmill gives me time to read, pray, and sometimes just reflect.

During one such time of reflection, I happened to glance down at my feet where the tread meets the front of the treadmill.  I have to say that since this is a treadmill my husband bought, I really haven’t paid much attention to it other than learning how to start and stop it.  As I peered downward, I noticed that the brand of treadmill was called PaceMaster.  On days when I really don’t feel like exercising but doggedly pursue the treadmill anyway, it may feel like the treadmill is definitely the master of my paces and I am its slave! 

But it got me thinking.  Who is the “master” of my paces? Am I?  Do I determine my path in life?  Or am I tossed about in a sea of circumstances?  Or as a professing Christian, am I following in the footsteps of Jesus?  Who is the master of my life?  Is it me?  Or Christ?

If you are grieving the loss of someone you love or going through a difficult season of life for other reasons, you may feel you’ve lost your way and are walking around in a state of confusion and despair.  If you are aimlessly pacing up and down, maybe it’s time to stop for a dose of direction.  If you find your footsteps are taking you on a meandering walk through the wilderness, know that God can direct your path.  You don’t have to walk blindly through trying times alone.  If you are not in the habit of reading the Bible, it’s never too late.  The Gospel of John in the New Testament gives us a beautiful picture of how personal and loving Jesus is.  Like the disciple John who wrote the inspired text, we too can follow in Jesus’ footsteps.  Just as our bodies become healthy with regular exercise, our souls can be spiritually healthy when we regularly read God’s Word.  And true to His promises, God will direct our path.

Lord Jesus, thank you for Your Holy Word to me through the Bible.  Help me to pursue You by reading Your Word.  Help me follow in Your footsteps every day, even during seasons of grief.  Direct me on the path of life, love, and wholeness.  Amen.

 
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 Copyright © 2015 by Dawn Dailey.  All rights reserved.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring, I will give this land.”  So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.  From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.  There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.  Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.   Genesis 12:7-9

Abram, later renamed Abraham, was called by God to leave his home and all that was familiar to him to travel to a new land.  Except for his servants and livestock, only his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot accompanied Abram.  He began his journey in obedience to the Lord without a clear vision of the future and pressed forward through many miles and difficulties.  Surely Abram expected a bountiful land that would supply abundantly all he and his family needed.  Instead, he came to the land of the Canaanites, people who were far from God and certainly not open to giving up their precious land to Abram.  He was a stranger in a strange land.  How disappointed and perhaps weary Abram must have felt.  God had promised Abram many descendants who would inherit the land of Canaan.  Even before the promise came to fruition, Abram built an altar to the God who is faithful to His promises.  Instead of getting angry or impatient with God or wallowing in his disappointment, Abram built an altar to God as a way of saying, “I trust You, Lord, even when I don’t know where this journey will take me.”

We, too, are on a journey.  For those of us who grieve, we are on a path of loss and sorrow and we don’t know where this road will take us.  We, like Abram, have to trust that God knows what He is doing.  Our altar is a place where we stop and say, “I trust You, Lord, through difficult circumstances, to a place of peace and healing.”

God Himself comforted Abram with His divine appearance on two occasions in the first nine verses of Genesis 12.  When we feel we are strangers in a strange land, when we sojourn through our grief, we too are comforted with God’s presence as we find Him in His Word and through prayer.

We, like Abram, can thank God in advance for His comfort and for His promises.  Verses like Joshua 1:5 and 1:9 tell us God will never leave us and He will be us wherever we go.  Just as Abram trusted God to be faithful, so we can trust God to be faithful.

Life is a journey, most often into the unknown.  Through new and difficult terrain, may we keep our focus on Jesus who gives us the strength to press forward as He ultimately leads us to hope and healing.  Will you trust the Lord right now in the midst of your grief journey?  Will you build an altar to honor God by choosing to trust Him?

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for the example of Abram, who, though he walked through many difficult circumstances, built altars of trust to You.  As I walk along this journey of sorrow, may I trust You to go before me, to lead and guide me, to comfort me, and to always be with me.  Help me to build an altar of trust in my heart as a sign of my commitment to trust You more and more.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.


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