Strength From God's WordApril 7, 2008
Who Orders for You?
The first prayer I utter each morning is “Lord, order my steps.” Actually I am saying, “Lord, you are in charge.”
How important is this for our daily walk? Some still have small children, while those of us who are older have already reared ours. While our children were young, we would sometimes go to a restaurant to eat. Never did we hand the menu to our children and depend on them to just “order what you want.” They would naturally order the pie, the cake, the ice cream, etc., and never order the things that were really good for them.
The prayer, “Lord, order my steps today” or “Lord, I really do not know what is best for me today. I will depend on you to order for me” is a “catch all” prayer. This prayer will include praise for all the good things that occur in our day, and also eliminate all the gripes about what we may feel are the bad things.
Sometimes the bad things may actually be the good things. For instance, have you ever griped when you overshot your exit and said, “Why did I do that stupid thing?” when God replies, “I caused it, because if I had not done that and you had gone on your usual way, you would have met up head on with an 18 wheeler.”
Let’s just praise the Lord. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” (Psalm 37:23 NKJV) You don’t need to “watch your steps” if you have already turned them over to the Lord at the beginning of the day and continue to trust Him to guide you throughout the day. God promises to guide [watch] your steps when you give Him the opportunity and commit to follow Him.
-- Bill H. Lewis
Note: Bill H. Lewis is father to Journey To Orthodoxy's Nathan Lee Lewis. Reverend Lewis is a Southern Baptist Pastor living in Arkansas, USA.
Keep working on him. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour Dad wouldn't let you kids choose your own meals at restaurants? Wow, how controlling. If you asked for dessert all he had to do is say "later, choose a meal, first." Personally I find that appalling.
ReplyDeleteOkay "Anon". Your point is taken but it is out of context with the illustration. I don't remember being constrained in that way at restaurants. In fact I don't ever remember eating at a restaurant with my family as a child. But if we did, it was a treat. Even when traveling on vacation we brought our food...picnic style. If my parents restricted our choices in ordering it was more likely due to financial constraints. Southern Baptist pastors in the 50 and 60s didn't make a lot of money and we had a family of six. My father was from a family of 12 and came through the Great Depression. When my brother was born my father brought his own eggs to the hospital and asked a local restaurant to fry them for him. They did. I am sure he would have loved to have allowed his children to order what they wanted, but he is right, children don't act maturely and must have direction. Thus my father's point; We are in need of God's direction. Point well taken?
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