Direct My Footsteps..

Hello 👋 😁 & Welcome!

Today’s word is about God directing our footsteps. “Lord, Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.” The reason the Psalmist desires that his steps be kept steady, is so that sin won't get dominion over him.

Psalm 119:133-135 (KJV)

“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.”

The implication exists in the text that it is entirely possible for sin to get dominion over us. Besetting sin must be guarded against in the life of the believer. The text also presents the solution to gaining victory over sin, it is by keeping a steady walk according to the promise of God. We must acknowledge that since the Psalmist speaks in this way about the dangers of sin, that for him, the possibility existed that he might be overcome by his iniquity, and therefore it was necessary that he speak in this way, as a kind of prayer. The thought also exists that the Psalmist since he speaks of iniquity gaining dominion over him, implies that he knows this iniquity well enough to recognize the slippery slope that it offered to him and the danger that surrounded him. It is also possible since he speaks this way, to suggest that he has succumbed to this iniquity previously. He certainly recognizes sin as having the power to gain dominion over him.

The Christian Church is very reluctant to speak about sin today. The reason for this, of course, is because it offends people, especially unbelievers. The power of the Church resides in just how much it preaches about sin and against sin. Failure to do this means that the Church is tickling the ears of people. They feel good about themselves. You cannot help but feel good, if sin is never held up before you as your major problem in life and before God. As long as the Church refuses to preach about sin, its offer of Christ as a Savior is completely hollow and empty. I doubt that there is one sincere and true Christian who would not complain about their struggle with sin. We know that sin is a great and terrible enemy, and we recognize that the power to overcome sin does not reside in ourselves, but comes from God. We also know that any deliverance is through the Lord Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Cross is always available to the believer as a place to renew our repentance and faith. The Christian Church desperately needs to confront sin. Sin in the Church must always be confronted as well as sin in unbelievers. The great danger we face today in the Church is that the tares are existing alongside the wheat in an increasing measure with no call to them to repent and to come to Christ. This is because there is no serious preaching about sin.

The Psalmist relishes the Word of God. It is central to his life. You almost feel that without the Word of God in his life what does he have? That’s right, he has nothing! He cannot help but speak of it. In Psalm 19, the Psalmist prays that God would keep him back from presumptuous sins and that they should not get dominion over him. The Apostle Paul speaks the same word in Romans 6:12-14, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Sin possesses the power to gain dominion. If you give in to sin, it begins to exert its stranglehold upon you. It wants dominion. The nature of sin is to want mastery over us. This is what the Psalmist is concerned about in Psalm 119:133. If his steps are not steady, then sin is going to dominate him. The word for “Steady” means to be established, to have one’s steps directed. It means to be secure, firm and fixed.

What will keep him in this way? He tells us that his steps will be steady, “according to your promise.” God has spoken by His word to the Psalmist. God has uttered his promises to the Psalmist. He knows the Word and as long as he obeys and walks in the way of the promises of God he will be steady. The ground will be firm for him to walk on, for the way will be established by the Lord. His steps speak of his walking one step after another. Walking is a process. He desires that throughout the course of the day that his steps will be according to the Word or promise of God. The supply of God’s promise is a faithful one. He will keep us steady if we walk according to His Word.

We must walk in Christ. Sin is not our master, Jesus is. The writer to the Hebrews gives us the means by which we conquer besetting sins. In Hebrews, we are to consider the saints of God who have trodden the path we are now on (the path the Psalmist walked long ago), but more importantly we are to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He began His work in us and He will complete it in us. He has endured far more than we ever shall, His sufferings were unto death bearing our sins in His own body. He has triumphed and because He lives, we also shall live. So keep steady steps and iniquity will never have dominion over you. Look to Jesus always.

Hebrews 12:2

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

In His Grip,

Pastor Wendy Schenkel