- Ordered Steps
Psalm 37:23
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord:
And he delighteth in his way.
First, one must be a good man to enjoy this promise, but no one is good, not one; Jesus says, “No one is good except God alone. “ (Luke 18:19). The only good man upon earth must be the one in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily, that is, Jesus of Nazareth. Only He could be a good man, and He is so kind and strong He shares that goodness with us and makes us who believe in Him “good men.” Now by faith I can say I am good, in Him. Therefore, I can claim this promise: the Lord orders my steps.
God has a good plan for the lives of all His children; their steps are ordered by the Lord, meaning there is order, purpose and point to the steps we take and to the direction we go. Life is not random, empty or pointless. There is a purpose and an order. God makes order out of chaos; God makes something out of nothing. When we admit we are nothing, when we admit that our lives are in utter chaos and when we admit that we are not “good men,” then we are repenting and turning to Christ in faith; repentance and faith is worked in us by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel.
Once that conversion, the turning from self to God, is complete the Holy Spirit proceeds to order the steps and make sense of life. We do not always see the sense or the way the Lord is ordering our steps while we are on the way putting one foot in front of the other. But there are times that we can see God’s ordering when we look back over the path we have traveled. But whether we see it or not the promise is still valid and there is order to the steps we take.
But there is yet more to this promise: the Lord is delighted in the way we are walking. God is not only ordering the way we walk; He also enjoys watching us walk in His Way. The Lord God, our Father, is very interested in what happens to us, where we go, the decisions we make and how our life is turning out; and He enjoys us. Like a father takes great delight in watching his children be successful in something they have been working on or practicing together; a father enjoys seeing his children enjoying happy lives; so does God our heavenly Father. He takes special delight in seeing that our way turned out to be blessed. We give God pleasure when we walk His way, and it makes us feel good, too.