Directs Our Steps

Acts 22:17–21

“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ He said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about Me.’ “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in You. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

God determines our steps as we learn in the Apostle Paul’s testimony to his fellow Jews, and it would be wise to obey His will. The Apostle James reminds us of the finitude of our knowledge that can only be met with humility before God: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that (Jam 4:13–15).” The tag-line of our wedding photographer (a Christian company) in the slideshow they made for us showcasing the beautiful evenfall shots that day says, “God makes weddings beautiful we simply capture them”. British-American filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, cheekily remarked on providence over reality and fiction, “in feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director.” Indeed friends, Scripture tells us that God directs our paths, along with our prayers and plans, and many times to our dismay, in spite of them; “a person’s heart plans her course, but the LORD determines her steps (Prov 16:9).” But God is goodness and all the time He is great, He loves us His children, He takes our hand and leads us beside quiet waters and refreshes our souls, guides us along the right paths (gently if we are sensitive) for His name’s sake, makes us lie down in green pastures, we lack nothing, Christ is our Good Shepherd (Psa 23:1–3), love and praise Him.