“Righteousness shall go before Him
and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk.” (Psalm
85:13) (All scripture quotes in this article are from the
AMP Bible.)
I
recently watched a movie where four men were trekking through a snowy
wilderness. The snow they were going
through was about 1-2 feet deep and one of the men had injured his knee. He struggled to walk let alone negotiate
moving through snow. What made it
possible for him to keep up with the others is that he was last in line. The first man made a bit of a trough with his
body as he pushed forward snow as well as making dents in the snow with each
footstep. The second man made the trough
and the footstep dents a little wider and deeper, as did the third man, so that
when the fourth injured man came he was not hindered by the snow, but only by
his injury. Of the four, the first man
is the one who had the hardest job but his hard work made the way for the rest. This got me to thinking about Psalm 85:13 and
I began to see Jesus as the “lead Man” making the way of righteousness for us
in this cold and stormy world of sin.
How
often we strive to be righteous; how often we try our very best to witness to
those around us who do not know Jesus.
We try and try as we struggle through this world which is full of people
who spurn us and even hate us. We become
frustrated with how they do not respond to the very things we find wonderful
about our Lord. We see them walk away
unchanged and we feel as if we have failed God.
When you really think about it (with your spirit instead of your
reasoning mind) you realize that we have failed Him! He never asked us to go out on our own. Think about it, did he ever ask us to do
anything out of self-effort? What he DID
say is “follow Me”.
“…follow Me, and I will make you
fishers of men!” -Matthew 4:19
“…Jesus said to him, Follow Me…” -Matthew 8:22
“…come, be My disciple …and follow
Me” –Matthew 19:21
“…follow Me…” –Mark 2:4; Luke 9:23; Luke 18:22; John 1:43; John
21:19 and many other verses! Check it
out in your concordance.
Not
only did Jesus say to follow Him, Paul said to the Corinthian Church
to follow him as he followed Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1) and the same to
Timothy (2 Timothy 1:13). I think that
we read His words, “follow Me”, we hear it as a call to accept Him as our
Savior, we come to know redemption, we become giddy in the joy it is to know we
are free, and then we TRY to get others around us to know this freedom too. We go door-to-door witnessing, tell everyone
around us that Jesus saves, and try to get people to come to church with
us. These are all good things to do –
that is – if God directs us to do them and we are not doing them out of our own
efforts. Think of it in the analogy of
our four men in the snow: what if the
second man set off on his own, thinking he sees a shorter way to their
destination. The remaining two follow
the first for a while when the man between the leader and the injured man sets
off on his own thinking he sees an easier way to their destination. The injured man then had a decision to
make. Would he follow the original
leader, the second man, or the third?
Logic dictates he would follow the original leader, but if anything,
what man does is not always logical. In
the movie I watched the leader move on as each of the men went off alone and
eventually died. If only they had stayed
with the leader, they might have all made it out of that snowy wilderness
alive.
If
only we would stay with our Leader. If
only we would quit trying to do His work our own way, in our own efforts, and
in the way we think is best. If
only…! Our relationship to Him is the
key. Consider these words by Oswald
Chambers, “The main thing
about Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and
the atmosphere produced by that relationship.” Our effectiveness is not in
the great and many works we do for our Lord, but is instead in the outpouring
that bursts forth from our continual daily relationship we share with Him. As we spend more and more time with Him, we
begin to see His footsteps clearly and start stepping in them. As we step in them we find our way made
easier and grow to KNOW that what He promised is a sure thing. As we step in His steps failure is taken off
the table and victory is assured. Are
you ready to step in His steps? I am!
“If anyone serves Me, he must continue to follow Me [to cleave
steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in
dying] and wherever I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me,
the Father will honor him.” – John
12:26
