Today’s Bible Study, Authored by Arthur
Cincotti. 01/21/2024
Listen to our Bible
Study Discussion at: Order My Steps Lord Podcast
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Order My Steps Lord!!!
“A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” Prov. 16:9 NKJV
“We make our own plans, But the LORD decides where we will go.” Prov. 16:9 CEV
“A man’s mind plans his way [as he journeys through life],
But the LORD directs his steps and establishes them.” AMP
“People make plans for what they will do, but it is the LORD who leads them in the right way.” EASY
The tension of sovereignty of God versus free will is exposed in living
color in this very familiar passage. I do not wish to debate this for any
length of time but I will simply say that this verse is not speaking of the
eternal perspective but of how God’s hand shapes us, directs us, and changes us
on a daily basis.
God’s leading is not an oppression but a liberating force that enables
us to find our true selves and live out who He created us to be. So many
people, even Christians exhaust themselves searching for this essence.
Let’s unpack this
When God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush He said, “I
AM WHO I AM” This is called the “tetragrammaton” and is composed of four Hebrew
letters, “YHWH” (yodh, he, waw, and he) and is the sacred name of God. Vowels
were inserted for pronunciations sake and it’s where we get “Yahweh” or
“Jehovah” in Greek. The name is descriptive of God’s character as the only
self-existent Being in the universe. He knows who and why He is.
If only we did!!! Know who He is and who we are.
On a natural plane, we may live our lives for our jobs, our children, or
spouses. We may live for entertainment, status, or any number of external
fulfillments. This is because, as created beings, our existence is for
something outside of ourselves.
In a like manner, Jesus knew who He was and why He came.
In Lk. 2:49 we read a rare account of Jesus at age twelve when He was
separated from His parents and later found in the temple, in the midst of the
teachers, “both listening to them and asking questions.” When
they found Him His mother said, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look,
Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” Jesus replied, “Why did you seek
Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
He knew who He was and why He was there.
Later Jesus says, “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the
Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should
speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I
speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” Jn. 12:49,50
II Cor. 4:6, “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out
of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Phil. 2:11, “…every tongue should confess the Jesus Christ is the
Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Jn. 17:1&5 “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son,
that Your Son also may glorify You…And now, O Father, glorify Me together
with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
Jesus’ life on earth was to the glory of the Father. We could easily
say, “Well that was Jesus” but we constantly emphasize that we too can hear
from God, and the Confession states that our purpose is to glorify God.
How is all this expressed in our everyday lives?
I’m glad you asked.
The Bible doesn’t instruct us to live in some sort of Zen-like state of
living for the moment and never thinking about the future.
Hab. 2:2 says, “Write the vision
And
make it plain on tablets,
That
he may run who reads it.”
The Bible also instructs us not to compulsive obsess about
the future.
Mat. 6:25 Jesus says, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry
about your life.
The essence of God’s message to us is to trust Him, not just
with our eternity, but also with tomorrow and every day.
Prov. 3:5, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And
lean not on your own understanding;
In
all your ways acknowledge Him,
And
He shall direct your paths.”
We all make plans, and hope that they are in alignment with God’s will
for our lives. If we are walking in righteousness, that is an overarching plan
that is God’s will. But what about the details?
God has methods to govern our daily fair. Sometimes they are painful
because we are often distracted and do not give Him our full attention.
Sometimes they are subtle and unnoticed by us. Sometimes they come in the form
of a prophetic word or a preaching or a circumstance that aims toward a
singular outcome.
Ps. 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you
should go; I will guide you with My eye.”
Lk. 12:13-21 is titled, “The Parable of the Rich Fool” and is a good example
of a guy who wasn’t paying attention.
Let us be keenly aware of what God is saying to us
personally, in these last days because it is so vitally important!
—–Join us for another Bible Study Next Week ——-
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to be encouraged.
My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her
Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ), her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
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Encouragement for the Path of
Christian Discipleship
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