Order My Steps

“Order My Steps”

Psalm 119:133

Psalm 37:23-24

Last year the theme song for the choir was “Lord Listen to Your Children Praying.” This year’s theme song is “Order My Steps According to God’s Word, Order My Heart, Order my Talk according to God’s Word.”

During the past couple of months I have givens messages based on the Ten Commandments. Today I want to conclude that series and at the close of the message tell a story about the Grace of God.

Have you seen the movie, “Chariots of Fire?” The movie has been around for many years. It’s one of the few movies I paid to see twice and following the second viewing I went out and purchased the movie sound track. The second time I viewed the movie I knew what was going to happen before the action takes place on the screen. My heart was moved each time I saw the effort that Eric Lindell, played by Ian Charleson, when Eric ran in the 1924 Olympics. Chariots of Fire is a true story of two British track athletes competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics. One was a devout Scottish missionary, Eric Lindell, who runs for God, the other was a Jewish student at Cambridge, Harold Abrams played by Ben Cross, who runs for fame and to escape prejudice.

When asked why he runs, Eric Lindell says, “I find God’s pleasure when I run.”

Just as when you have seen a movie many times you know what to expect. So God is all wisdom and knowledge. He knows the blessing that come to those who keep the Ten Commandments and He knows the pain and heartbreak that come to all that disobey the commandments.

Like the Psalmist we are to love and obey God’s laws. Psalm 119:97, “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

Then Ten Commandments are given as a fence of protection. Stay in God’s laws, God’s fence, and you find protection and blessing. But go outside the fence and you are on your own. Proverbs 13:13 “He who despises the word will be destroyed, But he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” NKJ God never intended the Ten Commandments to make your lives miserable. He gave them because they reflected His character and because they are essential. Following the commandments allow you to experience the freedom of the Life He intended for you to live.

Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord and he delights in his way.” NKJ “If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm, through he stumble he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his right hand.” Psalm 37:23-24 NIV

“Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.” Psalm 119:133

The Psalmist models for you the value and love you should have for God’s Word. Psalm 119 refers in different ways in all 176 verses to God’s Law. All who love and obey God’s Word are kept from disaster.

Psalm 119:92-92 TLB says: “I would have despaired and perished unless Your laws had been my deepest delight. I never lay aside your laws, for you have used them to restore my joy and health.”

#In a small Kansas town a number of years ago, many of the residents were gathered in the high school gymnasium for a basketball game. Things were going well for the home team, and the supporters had reason to stomp, clap and cheer. But what happened at halftime changed that little town forever.

The fans packed into the gym were suddenly rocked by a powerful explosion – the kind that vibrates in your chest. Everyone ran outside to see what had happened. As it turned out, the town’s massive grain elevator had collapsed and fallen across a small nursery school. Five little children died that day.

What could have caused the disaster? After a close inspection of the grain elevator’s foundation, investigators discovered that termites had eaten the heart out of the beams and rafters, leaving only a deceptive, empty shell. The damage done by the termites is hard to detect because they work on the inside of the wood.

This is what happens to people that disregard God’s Word. Indifference to God’s Word and Commandments allows spiritual termites to eat away at a person’s life and character, which ends us bringing the person down. People who know the person say, “How could this be? Everything looked good on the outside.”

Is God’s Word your authority today? Does God’s Word guide and direct your steps? Psalm 19:7 says, “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” The word “simple” means undiscerning. It means, “I really can’t distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong.” The Lord is saying: “If you walk in obedience to My commands, you will become a wise person, where once you were naïve and undiscerning.”