Taking Steps

Taking Steps

11/25/13

The most common method of human mobility is walking.  We may be able to drive a car or ride in a plane to travel great distances, but the method of human movement still relies on the individual personally moving in order to achieve our destination.  The Bible makes reference too many scenes where people are walking and moving from one area to another and it is important for us to look beyond this commonality that all of us share and to understand a little known detail about humans and God.  There is a common tie that is present within God’s plan for our lives and the movements of man and it might seem a bit odd but one will see the connection by the end of this article.

We all know that there was no such thing as cars, buses, planes or any other mechanized vehicles during the ancient times.  It is hard for us to even imagine that the automobile was not even mass produced until the early 1900s and it is even more difficult to imagine us not having any type of modern transportation system in place.  Yet there was a long period of human history where these advances were not present and the only way for man to get anywhere was to use the back of an animal or just to walk from place to place. 

There is nothing wrong with walking in fact it is the best type of exercise that a human can do for ourselves and even though it takes a bit longer to reach our destination we should try it more often.  I find it kind of interesting that walking was the first steps that man took in the mobility processes and how our ideas and concepts of mobility gradually changed and grew from this movement.  The progressive mind and heart that God gave us has accomplished many wonders within our lives and I am anxiously awaiting the next big advance that we will have to offer.  However, if we stop and think about the procedures of walking we can learn a great deal about progression and how we can get from one point of our lives to another point.

A few weeks ago I wrote a series of articles that addressed the progress of our ways and how they related to the processes from a beginning point to a final result.  I touched on a couple of subjects that included our methods of progression and how that even though it is a normal process to advance our ways of living, these ways can become very destructive to humanity if we do not keep them in check.  Man likes to have it both ways as the saying goes and mankind believes that when we accept these views and ideas that everyone will be able to live closer together and better humanity at the same time.  What we leave out is boundaries when this type of belief occurs and those who do not view the situation alike will be considered outcasts and eventually persecuted in some manner.  Humans have an infamous reputation for this and if you do not believe me or have not heard of this before, I ask you to read any portion of history and you will find plenty of examples.

When a person reads the Bible there are many questions that come to our minds.  I know that when I began to read the Bible there were many questions that I had concerning the people and what occurred to them.  I did not at that time ask how and why the people got themselves into the messes and blesses that they incurred, nor did I ask how they arrived at the places that they had these instances occur to them.  I knew that they had walked or rode to these places, but did not go any further in my investigation of actually what was transpiring at that time. As I continued my digging and listening to God, I began to understand some things about walking and taking steps and I have been confounded in realizing that these steps were relevant in the ancient times and are just as relevant to our lives today.

Taking a step in any direction takes energy from the human.  A person cannot move without expending some type of energy that has been produced from within their body.  This type of energy is active energy and will be used up as soon as its lifespan is completed and then more energy is required and then used up.  This cycle continues until the movements cease either by stopping or by reaching the destination that the person desires.  In either case, energy is constantly used in order for the human being to take a step and it does not matter what the steps are to be used.  Now, if we do not have the energy to take this step or the one after the first, then we have a problem with our inner systems and we need to see a physician.  This means that each step that we take or desire to take is important for our daily activities and we need to make sure that we are capable of continuing this stepping process.

The Israelites are a great example of people taking steps for a long period of time and really not travelling too much in one direction.  They used a bunch of energy during those forty years wandering around in the desert, and for many of them they never understood why it took them so long to reach their destination.  It is estimated that there might have been over a million people in this group of wanderers and to orchestrate a group of this size took a bunch of guts and strength.  But what many of the Israelites did not understand is why God allowed them to spend so much time instead of ending their heated torment quickly.  God had specific reasons for this prolonged moving and it was because He wanted His people to understand not only were they free from their captors but that they were being freed from their captivity as well.

Our personal walking in this life proceeds in the same direction and can have similar results if we do not recognize the path that we are taking.  We as humans love to try and make things work on our own, even taking weeks or even years away from our life “trying to find it.”  Unless you allow God to intervene within your life you shall never find the true meaning of your life or find only a portion of what God had intended for you.  Take for instance David, the King of Israel and the one who brought Israel into nationhood and formal recognition within the nations of his time.  Look at the steps that he had to endure before he became king and then compare them to the steps that he took afterwards.  If one looks at these two portions of his life very different circumstances are present and both sets of footprints are clearly visible.  How many lifelong steps did he have to take before he finally understood what God was trying to free him from?  And an important question that we can only try and figure out is when that answer came to David concerning his footsteps and the direction that he was walking.

Each day of our lives represents another footstep that we will take.  There are decisions that we need to make on this same time basis, and some of us have to make choices even quicker for various reasons.  What direction are we actually travelling in and how will it affect our lives tomorrow or in the year?  Do we even notice that our footsteps are being watched?  Do we even contemplate about the decisions that our children will make based upon the decisions of our day?  Every breath that we take is subject to eyes and it is important for us to get our eyes off of our selfish steps and to make sure that we are taking the right steps in the best direction possible.

Humans enter into the desert without even knowing where they are or where they are about to encounter.  The progression of mankind is a normal feature and one that is one of the most important concepts that we need to heed on a second by second basis.  And if man unknowingly enters into a desert without true guidance then they have no one to blame but others; oops I meant themselves.  The desert is a dry heat just as an oven is and even though it may not be as hot as humid heat the prolonged effects on the body will complete the baking process just as easily, all the while we continue to take one more step in the same direction.

God has a plan for each one of us and it does not include self.  God will allow a person to choose self, but those footsteps will drain so much energy from you and you will reap absolutely nothing for your efforts.  It is allowing God to intervene in our lives that causes us to have the energy to make another step in the right direction, a direction that we can be used for everyone and not just our own ambitions.  And while we are letting God take over our innards He will transform our lives enough so that we can recognize just how much of the self we have inside and then we can begin to understand the difference between God’s steps and our steps.

Whether a person knows or accepts this next statement is a personal choice, but God has already set into motion your life and it is strictly up to you to take those steps in life.  It is totally up to you to surrender your own will and give all of your cares and worries to God.  He is perfectly fine with allowing you to choose your own direction, it shall break His heart to see this occur but He has no choice in the matter.  See, God has to allow us to make these choices and for Him to be a just and righteous King, He has no choice but to follow His own stance from the beginning of human history.  There are paths that we take every day and since God created our hearts He understands exactly what we need in order to survive each step.  Yet, He shall not force His will upon us and even those hard core atheists who eventually find God and accept Him as their Savior make that choice to serve God.  It is always our choice to voluntarily take the desert route or the route that God shows us.

Please, please understand that the Bible is full of people and their stories. The Bible is about humans and the choices that they make whether they be Godly ones or not and the realization that each choice that they make will have a directional result along with that choice.  The Bible is filled with personal tragedies and so in secular human history and on the other hand both sources are also filled with wondrous events that embrace the good of mankind.  Each one of us will take steps and for those who believe that standing still and not moving in life is a good thing, well it is actually a step in the wrong direction.  God intends for us to move and while we are keeping our movements one step at a time, He wants us to have our spirits still and listening for Him to send out directions so our steps can be fewer in number.  See, the Israelites did not have to spend forty years wandering in the desert their journey could have been so much shorter if they would have had a pure heart and understood why they were there in the first place.  I guess this truly defines the picture of going your own way or going God’s.

Once we allow God to take hold of our lives our steps become totally different and we are engaged into another direction and environment.  Our direction becomes towards others and not towards ourselves.  It is a progression that frees us from the inside out and cannot be satisfied that has anything to do with self.  Life becomes alive again and our true meaning in life will be evident though our freedom.  But if we choose to ignore our creator and all of His ways our lives will be filled with emptiness in our freedom and all of the choices that we make will sink into the inner dark abyss of our selfishness.  God loves each and every one of us and it His desire for us to understand that we need to be set free from our captors and that after our freedom our steps need to be guided by His path so that we may be truly free from our captivity.

DLB