John spoke this morning on Ps 119:105, commenting about God’s word being a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. We all need to be guided by God, and God’s word provides the illumination and guidance we need. Our feet are given purpose in God, for He has commissioned us to be bearers of the good news of the gospel (see Rom 10:15). Ps 37:23-24 tells us that God makes the steps of a good (righteous) man firm; here, we see that God’s people will be upheld and established by God Himself. When we are following instructions (e.g. to put together a piece of flatpack furniture), we have to follow the instructions in sequence; so too we find that God gives us steps to follow and we need neither to run ahead nor flag behind.
God is able to guard our steps (1 Sam 2:9) and give us a firm place to stand (Ps 40:2); moreover, even when we stumble and fall, He is able to uphold us. Ps 66:9 reminds us that God will not allow us to be moved; Micah 7:8-9 gives us hope that even if we fall, we will rise again. As we walk in the light, we have fellowship with God and with each other and through confession and forgiveness can be restored even when we fail (see 1 John 1:7-9). The spiritual armour God gives us includes sandals with nails in the soles to dig deep into the ground and enable us to stand firm (see Eph 6:15). If we forget to keep our eyes on God, our feet can slip (see Ps 73), but with our eyes fixed on God, we can be sure that we can be successful, living to please Him (see Eph 5:15-17).
The idea of a path implies progress and movement towards a specific goal. It is often a narrow path (see Matt 7:13-14) and one that must be undertaken individually. We find, however, that as we come together with God’s people, we become part of the church and are able to work in unique roles that nonetheless complement the whole.
In Jn 21:15-22, we see Jesus talking to Peter after the resurrection: reassuring him, confirming Peter’s love for him and reiterating His original command to ‘follow me.‘ Peter was forgiven and restored, and reminded that no one must distract him from the task given to him. Jesus calls us to imitate Him (see Eph 5:1); Paul urged Christians to ‘imitate me as I imitate Christ.’ (1 Cor 11:1). We are urged to take note of those who live according to the pattern given us by Jesus and to continually press forward (see Phil 3:12-17), but in doing so, we are also urged to be ourselves, not copying others for the sake of it. God doesn’t want us to do the ‘congregational conga’ (going round and round in circles, getting nowhere) or the ‘church hokey-cokey‘ (simply copying what someone else is doing so that we all put our left legs in at the same time!), but He allows us to be ourselves as we imitate Him and continue on the path towards Him, guided by His Word. Both purpose and progress are possible in God!
