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Walking in Step

Sam Stringer

Nov 25, 2024

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your
flesh, and strength to your bones.
Proverbs 3:7-8

If you knew all the things that were coming down the line for you, and you knew how all those things
interacted with everyone else’s story, and you had certain ends in mind and had perfect intentions for
everything despite allowing people to sin along the way, you would do what God has done. I’m
paraphrasing something I heard long ago, but it struck me when I heard it. We do not see the whole
picture, and because of this, we often demand things from God that may very well not be in our best
interest, may not serve Him well, or hurt others were it to come to pass.

One thing we don’t see with our desires is the evil that may be prompting it or the evil that may come from
it should our agenda be fulfilled. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. It’s good to be wise, and yet we
are warned in Proverbs that it’s not good to be wise in your own eyes, or rather, your own estimation.
Fearing the Lord is not necessarily an act of living in terror, though we would be terrorized beyond belief
were we to stand before Him without the pardon of our sins by faith in Christ. Fear is a solemn respect,
something that drives us to alter our thoughts and behaviors and to change course. To fear the Lord is
also to depart from evil; you can’t fear Him while also embracing evil. Think about that: how many of us
say that we love God, even fear God, and yet run to sin as though we still carry that same love and fear
for Him at the same time?

My friends, if you want to be wise, don’t think of yourself as the source of wisdom. See God as that very
source of wisdom and know that it’s never an act of wisdom to learn the Bible but not put it into practice.
It’s never an act of wisdom to live in sin and yet feign commitment to Him. Wisdom is the employment of
all of that knowledge you carry by recognizing that only when you live under the guidance of God do you
begin to transcend a broken and foolish way of living.

What does fearing God and departing from evil lead to? Solomon says that it will be health to your flesh,
and strength to your bones. “Will be” means that it isn’t yet but that it surely will come if one puts this into
practice. Not “might be” but “will be.” Why are so many people broken in this world, decaying as time goes
on? They are wise in their own eyes. They do not fear the Lord and they welcome evil. Therefore, it is
sickness to their flesh and weakness to their bones. It’s the same reason we can get like this, too.

It harms a person to live out of alignment with God. Obviously, if you’ve never placed your faith in Jesus,
you’re not simply sick; you’re dead! Nevertheless, it is very possible to be alive and yet sick and weakly
for not humbling ourselves before God. If we want to be well, to be abounding in this life, we cannot do it
without going through the passage of living with a reverential fear for God and personal restraint towards
sin. This doesn’t mean there aren’t people in this world who are enjoying life or succeeding on their own
terms. It does mean that spiritual peace, deep contentment, and surpassing joy can only be had so long
as we live for Him. There are some spiritual blessings many will never know for refusing to bow the knee.

I think sometimes that God in His mercy makes it harder for a Christian to be happy without submitting to
Him, and that would make sense, because He loves us too much to let us be okay without walking in step
with Him. Will you walk with Him today? Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Listen and apply.

Sam Stringer

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.

Braver Than Lions

©2024 by Braver Than Lions

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