ORDERED STEPS AND PEACEFUL ENDS

This is one of the most interesting and most practical of all the psalms. It deals basically with the effect that the ways of the wicked can have upon the thinking of the righteous. But it also shows that experience can be enriched and ennobled through fellowship with God. To trust, delight, commit, wait for, and to rest in the Lord gives stability and strength in the face of the imbalance so often seen in life. That the main thrust of the conclusions arrived at have to do with Jewish life and thought is apparent from the earthly character of the blessings promised, vv. 3, 9, 11, 19, etc. Yet there is a spiritual atmosphere which makes the underlying principles relevant to the Christian life today.

We notice two verses which have to do with direction and destiny in relation to the life that knows God’s blessing.

1. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.” The message is quite clear—when the Lord delights in one of His own people, He gives direction to move along in His way. In the context of the psalm, there is always the danger that confusion and anxiety will always come from viewing life from the wrong perspective. Things just look wrong!; cf. v. 1. To see wickedness progress, and the evil man prosper, seems to belie the pursuit of goodness. Why bother to walk with God, when the advantage lies with evil? Note what is said about the wicked in verses 2, 9, 12-13, 14-15, etc. But we can be assured that to walk with God is to walk in a divinely ordered pathway. Think of the great worthies of old, Enoch, Noah, Abraham. How wonderfully God showed His pleasure by guiding them aright. There was a vast difference in the way that God evaluated the paths of Abraham and Lot.

2. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace”, v. 37. Destiny lies in the pathway of every man. The end is in the beginning. Compare the words of the Lord in Matthew 7. 24-29. There is a future for a man who loves peace. How good to reflect that those who have been made right with God through faith in the Lord Jesus have peace with Him now and the hope of a glorious future, Rom. 5. 1-3. Guided by His counsel, we shall be received up to glory. Thus our perspectives and prospects are right in Him.