
This lesson titled Don't Direct Your Own Steps will explore the importance of not directing our steps but aligning them according to God’s will.
There was a preacher that would tell a story similar to this. As he was about to take his children to school one morning, as he opened the door to go to the car, he saw just a perfect sheet of snow. And his son bolted past him to run outside to go play in the snow before they got in the car.
And so he was running zigzags through the snow and making footprints everywhere in it. And he noticed as he was walking to the car that his daughter, who is much smaller, more petite, didn't really want to get her shoes wet. And so as he walked, she would try her best to, to step in his footsteps, but it wasn't always perfect, but that was the goal that was what she was trying to do. She was trying to walk in the footsteps of her father.
Who is Directing Your Steps?
Now, in a spiritual sense. Which child are you? In a spiritual sense, which child are you when it comes to following in the steps of your father? It is important where we walk. It is important how we direct our steps.
The Importance of Direction
" Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." — Jeremiah 10:23
We are not to be directing our own steps, but really, what does that mean?
What does that look like? For this sermon, I've split it up into four different sections. First of all, someone who did direct their own steps. Next, someone who didn't direct their own steps, that way we can see again what that looks like, what that means. But third, we'll look at personal application. What does that mean for us?
What can we learn from that? And then our last section will be Bible reading.
Someone Who Directed Their Own Steps
If God came to you and he said, I want you to go preach to this city. From what you know from that city is a wicked and vile city. What would be going through your mind?
What do you think? Well, God, I trust you. I know your word is true. But what if they don't like what I have to say? What if they reject me? What if they try to kill me for what I'm teaching them? What if they hate me? Where do you want to go? In the book of Jonah, God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh. We'll begin turning there in Jonah.
- Jonah 1:1-2
Nineveh, a little backstory on them, it is the capital of Assyria and this city was full of wickedness. I believe Nahum was being a little hyperbolic, but I think the point still stands. Nahum 3 records that this city was so full of bloodshed that they stumbled across corpses as they walked through their streets. This city was so full of lies and robbery, it was full of immorality and witchcraft.
Looking through history, just a few things about this city, it is said that they removed facial features from prisoners to mark them for life. They had temple prostitution, child sacrifice, abortions, and infanticide. From what I've read about that city and what I've heard about that city, honestly, that's a less graphic version of the things that went on in that city's walls.
So it would have been at least a little bit understandable for Jonah if he was scared of what the people would do to him for the message that he was going to preach to them. It would have been a little bit understandable, if that's where he was coming from, for not wanting to go to the city. And we'll come back to that in a few moments.
Jonah was originally, if he's the same prophet that we read about in second Kings 1425, Jonah was originally from Gath Heifer and God told him to go to Nineveh looking at it from a geographical perspective, from where he was from, Gath would have been about 500 miles. For us, that'd be like a trip to Memphis or something like that.
And, and that would be about, you know, six to eight hours, depending on stops. So that wouldn't be very far. I mean, especially in today's terms, but, but even for Jonah, especially considering what he did.
- Jonah 1:3
This means again, from a geographical perspective, he, he took about a 60 mile journey to Joppa and then he was trying to go to Tarshish. And it is believed that Tarshish was in Spain, which would have been about 2,300 miles away.
So instead of going where God commanded him, he was essentially trying to go about five times further away. God told him the steps to take and instead Jonah decided to direct his own steps completely opposite of where he was supposed to go. And while Jonah did have free will to do what he wanted to do he wasn't free from consequences.
- Jonah 1:4-9
Notice that while he was on the run from God and we saw twice it said he was trying to run from the presence of God, Jonah was pretty quick to claim the Lord as God when things started going wrong. His decisions didn't just affect him at this point.
- Jonah 1:10-17
I think it's interesting that these men, if there's any good to come out of this besides a lesson for Jonah, it's that these men seemingly wanted to please God more than Jonah did.
But again, we see from this that there was consequences for the actions of Jonah. I know the second chapter records a prayer of Jonah from the belly of the fish, and he is then spit out on dry land. Let's pick up in chapter 3.
- Jonah 3:1-10
So Jonah preached to the people. That's really all we get from Jonah's sermon. Could possibly be it. Telling them to repent or they'll perish.
And the people that were so vile and so wicked turned to God. They repented. If Jonah was scared of what the people were going to do to him, then he didn't have a reason to be scared. They turned to God. But unfortunately, that's not what Jonah was scared of. You know, growing up, that's always what I thought it was.
I always thought that, that when it said Jonah was scared to go to Nineveh and he tried to run, it was because of how wicked that city was. And that may have been a small part of it, but notice chapter four. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he became angry. What, what happened? Did the people reject Jonah?
Did they stone him? Did they try to cast him out of the city? No to Jonah. Unfortunately it was something worse. Notice verse two. So he prayed to the Lord and said, ah, Lord, was this not what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore, I fled, uh, fled previously to Tarshish for I knew, or I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant and loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm.
It seems like a weird thing to say in an angry voice toward God, but that is why Jonah is upset. He wasn't scared of the people and what they were going to do to him if they rejected him. He was really scared of God and he was scared of God's grace. When he directed his own steps, it changed the way he thought about the people of Nineveh.
Someone Who Didn't Direct Their Own Steps
Someone who didn't direct their own steps moving from the man going to Tarshish to the man from Tarsus. There are many similarities between these two individuals, but the difference is in their reactions to a similar scenario.
If God came to you and said, I want you to go preach to this wicked individual, we know that this individual is very mean, very harmful towards people. You know that they're doing damage towards Christians, what would be going through your mind? Would it be like we talked about earlier? Well, I know that he's out killing Christians and I don't want to be next so I don't want to go preach to him. Maybe it would be the same as Jonah.
Maybe it's, he's doing a lot to to people that I love and care about, if he repents, I can't I can't forgive that and you shouldn't either.
Acts 9 through 10 records a man known as Saul. He was out hunting Christians. This wasn't just that if he saw a Christian walking down the street somewhere, he would go and imprison them. He was out looking for Christians. And this wasn't really just because he wanted to, but this was because this is what he thought God wanted him to do. He was heading to Damascus for the purpose of getting approval to capture more Christians.
And he was blinded, talked to by Jesus, and was sent into the city. And this is where our next example comes in.
- Acts 9:10, 11
When you put yourself in Ananias shoes, think about how that must have felt to get a vision from God. You're, about to get this mission to go do something for God, how encouraging that must have been, how motivating that must have been.
You know, again, how he's probably hanging on every word, wondering where he has to go, what he's going to do.
When He got to Saul's name, it could have been easy for him to say, Whoa, I can't do that. You want me to preach to him? He's been killing Christians, and again, I could be next.
- Acts 9:12, 13
Now we don't know for sure, so, so maybe this is reading into it a little bit, but I think it's interesting to think about. I wonder if Ananias knew anybody that, that Paul had persecuted. Maybe, friends, close friends, maybe family members. So then, it would have taken on a personal level for him to say, God, he's killed my close friends, he's imprisoned my family members. I can't forgive that, and neither should you. Ananias does bring up what Saul has done.
God was not naive to what Saul has done, but He was going to use him.
- Acts 9:14-18
While Ananias may have had some concerns about what Saul had done, he trusted in God by going to a man that had done much harm to the church, he trusted in God and especially He trusted in God's grace.
Personal Application for Following God's Direction
What can we learn from these two examples? I'm going to have two different sections here. When we follow, or when we direct our own steps, what happens? And also, when we allow God to direct our steps. What happens?
What Happens When We Direct Our Own Steps?
So first of all, when we direct our own steps we may miss out on being vessels for God. And Jonah almost did, but this kind of reminds me of is the story of Esther. You know, when the Jews were going to be killed and Mordecai is trying to convince her to help and he says that the deliverance of the Jews is going to come either way. God's will is going to be carried out either way, "but who knows if you were come to the kingdom for such a time as this," who knows if you are put in the position that you're in to be a vessel for God. When we do things the way we want to do them, we may miss out on doing the work that God has for us to do.
What Happens When We Allow God to Direct Our Steps?
Shifting to the other side, when we allow God to direct our steps we can better see the work God has for us to do. Think about that in the life of Ananias. God went to Ananias because He trusted him. He knew that Ananias was going to carry out this task. He knew that He could use him. We need to make sure that we are living in in such a way that the same could be said of us.
No, God's not coming to us in a vision today, but still there's work that God has for us to do. And you think about the way that we are supposed to live, the two greatest commandments, loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourself.
- When we love God with everything that we have, then we're going to live properly towards Him.
- And if we love our neighbor as ourselves, we're going to, to treat people the way that we should. We can better carry out the work that God would have for us to do.
So when we allow God to direct our steps, again, we can better see the work that God would have for us to do. Going back to the other side, when we direct our own steps, When we direct our own steps, we think about what a person deserves.
We think about what a person deserves and we often lack forgiveness. It can be easy for us to get in the same mindset as Jonah. You know, we may think, well, this person has done way too much against me. This person has done way too much against others. This person has done way too much against God. There's, there's no way I can forgive them. So, no matter how much they say they repent or no matter how much they do, then God shouldn't forgive them either.
It could be easy for us to get in that mindset. That's the mindset of Jonah. That could have been the mindset of Ananias. You know, he could have said that either to God or even when he had Paul there, Paul still blinded, he could have said, before the scales come from your eyes before you're baptized. I need to let you know how much damage you've done to the church. I need you to know. No, he says, Brother Saul.
I've seen a Facebook post before, where it was somebody listing six or seven things that they said leads to repentance, or that one needs to do to repent, and really most, if not all of those things weren't even found in scripture. And then at the end of it, it said, once somebody does that, then we can stop raking them across the coals, implying that up to that point, then it's okay to. That is not what is seen in the Word of God.
When, when we direct our own steps, we think about what a person deserves. We often lack forgiveness.
But, shifting to the other side, when we allow God to direct our steps, we look at people differently. And, sometimes there may need to be boundaries put in place if someone has wronged you in a certain way. But forgiveness is necessary when someone repents.
You know, thankfully it is up to God to see that repentance, especially in the case of Nineveh. We, see that with Jonah. You know, it could have been easy for Jonah to say, well, God, they're not truly repenting. They're just saying that they're just doing that to get out of their punishment. God says, no, they are truly repenting.
We've taled about it, it's been a little bit, but we talked about it with Ahab. When King Ahab at one point in his life repented, and it could have been easy for Elijah to say, well, God, no, he's not really repenting. He doesn't really mean what he's saying.
God saw his heart. He saw that he was truly penitent.
So we need to make sure that we have that in mind and realize, again, that when we allow God to direct our steps we can look at people differently and realize that forgiveness is necessary. Shifting back to the other side, when we direct our own steps, we make the decisions, but we don't always see the road like we think we can. And there are consequences for where we go.
Think about that in the case of Jonah. He thought he was just going to go to Tarshish and everything was going to be great. He wouldn't have to go to Nineveh. And then a storm came. You know, what about in our lives when when we try to do things our way and we say, well I'm going to do things my way and everything's going to work out great and I know what it's going to be like and I know how things are going to go. And then, metaphorically, a storm comes and changes our plans a little bit.
But when we allow God to direct our steps, I want us to remember that it is not about overbearing control. God is not saying, well, you need to go here and you need to do this and, and you need to stay here and all of this because I want you in the palm of my hand and I want a total control and it's because I said so.
So, think about that in terms of parenting. Or, even a personal example I think of, and I know many of you have seen firsthand, I think of my nephew, Christian. Now, if I'm going out to my car, then sometimes maybe hhe'll follow me out in the parking lot and I don't notice, you know, sometimes that can be dangerous. And so if I say, wait, go over here. No, stay there. Do this. It's not me saying that because, oh, I'm in control and you do what I have to, or you have to do what I say, because like, I want you in the palm of my hand. It's saying, no, stay over there. Stay here. Go this way. because I don't want you to get hurt. I want what's best for you.
When we allow God to direct our steps, it's not about overbearing control, it's about God as our Father saying, wait, stay, stay there, go this way, because I want what's best for you. I don't want you to get hurt.
Lastly, when we direct our own steps, it can affect others. Jonah was not the only one that was affected by his consequences. You think of the people that had to go through that storm, the fear that they had there. But also it said there that they were throwing their possessions overboard to try to make the ship lighter. Possessions that they may have needed for that journey. Possessions that they may have needed when they got to their destination.
- Galatians 2:11-13
Barnabas, if we continue this reading in Acts chapter nine, as a great Christian, and a great friend to Paul, one that, that when everybody was against Paul, Barnabas stood by him. It says in Galatians 2 that even Barnabas was carried away with the division that that Peter was was involved in. Peter had that influence on Barnabas.
When we direct our own steps we can influence others but also when we allow God to direct our steps we can influence others.
- 1 Corinthians 11:1
You know, in today's world, we talk a lot about influencers, and some are good, and some are not really that great. Let's make sure that we don't allow those influencers to direct our own steps, that we allow God to direct our steps.
Bible Reading Directs Our Steps
Moving into the last point, or the last section, Bible reading. We've talked a lot about, about directing our own steps, and not directing our own steps. And so, I picked out a few passages, and I just want to read through them. I just want to let the Bible speak for itself.
"This is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us." — 1 John 1:5-7
- Psalm 119:1-5, 105
- Psalm 37:23
- Jeremiah 10:23
Now, maybe you are here this evening and you have not yet started that walk. Let us help you in any way that we can byhelping you become a Christian. Maybe you have already started that walk and you realize that lately you've been directing your own steps and you would like the prayers of the church. When we look at what we've discussed this evening, when we look at our own lives, we look at the lives of others, I hope and I pray that we are all able to say, praise be to God that it is not in man to direct his own steps.
If we can help you, please not hesitate to let your need be made known by contacting us.