Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. – Psalm 37:5, King James Version (KJV)

The Bible is clear that God is sovereign over His creation, which means that He has complete and total power to control what does and does not happen on Earth. But if we are not careful, we can let God’s sovereignty lull us into an unholy attitude of spiritual slothfulness.

Just as clearly as the Bible teaches us that God is sovereign, the Bible teaches that God has created mankind with a free will.  The Creator made us with the ability to make choices, and He did so because He did not want robots for children. Instead, He wanted thinking beings who could choose whether or not to fellowship with Him. If we abdicate (cast off, relinquish) our responsibility to choose His way of life over our own, then we will live life with the philosophy that “it doesn’t matter what I do or don’t do because God is in control.” Such thinking leads to attitudes like, “It doesn’t matter if I tell that person about God because, if God wants him saved, He’ll save him.” Or, we might think, “It doesn’t matter if I read my Bible or not because God will make me do the right things regardless of whether or not I study His Word.”

Psalm 37:5 rebuts such philosophies. Although God is very capable of directing our steps whether we want Him to or not, verses like Psalm 37:5 and Psalm 37:23 indicate that God has limited Himself to guiding our steps only after we choose to commit those steps to His care. The commitment begins with the choice to accept Christ as Saviour, but it doesn’t end there. After salvation, we must commit daily to continue following His lead. For example, we can choose Christ as Savior but refuse to accept His call to the mission field. We can accept His call to the mission field but refuse to do all of the things on the mission field that He shows us to do. He can direct us to witness to a needy soul, but we can say, “no.” He can direct us to provide a meal to someone in need, but we can say, “I’m too busy.” The bottom line? Before God can guide us, we have to commit to following His lead.

This really isn’t hard to grasp when we consider that God doesn’t force anyone to choose salvation over damnation.  God offers salvation, and then He gives us the choice whether or not to accept it.  Likewise, God offers to guide our steps so that we will not stumble, but it is up to us to accept His offer of help.

Are you daily committing your steps to God’s care? Or, are you holding onto your burdens, thinking that you are better equipped to handle them than God is? If you want God to direct your steps in the best order possible, you must yield leadership of your life over to Him, and you must make the commitment to yield to His leadership every day.