Be Steadfast

Psalm 57:7 says "My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music." I thought I was drawn to that verse this morning simply because it talked about singing, and as many of you know by now, I LOVE music and especially singing! It is truly my passion and I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with that gift. I know there have been many times that the Lord has ministered to me through the words of a song. I am always in awe of how the right song will come on the radio just when I need it most.

After reading in Psalms, I decided to read my Proverb for the day. Proverbs 4: 25-27 really struck me today: "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil."

The first thought that came to my mind after reading those verses was to picture someone on a balance beam. Maybe God brought that to my mind because the Olympics will be starting at the end of this week. LOL! All I know is that it had to be from God because I am certainly NOT a gymnast and I wouldn't have thought of that analogy on my own! Anyway, I thought of being on a balance beam and how you have to make sure your feet are always placed directly on the beam. If your foot is off to the right or left just a little bit, it can throw you off balance and cause you to fall. Gymnasts don't need to even look down to know whether their foot has landed firmly on the beam or off to one side because they can FEEL the difference between the two immediately.

I then thought of how it says in verse 25 to look straight ahead and fix your gaze directly before you. I immediately thought about carrying a full glass of milk, hot tea or coffee, or any other beverage. I remember the first time someone told me that I shouldn't look at the glass I was carrying but instead I should LOOK UP so I could see where I wanted to get to. I thought they were crazy! I thought for sure I would spill stuff out of my glass, but I trusted the person enough to listen to them and try it. I walked right over to where I wanted to go and didn't spill a drop. Amazing!

After finishing my devotions, I decided that I wanted to look up the definition for the word steadfast to see exactly what it meant. I was fairly certain I knew what it meant, but for some reason I felt drawn to look it up. I decided I better listen to that little voice inside me telling me to get out the dictionary. Here are the five definitions that were listed for the word steadfast:

1. fixed in direction; steadily directed: a steadfast gaze.
2. firm in purpose, resolution, faith, attachment, etc., as a person: a steadfast friend.
3. unwavering, as resolution, faith, adherence, etc.
4. firmly established, as an institution or a state of affairs.
5. firmly fixed in place or position.

I almost had to laugh out loud as I saw how the verse in Psalms and the verses in Proverbs went together! We need to fix our eyes on the Lord so we can see where we are going. We will know if we stray off the path because it will feel different. As we walk on the firm paths and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we have the confidence and assurance of knowing we will not fall. This means our hearts as well are fixed on Jesus! No matter what comes our way, we can sing praises to our God because we know where we are headed and that He is with us all the way!