Perils on Life’s Pathway, September 8
Perils on Life’s Pathway, September 8
Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. Psalm 17:5.
At this time above all others the paths of life are beset with perils that I cannot find language to describe. In a single departure from the path of sanctified principle Satan obtains an advantage, and he leads on and on, farther and farther from right and truth....
Not for any soul living, be he young or old, is there security from the temptations of Satan, and those who choose to bind up with unholy men will imbibe their spirit and bear similar fruit. The only safety for any one of us is in walking humbly with God, in going where the Master leads the way....
We need to pray without ceasing. Let the heart long after God. Let the heart go out in daily, hourly prayer, believing, trusting, holding on to the promise, saying as did Jacob, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me” (Genesis 32:26). “Hold up my goings in thy paths,” O God, “that my footsteps slip not” into the pitfalls which men have dug for my feet.
The removal of one safeguard from the conscience, the failure to do the very thing that the Lord has marked out, one step in the path of wrong principle, often leads to an entire change of the life and action.... We are safe only in following where Christ leads the way. The path will grow clearer, brighter and brighter, unto the perfect day.
Man’s business is to work in cooperation with God. Alone, his feet will slip, in apparently the safest path. We cannot walk one step safely in mere human wisdom. If we would walk without fear, we must know that the hand of Jesus Christ holds our own firmly. And we can only know this by searching the Word of the living God....
God desires that men shall feel their dependence upon Him and trust to that Hand that can save to the uttermost, that Heart that throbs in response to the appeals of suffering humanity. We must not trust in man or make flesh our arm. Our trust must be placed in a Hand that is warm with life and a Heart that throbs with love for the helpless. [259]