![[Photo of a man walking with a walker]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/walking_with_a_walker.jpg)
| Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! |
| —Psalm 143:10 |
As small children, when we’re learning to walk, nothing challenges us more than trying to walk on uneven ground. Eventually, as we gain more confidence and develop a greater sense of balance, we can walk on the most uneven ground without any difficulty whatsoever.
Imagine my surprise when, at age 54 in 2001, I began to experience difficulty walking on even the most simple uneven ground. Admittedly, my extreme obesity played a role in this growing challenge. I also found myself three years into what eventually became a 19-year-long fight against a chronic infection in my right foot. But, the most significant contributor to my increasing inability to walk easily came from the osteo-arthritis that had begun to afflict my legs, hips, and back. I had become an “old man” before my time.
Now, 19 years later, I can only walk with the aid of a walker. In 2017, a very skillful surgeon amputated my right leg below the knee in order to rid my body of that long siege of infection. Even though a very competent, talented, and highly trained prosthetist has fitted me with a prosthetic right leg, with the effect of osteo-arthritis still raging, I cannot keep my balance well enough to walk without a walker. In fact, for travel more than a few dozen feet, particularly when I am out of my home, I use a powered wheelchair.
Please understand, I am not writing these words to gain sympathy—quite to the contrary. I am very grateful to God that He has seen me through the many physical trials that I have had over the past 22 years. I am also keenly aware that my own difficulties pale in comparison to the health issues that many others face in their own lives. I did write the above paragraphs because I believe they give me particular insight into the words the Psalmist wrote in the verse quoted at the beginning of this blog post.
The Psalmist has issued words of prayer, asking God to teach him the importance and absolute necessity of doing God’s will. And, in order to accomplish that goal—so necessary for proper Christian formation—the Psalmist asks God to let His good Spirit lead the Psalmist on level ground. This short prayer contains words that illustrate profound truths.
First of all, God created us because He wanted to have fellowship with a creature who could love Him and serve Him. His very act of creating us stands as an act of His divine, unfailing, undying love. God-breathed (agape) love flows out from God and into us through the very act of His having created us. The easiest thing for us to do would be for us to love God in return. Yet, the first created humans chose to ignore God’s simple requirement of not eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowlege of Good and Evil. Their sin erected a barrier that prevented them from loving God.
And yet, this sinful act, which has passed down to us through our parents, did not prevent God from continuing to love us. In fact, He loves us so very much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to become a human and to die on the cruel cross of Calvary in order to pay the penalty for our sin. His incarnation, sinless life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension secured for us victory over sin, death, and Satan.
With our sins forgiven, we can now love God through absolute obedience to His perfect will for our lives. But wait—in this world we still bear the curse of sin from Adam. We call this curse our “sin nature.” Even in our forgiven state, we still possess a natural bent toward sin. So, the only way we can walk in obedience to God’s perfect will for us is to receive the help of God’s Holy Spirit.
This brings us to the second part of the verse above. The Psalmist prays: “Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” In other words, please allow the Holy Spirit to make the pathway of my life as smooth, straight, and level as possible. Let the Spirit keep the ground level beneath my feet so that I will not stumble and fall. Keep me moving forward on the pathway You have laid out for me so that I will be able to obediently do Your perfect will.
While I can no longer physically walk on my own without the help of my walker, even on perfectly level ground, I can pray this prayer of the Psalmist for my spiritual walk. And, because of my infirmity, I know the very important role that level ground plays in successful walking.
I invite you to join me in praying the Psalmist’s prayer:
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
