The Taming of the Shoes

"Wear shoes on your feet which are the Good News of peace.". Ephesians 6:15


The straightest path in life is the one which follows God's will. Each person must discern that path for himself, and can only do so with the help of the Holy Spirit.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.". Psalm 119:105. David is telling us here that God's word will unerringly direct our footsteps. Trouble quickly arises, however when I am distracted by things in the world which cause me to leave God's illuminated path.

I am thinking about about a dog who is walking with his master along a well beaten path though
the woods. Suddenly the scent of a rabbit catches his attention and he is off in hot pursuit. Soon he becomes lost and hopelessly tangled in briars, for he cannot go where the rabbit goes, but...he thought he could. Eventually he may make his way home to his master, but when he returns, he is beaten and worn, covered with mud and bleeding. Am I so different? I submit to you that I am not. The biblical account of the prodigal son tells me so.

When I was a teen I had a dog who ran off dragging her chain. For three days she failed to return and I went out every night looking for her and listening in the still of the night. On the third night, I heard her plaintiff cries. I grabbed a flashlight and with my dad in tow, ran headlong into the frozen winter woods. When I finally found her, her chain was wrapped hopelessly around a tree. I shudder to think of the painful cold death she would have suffered had I not been able to locate her.

Fortunately for us, God always hears our plaintiff cries, when we become hopelessly entangled in our messes. His word is designed not to keep us from enjoying our lives, but to keep us safe. Just as the chain was designed to keep my dog within the safety of our backyard, so it is with God's will for my life. If I catch the scent of wrong things in the world and take off after them, it will not be long before I become entangled in briars or my chain gets wrapped around a tree.

God's path for me is so gentle that I do not need shoes to protect my tender feet. Should I decide to leave it, however, I had better don boots to cope with the rugged terrain. So I guess in addition to taming my tongue, I need to tame my feet, to keep them from carrying me to a place where I cannot easily hear God's voice. Fortunately for me, however, should my chain ever get hopelessly tangled around a tree, God will grab His flashlight and come to lead me back home!