Last week in Chaplain’s Corner I wrote about walking, putting one step in front of the other, walking in step with God.  In keeping with the concept of walking, let’s now think about walking with purpose, a journey if you will, with a definite destination.

We have at least four choices when we walk.  We can walk aimlessly, we can walk in a circle, we can walk away with purpose, or we can walk forward with purpose.

Proverbs says:  “She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it” (Proverbs 5:6). When walking aimlessly and not paying attention, we risk being seduced down a path that will lead to destruction.  When we are walking aimlessly, by definition we are not walking in step with Jesus.

Sometimes we walk in a circle.  This might also be described as a nonproductive routine or cycle.  Someone famous once said, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you always got.”  The implication from this circle or cycle is that we are not growing, not continuously improving and moving forward.

We can walk away with purpose.  This might feel like walking backwards or in a circle; however, it’s anything but that.  Proverbs advises: “Walk away from the company of fools, for you cannot find insight in their words” (Proverbs 14:7. The best example of walking away is when we repent, which is a change of mind about our sin and a change of direction regarding our actions.  This is an about-face, and is needed to get us back on track toward our desired destination.

And last of all, we can walk forward with purpose.  There are so many great stories in the Bible of walking with purpose. “So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him” (Genesis 12:4). Abraham’s purposefulness did not come from his own idea, but by staying in step with God.  And Abraham’s result was outlined in Genesis 12:2. “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing….”

What is instructive to me is that Abraham didn’t always walk in step with God.  Just a few verses later, we read “Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land” (Genesis 12:10). Nowhere in that passage does it mention that God told him to go to Egypt.  By taking matters into his own hands and going to Egypt, Abraham forfeited the blessing of seeing how God could provide in that situation, and he paid dearly for it.  When Pharaoh sent Abraham back home, he sent with him a slave named Hagar with whom Abraham fathered Ishmael.  This is what the angel of the LORD said about Ishmael:  “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand will be against him, and he will live in hostility toward all this brothers.”  Just think, Abraham could have avoided this if he had just listened and obeyed God during the famine. This is a good example of walking in a circle; Abraham literally made a round trip from Canaan to Egypt and back, and thankfully he got back in step with God.  The Bible says that when he returned, “There Abram called on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 13:4).

Abraham was a man of great faith, but even he stumbled when he did not walk in step with God.  I pray that you will walk with God; that you will walk with purpose, repenting of sin and moving forward on your path of righteousness and relationship with our LORD.  May you be able to say, like Paul, at the end of your life:  “ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

Blessings,

Judy