“You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.” Deuteronomy 13:4
Did you notice the action words in that verse? Fear…obey…listen…serve…hold fast.
I’ve never been one to just fall in line. It is hard for me to follow and I have a grave dislike for being part of “the crowd.” Yet, so often God says, “follow me,” beckoning me to leave my own desires aside and fall in line with His will. At times I feel like it is against my natural bend, but in the end I have to realize that following Him actually sets me a part for a specific purpose.
The steps to following God are simple in concept: fear, obey, listen, serve and hold fast. At first glance these may seem conquerable, but when you try, the tasks are much harder to act out.
Fear – to have a deep reverence for the Lord demands my humility.
Obey – to be able to take His direction means I have to be thoroughly familiar with His commandments.
Listen – to hear His voice requires intimacy in order to know what He sounds like when He speaks.
Serve – to serve Him with wild abandon calls for complete availability to His promoting at any moment.
Hold fast – to cling to Him with my entire self to the depths of my soul means I have to trust His sovereignty.
Five key words essential to my response: Humility…familiarity…vulnerability…availability… sovereignty.
It is petrifying to follow hard after God, but I know there are no other options. Though His steps are overwhelming at times, there is nowhere else I rather plant my feet then in His footprints as He walks before me.
