I will hear what God the Lord will say;
For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones;
But let them not turn back to folly.
Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,
That glory may dwell in our land.
...
Indeed, the Lord will give what is good,
And our land will yield its produce.
Righteousness will go before Him
And will make His footsteps into a way.
Psalm 85:8-9, 12-13
The image in verse 13 strikes me deeply:
Righteousness will go before Him and will make His footsteps into a way.
His own footsteps become our way -- not the process of following in them, but His own footsteps, because He is the way.
But what on earth does this mean in practical terms? I for one don't need a Christianity that only deals in abstractions; apparently neither does God.
The other day God added another dimension to the image. Taking Louie Giglio up on his advice at the end of "Fear Must Fall," I began soaking in Psalm 23. It's so familiar, most of us could recite it in our sleep, but I had never noticed that in verse 3b...
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
...the word "paths" literally means "tracks." This made me think of a reflection I posted here on "tracks" a couple of years ago, concerning Psalm 65. The metaphor is cool enough to bear repeating, so I hope you don't mind if I link to that post ("Wagon tracks," August 2012). In Psalm 23, the image is even more intimate, because the tracks are made by the feet of our Shepherd.
How is this practical? It's practical because the Christian life is a process of learning to let Him walk in our feet. And wherever His feet make genuine contact, deep healing begins. In a world where the level of anxiety seems to intensify by the day, what could be more practical?