Daily Walking Close To Thee
Julia Bettencourt
"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation. Selah." Psalm 68:19
It's the start of a New Year so we all begin thinking towards those resolutions. Actually I am not a big fan of
them. I think that we generally don't follow them anyway. When we really resolve to do something to change
our lives, it is usually at a time in our life when we are to the point that we see the need for change. Of
course if a resolution works for you, then great!
A resolution usually means that we want to resolve to improve or better ourselves and that's always good,
especially in the spiritual areas of our lives. I'm always for anything to improve our lives and relationships
with our Lord. When it boils down to it, bettering ourselves as Christians involves bettering our relationships
with God. We have to draw closer to Him before we can improve our Christian lives. Sure we can make a
New Year's resolution to do that but I think just resolving, day by day, gets the job done in a better way.
Do you remember the old hymn? "Just a Closer Walk With Thee." I can remember that playing off a record
when I was little. Okay, some of you don't know what those are? Round things us ancient people used to
play on machines that went round and round called record players. An old form of a cd:) We had a record in
our family, I think by Tennessee Ernie Ford with that old song on it and I can remember learning the words
when I was quite young.
I am weak but Thou art strong, Jesus keep me from all wrong;
I'll be satisfied as long, As I walk let me walk close to Thee!
Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be dear Lord, Let it be.
Whenever I think of that song it always turns my thoughts toward David. You all know how I just love Biblical
characters as we can learn so much from them and David is among my favorites. There are several
passages in Scripture where we can see that David lived the day-by-day way to be closer to God. Yes, he
was human and had his faults but he had some good practices in his life.
- First of all David prayed daily.
Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray,
and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice." Psalm 55:17
- Secondly, David realized the benefit of God's daily blessings.
"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation. Selah." Psalm 68:19
- Thirdly, He praised God daily.
"And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the
gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually;
and daily shall he be praised." Psalm 72:15
The second verse of "Just a Closer Walk" is as follows:
Thru this world of toil and snares, If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares? None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.
Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it Jesus is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
- Fourthly, David learned that he needed to rely on God daily.
David sure went through some "snares" in his life and he too knew that when all else went out the window
the only one left who cared was God. "None but Thee" as in the song.
"Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that
fight against me, O thou most High. What time I am afraid,
I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust;
I will not fear what flesh can do unto me." Psalm 56:1-4
In conclusion, the last verse of the song talks about when this day by day life is over.
When my feeble life is o'er, Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o'er, To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.
Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it Jesus is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
Conclusion:
We've all got to live the Christian life just one day at a time. That in turn will cause us to have that
improvement in our Christian life that we all so greatly need. Just resolve to live better for God, day by day,
hour by hour, moment by moment and that will add up to our best for Him not only for this new year but for
our entire lives as well.
So, how close have you walked with the Lord today?
Copyright ©2001-2007 Julia Bettencourt
Scripture References are from the King James Version.
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