Narrow the Gait
May 3, 2012
A few years ago a friend of mine used to walk around a track with her father and everyone who watched them remarked how much alike they “walked”. If you had been a visitor to the gym on any given day the two of them were there, you would have no problem identifying the relationship between them. She was immediately recognized as her father’s daughter. Everyone knew WHOSE she was without even asking to be introduced.
A person’s gait is significant. John Wayne, an American actor who began his career in the early 1930s, had a distinctive swagger. Fashion models are paid to sashay down the runway, and who can forget the stumbling stagger of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? Scientists from the University of Southampton, a research and teaching college in the UK, have recently implemented a computer program that can compare an individual’s walking style with criminals caught on security footage leaving the scene of a crime. The technique is called “gait walk” and the possibilities for the use of it are endless and not only in the area of police work.
As we continue “walking” through the pages of the Bible to find instruction on how we should walk, you might not even consider stopping in the book of Leviticus. However, nestled in chapter 26 is a tender picture of God, and the promises He makes for those who walk in His way:
“1 You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.
2 You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the LORD. 3 If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, 4 then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. 5 Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land. 6 I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land.”
Notice the first thing God does is to remind His wayward children to not make idols for themselves. Isn’t it interesting that the very thing we place in front of our allegiance to God, an idol who can’t walk or talk, is the very thing that causes us to stumble? God tells all those who are listening, “If you walk in My statutes…” This is a conditional clause. If we walk in His way, then there will be some guaranteed results.
How we walk is significant. We give clues to who we are and whose we are by our gait. If we are walking with God, we begin to look like Him. We exhibit His ways. We keep His commandments. We don’t journey alone because we are with Him at all times and we learn to keep His Holy pace. There’s a great difference between just living and walking, especially if we are walking with the Lord. When someone sees me out walking, I hope they think I favor my Father. (ct)