God-directed, God-prepared

I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your laws. I will hurry, without delay, to obey your commands. Evil people try to drag me into sin, but I am firmly anchored to your instructions. (Psalm 119:59-61)

Pondering involves more than a fleeting thought. It indicates one carefully considers what is happening and the choices before them before they even make a decision to act. Direction is determined by focus. Focus is determined by both the mind and the heart. One or the other of those can lead us astray at times, getting our focus all muddled up. Pondering the direction our choices are about to lead us, and the potential end results of those actions can save us a whole lot of misery.

God's plan is for our 'pondering' to drive us to explore his Word. Finding direction there might just keep us from making many unwise choices. Evil comes at us from any direction, so being alert to its encroachment into our lives is quite important. We often don't recognize evil's approach because we have neglected to 'ponder' the direction our life is taking by spending time in his Word and listening to what he has to say to us through it.

Back in the day, people used to spend a great deal of time 'pondering' the steps they should take at the beginning of each new year. They'd give some time to considering their financial, relational, and spiritual goals. Why? It set a target for the upcoming days and months. Both short- and long-term goals would be set. Steps might have been outlined to actually help them realize those goals. We might learn something from that process, my friends. The more clearly we establish where we want to be headed, defining the steps that will help us get there, the more likely we will be to actually achieve those goals.

Obedience isn't accidental. It is purposeful (planned in advance). How can we expect to resist temptation when it comes, or endure testing if it is upon us, if we haven't a prepared plan? We may not know all the steps, but we have a general guideline that will help us stay focused and on task with what God wants for our lives. What could dissuade evil from influencing us better than having a God-directed, God-prepared plan for our lives? Nothing! Just sayin!