Don’t you love watching little kids run?
I mean they don’t run because they really need to up their fitness program.
They don’t run because they are trying to get their 10,000 steps a day in a shorter span of time.
They don’t run because they are trying to burn a few extra calories.
Little kids run because they want to. They run out of joy. They run because energy literally bubbles out of them.
Running in God’s Path
I’ve been reading Psalm 119. Every day I read a stanza–meditating on it, savoring it.
The other day I got to verse 32 and stopped.
“I run in the path of your commands for you have set my heart free.” (Psalm 119:32 NIV)
Immediately I pictured a little kid whose just been sitting in school all morning running out of the door out of sheer joy of being outside.
She runs because she is free.
What I found especially interesting is that just four verses earlier in the psalm, the writer says, “My soul is weary with sorrow” (verse 28). It sounds like he could barely walk because of sadness. How was it that he could now run?
I think the psalmist could run because he went to a reliable source of strength–God’s Word. He says:
“Strengthen me according to your law” (verse 28). Lord I know that Your Word is where I’m going to find the energy and the hope to keep going.
“I hold fast to your statutes, O Lord” (verse 31). Even though things look desperate, I’m clinging to Your promises.
“I run in the path of your commands” (verse 32). I‘m sticking to Your path, following the signposts in Your law.
So when you can barely walk look to God’s Word. Ask Him to give you hope and strength from Scripture. Cling to His promises.
Because when we look to God’s Word and listen to His voice, He sets our hearts free. That word free is from the Hebrew word rachab which means “to grow wide or large.” Some other versions use the phrase “enlarge my heart.” As God widens our hearts so that we can better understand His promises to us and more fully grasp His love, we no longer feel like we are plodding through life.
We are running on the path He has set out for us. Running out of joy.
Next step: How do you feel today: plodding on a path of sorrow or running full of joy? Pray that God will “enlarge your heart” so you can better understand His love and promises and run free in His joy.