Ponder the Path of Your Feet

Eduardo Elizondo—February 8, 2025

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This message is based on Prov. 4:26 where we receive an instruction to ponder the path of our feet! We're going to read what it says here, and we're going to talk about:

• What does it mean to ponder the path of our feet?
• What else does the Proverb say about this matter?

Because God says more things about pondering the path of our feet!

• How do we do this?
• Are there any examples of anybody that has done that?
• What does it mean for a walk with God?

Proverbs 4:26: "Ponder the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established."

Obviously, there are more instructions in the book of Proverbs about keeping God in mind in everything that we do! that we would remember God in everything that we do.

The Bible also says to pray without ceasing! There are a lot of instructions about pondering the path of our feet. But what does that mean? It means:

• to look where we're walking
• to be conscious
• to be focused
• to have purpose
  • in the things that we do
  • in the things that we say

not in just what we say but

• how we say it
• to whom do we say it
• to have that level of consciousness of what we're doing

Because God wants us to ponder the path of our feet!

It all starts with the Word of God, and with what He wants to show us in His Word.

In Prov. 5 there is a lot of talk about running away from the wanton woman; basically the entire chapter is about the wanton woman. We're going to see something about the wanton woman, specifically related to pondering the path of our feet!

Proverbs 5:6: "She does not ponder the path of life; her ways are unstable—you cannot know them."

So here it's talking about "…the path of life…" There is a path of life! We read just right before in Prov. 4 that we have to "Ponder the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established."

Here it says that this wanton woman "…does not ponder the path of life…"

If we are like the wanton woman, or we come involved with the wanton woman, we're NOT going to ponder the path of our feet. We're NOT going to ponder the path of life!

There's something very important that it says about God and about pondering our paths:

Proverbs 5:21: "For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He ponders ALL his paths."

It doesn't mean some of his paths just when LORD remembers us and when He's paying attention. No! No!

"For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He ponders ALL his paths."

He ponders our paths! Why? Because we are the most important thing to Him! We are His precious children, and He's watching:

• where we're walking
• where we're going
• to see what we're doing
• to see how we're doing it
• to shape our heart and mind
  • according to His will
  • according to His purpose
  • according to what He wants to do with us to develop in us the mind of Jesus Christ

But do we have that consciousness to: "Ponder the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established."

This is not just something that we do. It's also something that God desires and God requires! Not only that we ponder the path of our feet, but we're going to see what it says in Micah 6 about walking with God! This is a very well known Scripture.

Micah 6:8: "He has shown you, O man, what is good.  And you and I, brethren, have learned, are learning what is good…."

• the Word of God
• the Commandments of God
• the ways of God
• the Plan of God
• the enormity of His purpose and His plan

But how we also consider in a personal relationship

• how much God loves us personally
• how much He loves you
• how much He wants your life to be changed
• with every thought
• with every word
• with every action that you take

"…And what does the LORD require of you but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?" (v 8).

• He has shown us the justice
• He has shown us His Commandments
• He has opened our eyes to see that all His Commandments are righteousness for justice, that we love mercy

Not only that we understand the Laws of God, but we know how to apply them. That we love mercy, that we will love being like God to extend mercy:

• to be compassionate
• to forgive others like we have been forgiven

That's what God wants! And not only to do justice, but: "…to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (v 8).

That's what He requires of us, that we walk humbly with Him. And to do that, we have to ponder the path of our feet!

We're going to read a couple of verses in the Psalms that are very important. These are actually examples of David, that he actually did this. He pondered the path of his feet! In pondering the path of his feet and having that close relationship with God, God inspires some amazing prophecies! Mind-blowing!

When we read and analyze these examples of somebody who was walking humbly with his God, who was actually pondering the path of his feet! We see the thoughts! We will see some amazing things that link together and some aspects of life, that hopefully they help us to do the same thing:

• to ponder the path of our feet
• to remember these things

Not just word-for-word the words of these Psalms, but also:

• our own experiences
• our own pleas
• our own victories

That God gives us, because God wants us to experience everything, to be fully developed and fully mature!

It's about living, as well, not just about knowing, but it is about applying what we learn and to walk with Him and to get to know Him in the process.

In Psa. 21:1 we can see that this entire Psalm is about:

• the thoughts
• the Plan of God
• a prophecy of Christ

This is the Psalm of David! Let's read it to understand what it looks like to ponder the path of our feet, to have our thoughts on God!

Psalm 21:1: "The king shall rejoice in Your strength, O LORD; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!"

This is an amazing thing when we think about: Do we rejoice in the strength of the Lord? Because God will deliver us! God will save us:

• even if we have to go through trials
• even if we have to go through afflictions

And we will, but through everything that we have to go through, the strength of God will be unchanged and unmatched!

And in the salvation, how greatly shall He rejoice? So, David had his eyes on God and on the goal and says:

Verse 2: "You have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the prayer of his lips. Selah."

And why is he talking about third person? Because this is also a prophecy of Christ, because Christ was going to come and He was going to see the same thing.

We can see the heart of David and we can see the prophecy of Christ, that Christ was going to do this, that the king shall rejoice in your strength and in your salvation, "…how greatly shall He rejoice."

That's exactly what Jesus did, and God the Father did the same thing.

Verse 2: "You have given him His Heart's desire and have not withheld the prayer of His lips. Selah."

God the Father granted Jesus Christ what He needed, because this is what He needed to have.

Jesus Christ had to have the salvation firmly in His eyes to endure all the rejection, the accusations, the persecution, and ultimately the great beating and sacrifice when He gave His life for all of us.

This is David pondering the path of his feet, but not only pondering that, but focused on God! This is what it is: it's setting His ways straight with God and focusing on God!

Let's continue reading this Psalm, because this entire Psalm shows what it is to ponder that. That's why it says Selah after v 2. It's think about this!

• think about the salvation of God
• think about the answer that God is going to give to your prayers

Verse 3: "For You do meet him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold on his head."

Was this David talking about when he was crowned king? Perhaps! But this obviously is a prophecy about Christ. This is the meeting of God with the blessings of goodness. David knew that:

• everything that he had was from God
• every battle that he fought was won by God
• he didn't win his own battles

Verse 4: "He asked life from You; You give to him length of days forever and ever."

We understand that this is a prophecy about Christ, but it also will apply to David, and brethren, this will also apply to you and me! Because it says in Revelation that the firstfruits—the saints, the ones who overcome—will reign with Christ for a thousand years.

Verse 5: "His glory is great through Your salvation; honor and majesty You have laid upon him."

To understand what God really wants to do with us and to have that fixed firmly in our minds. So that we're not only pondering the path of our feet, but as we do that, to have all these things ever present in our mind!

Verse 6: "For You have made him most blessed forever; You made him exceedingly joyful with Your presence."

That is the most amazing thing when we bask in the glory of God and when we admire:

• His power
• His beauty
• His excellence

The excellence of everything that He has written for us, inspired, when He answers our prayers directly, involved in the little details.

Just stop and think on all the prayers that God has answered for you, even before you ask! That is what makes us joyful with His presence, because we have the Holy Spirit within us.

Verse 7: "For the king trusts in the LORD and in the mercy of the Most High; he shall not be moved."

• David acknowledged that there was the Lord and The Most High
• he acknowledged Jesus Christ and God the Father
• he acknowledged all of these things

and that he would not be moved!

Verse 8: "Your hand shall find all Your enemies; Your right hand shall find those who hate You."

He's first talking about the purpose and the Plan of God, but then he's talking about what is going to happen to all the wicked.

We're seeing a lot of wicked right now, a lot of wickedness coming out. But God is going to be the One Who takes revenge and He's going to avenge the blood of His saints! It says, you shall make it; this is how:

Verse 9: "You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger; the LORD will swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them."

This is what is going to happen. That's where Christ is going to come in that white horse with that sword to devour the mighty, the kings and the nobles of the earth.

Verse 10: "Their offspring shall You destroy from the earth, and their descendents from among the sons of men; for they intended evil against You; they imagined a wicked thing which they are not able to perform" (vs 10-11).

They thought that they had the control of the world and they're going to see that that's not the case. That this world really is going to be reigned by Jesus Christ at His return.

Verse 12: "For You shall make them turn their back; You shall aim Your arrows upon Your strings against their faces."

This is exactly what is going to happen. So, as we ponder the path of our feet:

• think about these things
• think about the future
• think about what's coming

because that is more certain than anything else in your life; that the plan of God is going to be carried out!

We have to do our part in yielding to God, in coming and walking humbly with Him:

• so that we know Him
• so that we can rejoice in His presence
• so that we can get to know Him
• so that we can learn from Him
• so that we internalize that in everything that we do, so that we say:
• how we do it
• how we say it

That everything that we are, being shaped by His Word through the Holy Spirit in us!

Verse 13: "Be exalted, O LORD, in Your strength; so we will sing and praise Your power."

That's the very first thing we're going to do on the Sea of Glass; Sing the Song of the Lamb and the Song of Moses. that is one of the examples of how we ponder the path of our feet!

God wants us to focus on the Kingdom. He wants us to have that very, very present in our minds: that that is going to happen!  And not only that, but that God is with us now:

• He's shaping our thoughts
• He's shaping our character, our mind, our heart
• with His Spirit
• with His Word

to empower us to change, real change in our lives!

But we're going to see in Psa. 22 some verses to show that trials will come. Undoubtedly, they came for Jesus Christ, because this is a prophecy of the crucifixion.

This is what David wrote; he was inspired to write the words of Jesus Christ:

Psalm 22:1: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me, and why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?"

God also wants us to experience trials and challenges, and we will. He wants us to do this:

Verse 2: "O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not answer; and in the night season, and am not silent."

• sometimes we're going to feel like that
• sometimes we're going to cry with our whole might because of our trial

It's big! It's great! God wants that!

God wants for us to draw closer to Him in the trials and in the afflictions. That is going to do so much:

• for our faith
• for the changing of our minds
• for relying on God
• for trusting God
• for believing God and acting upon it

Verse 11: "Be not far from Me; for trouble is near, for there is none to help. Many bulls have encircled around Me; strong bulls of Bashan have surrounded Me. They opened wide their mouths at Me, like a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws" (vs 11-15).

How many times have we actually felt like this?: that we've been in the midst of a fiery trial or affliction tribulation, but God wants us to cry out to Him because He is going to deliver us. and He wants to prove to us that He is there. But that sometimes He has to let us go through these things; He has to let us go through adversity because IF:

• we don't face adversity
• we don't develop that confidence
• we don't develop that trust
• everything is well
  • What do we have to trust?
  • What faith are we going to develop?
  • What strength are we going to get from Him
    • IF we have it all?
    • IF things are going great?

We are going to face trials! They are going to come or they're already coming, but they are needed. God wants for us to ponder the path of our feet in understanding that those things are opportunities:

• to draw closer to God
• to learn from God
• to trust firmly in Him
• to come out of that trial stronger than ever

That's what happened to David time and time and time again with Goliath and with running from Saul. Then later running from his own children! But trial after trial after trial, God was delivering him!

That's why his faith grew and grew, and his love for God grew every time that he came through a trial! This is to see some other things in here that these afflictions, these trials are real, but this is part of pondering the path of our feet when we allow ourselves to feel, when we allow ourselves to be who we are and share it to God, to pour out our heart before God. This is between you and God. This is a private thing.

Verse 20: "Deliver My soul from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. Save Me from the lion's mouth; yea, and from the wild ox's horns. You have answered Me" (vs 20-21).

Why? Because God always answers! We rely on the past times when He has answered us, as we ponder the path of our feet, that He will answer us again, that He is faithful, that He will never leave us nor forsake us, as He says in Hebrews. That's what we have to do.

We have to remember the answer of God, His response. Because this is what's going to happen:

Verse 23: "You who fear the LORD, praise Him; all of you, the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and stand in awe of Him all of you, the seed of Israel."

You are the seed of Israel! We are the seed of Israel! God wants us to glorify Him, to come from the trial stronger, and we will!

We see how this Psalm is changing from the midst of the trial, the thick of the trial, to then glorifying God! Now this last part of the Psalm is also focusing on the future, being convinced that it will happen. Seeing the Plan of God.

Verse 27: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD…"

Why will they remember and turn to the Lord? Because there is no other! They're going to see that the way of God is the best way.

"…and all the families of the nations shall worship before You… [this is going to happen] …for the Kingdom is the LORD'S and He rules over the nations" (vs 27-28). This is a prophecy that's going to happen!

Verse 29: "All the rich of the earth shall eat and worship; all those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him; even he who cannot keep his own soul alive." We depend on God for everything!

Verse 30—this is a prophecy: "A seed shall serve Him; it shall be told of the LORD to the coming generation. They shall come and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall yet be born, that He has done this" (vs 30-31).

• that He has delivered us
• that He is bringing us to His Kingdom

But we have to go through that conversion process. And in doing that, we have to ponder the path of our feet. We have to remember that:

• God has a plan
• God is never going to leave us nor forsake us

Psa. 23 is so important because it really shows this pondering of the path of the feet of David! When he realizes this is bringing the big picture. Psa. 21 is like the prophecies and what is going to happen. Then you go through trials, but in the end you will see the big picture like David saw it here:

Psalm 23:1: "The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want…. [not lacking anything] …He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters" (vs 1-2)—because that's what it's going to be!

There is a river in New Jerusalem that is going to flow and those waters are going to be flowing from the Throne of God, and He's going to lead us there!

Verse 3: "He restores my soul..."  He will restore our soul through a spirit body, from a physical body!

"…He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake" (v 3).

This is all for the glory of God, to show what He can do with the weak and base things, which we are, as it says in 1 Cor.

Verse 4: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." That's what God will do!

• He will comfort you
• He will settle you
• He will give you peace in the midst of the trial
• He will remind you that He has a plan
• He will remind you that this all has a purpose

He's going to bring you through much stronger than when you went into that trial.

Verse  5: "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies…"

In the Kingdom of God, in the presence of all the elite of the world. It's not for us to just be glorying and looking for fame! NO! It's:

• to worship God
• to be thankful to God for everything that He's doing

and that He will do for His own name's sake

• to show that if He can do it with us, He can do it with anyone that yields to Him

"…You anoint my head with oil… [because we will be kings and priests] …my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life… [for all eternity] …and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD… [here confirms it]: ...forever" (vs 5-6)

That is the Plan of God That is what God wants us to ponder, to think about! That is more real than:

• everything that we have
• everything that we are
• everything that we go through

The reality is, God is going to make His Plan a reality! He's going to bring His children to His Kingdom, into glory. He wants you in there. But in this life:

• we are to ponder the path of our feet
• we are to remember the Plan of God
• we are to suffer
• we are to express ourselves

That is what we've been called to, to suffer, but with a purpose:

• to be developed
• to change
• to be transformed in our mind
• so that we can truly have that relationship with God
• so we can truly walk humbly with our God as we're pondering the path of our feet

He will establish all of our ways!

Scriptural References:

• Proverbs 4:26
• Proverbs 5:6, 21
• Micah 6:8
• Psalm 21:1-13
• Psalm 22:1-2, 11-15, 20-21, 27-31
• Psalm 23:1-6

EE:bo/po
Transcribed: 2/12/25

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