LORD, KEEP MY HEART FROM TURNING BACK

LORD, KEEP MY HEART FROM TURNING BACK

Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way

Psalm 44:18 (ESV)

It was a humid morning in the desert as I hiked along a popular local trail. There were a number of other people out hiking, even though it was midweek in August.

I adjusted my backpack as I headed up a steep incline.  I was about to begin a series of switchbacks as I passed two young women who had stopped to have some water.

“Is the entire trail like that?” One of the women asked me as she pointed to the ascending zigzag pattern of the trail.

I smiled, giving them my attention as I described what they could expect for the remainder of the journey to the top.

“You aren’t far from the top,” I said, doing my best to be encouraging as the one who had asked the question looked weary.

We exchanged well wishes for a good day and I continued on my way. A short time later I looked back and saw the two women in conversation. The weary looking one was listening as her friend gestured toward the trail, taking another sip from her water bottle.

It wasn’t long before I realized I didn’t hear any steps or voices behind me. As I came to a turn in the trail; which gave me a good view of where I had been, I saw the two women—they had turned back.

As I continued on my journey, I couldn’t help but think about the two who had turned back and the views on the way up they would not get to experience and the joy of reaching the top they were going to miss out on. The sun was just peering over the mountains in the east, and the foothills above me had turned golden; the craggy faces below them still in dawn’s shadow.  It was there I became aware of His Presence and my heart smiled.

He helped my hurried spirit to slow down as He drew my attention to the beauty He had created: a lizard poked its head from his hiding place beneath a rock and then just as quickly disappeared from view. A songbird I could not identify filled the morning with its song of joy. A tiny yellow flower had bloomed out of a crack in a rock, and though it would be gone before noon, it reached its petals heavenward right where He had planted it.

My heart bowed as I whispered, “Lord, thank you for the beauty you made and for a new day. Thank you for the ability and the time to be out here enjoying it.”

We walked in companionable silence up the last of the very steep inclines on the way to the top. This is the part where I often want to find a nice boulder and sit down. I leaned into the hill and kept going.

“Lord,” I said softly, a bit out of breath from the climb. He never gets out of breath—no matter how humid the air or how steep the path.

“Yes?”

“All this hiking upward reminds me of what Paul wrote to the church at Philippi.” My heart glanced up to see if He knew what I was talking about. Of course He did. He is the one who gave the words to Paul to write.

You can find it in Philippians 3 if you want to grab your Bible and join us. Don’t forget your hiking shoes and plenty of water.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13,14 (ESV)

Memories tugged at my mind of times the path of my Christian walk seemed all uphill; the past sometimes loomed large on the trail; memories of past sin coming down on my heart like a landslide. There was also a time when I had left His path altogether and gone my own way. He went looking for me—sending out a search party in the form of loved ones who risked everything to reach me and bring me back.  Jesus had laid down His life for me—removing my sin as far as the east is from the west through His redemptive work on the cross.

Sweat mixed with tears stung my eyes as the magnitude of His grace and the new life He had given me washed over me afresh. We reached the top then and He joined me on a boulder overlooking the valley. Pulling His Word from my backpack I turned to a song written by the sons of Korah found in the Psalms. I stopped when I came to verse 18 and read the words out loud.

Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way

I knew that Jesus was the only One who could make such a statement. Everyone else has turned back and had chosen for themselves their own way instead of His. But by His grace I was walking on His path now, so I turned the words into a prayer.

My heart nestled deep into His Presence as we sat on that boulder high above the desert floor and I poured out my heart to Him.

“Lord, thank You for dying on the cross and then drawing me back to You. Thank You for grace and for forgiveness. I am so glad You have set my feet firmly on Your path. Help me as I walk it today. When it feels like an uphill climb and I am weary and my spirit is out of breath and I am tempted to turn back, encourage me by Your Spirit and bring others to walk alongside me that we may encourage one another on the way until that great day when we stand before You, face-to-face. I can’t wait to see the view and to sit on a boulder in heaven with You and take it all in—an eternal view where Living Water flows and hearts rejoice. Until that day, help my heart not to turn back. Amen.”

I stood, giving the view one more appreciative look as I pulled the straps of my backpack over my shoulders and headed into the day, my feet firmly planted on His path as I walked, knowing that true to His promise He was always with me. And my heart sored, “No turning back.”

An Original Conversations at the Well

© Copyright by Diana Morgan, September 2, 2013