Psalm 37:23

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

To better understand this verse we must read it as it was intended to be read.

Psalm 37:23 reads:

“The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.”

The word ‘good’ was inserted there by the translators to help us get a better understanding of what God is telling us. Although the king James translators for the most part do an excellent job in supplying us with helps in understanding the verse at hand, in this particular instance it would have been better if they were to leave it alone. We must remember that God is sovereign in all that He does and there is nothing that is outside of His control. Isaiah 46:9-11 reads:

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,and I will do all my pleasure:

Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”

Remember also what God said of Pharaoh in Romans 9:17? So by reading these preceding verses we can conclude most definitely that God is in control of all things.

Three Points:

1. God delights in His way. Jeremiah 9:24

“But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.”

2. The believer delights in God’s way. Psalm 40:8

“I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”

3. God delights in the believers way. 1 John 3:22

“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”

In 1 Corinthians 15:10 we read the Apostle Paul speaking of the zeal he had for the work of the Lord. But this work came from God Himself who made His abode within Paul as He does to every born again believer.

"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me”

Pastor Alfred J. Chompff