July 21, 2026
The Steps
Psalm 37:23 – “The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him.”
The steps between a parking lot and a building entrance are easy to walk past without giving them a second thought. You park, you gather your things, and you move toward the door without any particular awareness of the transition happening beneath your feet. But the entrance is not at the same level as the parking lot, and the steps are the only way to close that gap. There is no arriving at the door without first taking what stands between where you parked and where you are trying to go.
What makes steps worth thinking about is their nature. You cannot take two of them at once without risk, and you cannot skip from the bottom to the top without covering the ones in between. Each step is its own commitment, its own moment of weight transfer from where you were to where you are going. And each one has to be taken before the next one becomes available. The third step does not reveal itself until you have committed to the second, and the second requires that you have already left the first behind.
God consistently works with people that way. The level He is trying to bring someone to is rarely accessible from where they are currently standing without something being required of them in between. Abraham did not arrive at the father of nations from his hometown in one movement. David did not go from the shepherd’s field to the throne without years of preparation in between that looked nothing like a throne. Each step in those journeys was its own season, its own demand, its own opportunity to either commit or turn back toward the parking lot.
The entrance is up there. The steps are what God uses to get you there, and none of them can be skipped without consequence.
Today’s Prayer: Lord, give me the patience to take the steps You have set before me without demanding the entrance before I have earned the climb. Amen.
Reflection Question: What step is currently in front of you that you have been hesitant to take?