What Does It Mean to Let God Order My Steps? (Proverbs 16:9)

Verse of the day: "In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." Proverbs 16:9

Almost every day, I ask God to order my steps. Some mornings that is the first thing I do. Other days it comes back around before the day is over. In my head, that phrase had one meaning. I wanted a list. Tell me what to do today, in order, so I do not have to guess. I have learned that is not really what this verse is about, and I am still working through what it actually means.

The Lion Within, a YouVersion devotional, called this verse about submission. My first thought was, what does submission have to do with ordering my steps? But the narrator went somewhere I did not expect. He talked about how the world has turned submission into a dirty word, like it means weakness or losing yourself. He said the Holy Spirit corrected that for him. Submission is not about being weak. It is about surrendering because you trust completely.

I needed to hear that this week specifically. I had just watched a documentary about a pastor I strongly suspect harmed his wife. In the clips they showed, he had taken the word submission and twisted it into permission. Whatever he wanted to do was what counted, and he used scripture to make that sound holy. It disturbed me, watching a woman who clearly loved God, who was human and imperfect like the rest of us, trapped inside a version of submission that had nothing to do with trust and everything to do with control. I caught myself judging her for staying, and then I had to catch myself again, because judgment is something I am actively working on. It is not always easy to hear God's voice clearly when you are standing in the middle of a situation surrounded by other voices. It takes time to find the quiet.

So when the narrator described real submission through the picture of a horse and its owner, it made sense to me in a way it had not before. A horse trusts its owner completely, not because it is weak, but because it has learned that wherever the owner leads, it will be safe. That is the difference. Real submission comes from trust built over time. It is never about being forced into silence or handing over your voice to someone who does not have your good in mind.

That reframes the whole verse for me. God establishing my steps does not mean he hands me a script every morning. It means he has the power to redirect my life, even when I had a completely different plan. I look at my own life and see it everywhere. I always pictured myself raising my son in Woodstock, Georgia, since that is where we lived when he was born. I just assumed that is where we would stay. Instead I am raising him in Dunwoody, a place my mother always wanted for me and a place I did not want for myself at the time. Now I cannot picture being anywhere else. I also had a dream of building a business with my brother. That dream has not happened the way I imagined, and it probably will not look the way I originally pictured it. I still believe God has something for me in that space. It will just look different than my original plan, the same way Dunwoody looked nothing like Woodstock.

What stands out to me most in all of this is how humble God is. He knows every thought I have ever had, every choice I have made, every mistake, and he still wants a real relationship with me. He has complete control over everything that happens, and yet he still gives me free will. I do not fully understand how both of those things are true at once, but I love that they are. He does not need to control me to love me.

I cannot say I have loved every part of my journey. I can say I like where I am. I am still working on my judgment. I am still working on bringing my plans to him first instead of after I have already built them out in my head. But I am surrendered. Whatever his plan looks like for my life and for my son's life, that is what I want, even on the days it feels quiet, even on the days it feels like I cannot hear him clearly.

So here is what I am asking myself, and what I want to ask you too. Have you actually surrendered your plans to God, or have you just said the words? What would it look like to trust him the way a horse trusts the one who leads it?

Peace, Love and Joy always. Infinite Faith and Favor | kharisco.com