When I think on my ways,
I turn my feet to your testimonies; Psalm 119:59
“It was crowded and noisy in the room where we have coffee hour after services. I was talking with two friends when I heard my daughter’s voice come up behind. She said, “Mom, turn around. Look who’s here!” Upon her words, I gave my friends a questioning look, a little ticked off she’d been so rude as to interrupt my conversation. But, I turned my head towards the direction of her voice. There stood my son back from basic training, with a rose in his hand. I spun on my toes and hugged him hard.”
As my friend relayed her happy news, my eyes welled. Because she had been facing the other direction, her son was able to enter the room without her noticing. She wasn’t focused on his entrance. To see him, she had to turn her head, but to fully look upon him, receive the rose and hug him, she had to spin around.
David says he turns his feet to God’s testimonies. Where the feet go, the head and thus the eyes, ears and mouth follow. If the feet do not turn, then we have limited vision. We can crane our heads and twist our torsos, but unless the feet move, we can’t truly change directions. We are still committed to going the other way.
We hear of someone turning their life around. Even turning over a new leaf. It requires purposeful action to change the direction you are facing. It demands more than a glancing look, but a full, deliberate decision-making switch. We are not crabs who can walk sideways and have 360 degree peripheral vision. We tend to be more tunnel visioned, focused on only what we can see in front of us. Perhaps it takes something to yank our heads, like reins on a horse, in order to change our focus, but until the feet flip around, we can’t move in the new way we are to go. The chips on our shoulders get in the way. So do our stiff necks and stubborn wills.
Had my friend not stopped her conversation, heeded her daughter’s voice then fully turned her feet around, she would have had a hard time embracing her child or accepting his gift. But his presence made her decide to give him her undivided attention and turn fully to face him.
Is God calling you to turn your feet around so you can receive the blessings He wishes to bestow upon you? Can you hear the Holy Spirit above the din of your crowded life saying, “Turn around. Look who’s here.” What surprises are waiting for you if you do?
