Psalms 17:5
My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.
BSB
ASV
My steps have held fast to thy paths, My feet have not slipped.
KJV
Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
CONFERENCES 3:12 (435)
Never by our sole diligence or zeal or by our most tireless efforts can we reach perfection. Human zeal is not enough to win the sublime rewards of blessedness. The Lord must be there to help us and to guide our hearts toward what is good.
Under trial it is not easy to behave ourselves aright; a candle is not easily kept alight when many envious mouths are puffing at it. In evil times prayer is peculiarly needful, and wise men resort to it at once. Plato said to one of his disciples, "When men speak ill of thee, live so that no one will believe them;" good enough advice, but he did not tell us how to carry it out.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Psalms 121:7The LORD will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul.
leads to
And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Because you have made the LORD your dwelling— my refuge, the Most High—
The LORD will protect and preserve him; He will bless him in the land and refuse to surrender him to the will of his foes.
No harm befalls the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble.
The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.
Through
1 Samuel 2:9He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.
leads to
He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Through
Psalms 119:133Order my steps in Your word; let no sin rule over me.
leads to
Keep Your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed of great transgression.
Sustain me as You promised, that I may live; let me not be ashamed of my hope.