day no. 16,065: him who orders his way aright

Psalm 50:23

He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me;

to him who orders his way aright

I will show the salvation of God!

There are things to be done and an order in which to do them.

Ordo amoris, or ordered affections, are the prescription through which we can see the salvation of the Lord. If your ways are out of rank or your desires out of proportion, you will be blinded. You won't see salvation around you or in your future. 

“A well-ordered life, regulated by God’s Word alone, through Christ alone, by faith alone, for God’s glory alone, is the only answer to our anxiety.” — John Calvin

Order is inescapable. What we call disorder is simply the wrong order. The one who does not intentionally order their life will reap disorder in their lives. But there is also order that is intentional and yet still disordered.

2 Chronicles 27:6

So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God.

You can order your ways wrongly. It is one thing to fail to put things in any particular order, another to fail by accidentally ordering things incorrectly, and another to insist that your preferred disorder be respected and received as orderly.

Matthew 6:33

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

When we seek God first and order ourselves according to what He declares as righteous, we receive that which ranks lower. The lower things are retained by insisting on them remaining lower things. A properly ordered life is enabled to retain all of life.

Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

"Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in': aim at Earth and you will get neither." -- C.S. Lewis

If you aim at something other than Christ, you won't get to keep it. It isn't the case that we get to keep whatever we put in first place and that God just happens to be the best number one overall draft pick. No, if you don't pick God first, you don't get to keep anything. We aren't given one slot that we get to keep no matter what. If God makes the list, but isn't #1, you don't get Him or whatever idol you put before Him. But if you make God and His righteousness your top priorities, you will get to keep everything else.

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

There is no square inch of any good thing that God is not prepared to give away to those who love Him aright.

Psalm 84:11

The Lord will give grace and glory:

no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.