Just a Closer Walk With Thee

The name of the author is unknown, but many will recognize the refrain: “Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it, Jesus, is my plea, Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.”

David undoubtedly had a close walk with God, for He declared, “’I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart’” (Acts 13:22).

But David prayed, “Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life (Psa 143:8).

We cannot walk with God by “programming our GPS” with Bible passages and then set off for heaven. As important as knowing God’s word may be, Paul makes it clear that knowing God’s word and walking with God are not necessarily the same. He wrote, “For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law who will be justified” (Rom 2:12-13).

David was clearly in some distress, but we should be on guard against seeking God’s way only when in distress. Sometimes it is when life is good that we stray from His path.