“Every place on which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours.”

Deuteronomy 11:18-28, “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth. For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you, to do it, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him; then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. Every place on which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours; your border shall be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea. There shall no man be able to stand before you; the Lord your God shall lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you. See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.”

There was of course nothing impressive about the soles of their feet; it was the power of God that worked in their favor. We have an even better promise, the gift of His Holy Spirit, who gives us His wisdom freely, who is our counsellor, and who bears His fruit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. “Against such there is no law.” Do we realize that He is there, living within us, empowering and protecting us?

We thank You that even though we walk in the valley of the shadow of death we need fear no evil; for Your rod and staff comfort us, and You have prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies!