Beautiful Feet

by R. Darke, Vancouver, B.C. | Category: General | Aug 1966

A person's character is often revealed in his walk. This is true both in spiritual and natural life. The Scriptures teach us many helpful lessons about the feet. We read of diseased feet and beautiful feet; slipping feet and established feet; unwashed feet and tearwashed feet; lame feet and straight feet.

"See ... My feet" (Luke 24.39) was the invitation of the resurrected Lord to His disciples. Not a passing glance, but a close scrutiny; not just a quick look, but an intent gaze at what Isaiah had prophetically described as the "beautiful ... feet of Him that bringeth good tidings" (Isaiah 52.7); the feet which trod the dusty roads of Palestine for over three years in obedient service to His Father, and in loving ministry to men and women. "Love and healing mercy spreading, everywhere His footsteps go." The feet which brought Him to Sychar and Siloam, to Bethesda and to Bethany, also took Him to Calvary, where they were pierced with Roman nails. These were the feet the disciples were asked to behold. Their fears were dispelled by His assurance, "Handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold Me having" (Luke 24.39). Surely those feet would appear to them as beautiful! How do they appear to you and me? Do we take time to contemplate the feet of the blessed One who went up for us to

Calvary? The more we do so, the closer will be our walk with Him, and the more concerned we will be about where our feet take us. The wise man said, "Make level [or weigh carefully] the path of thy feet" (Proverbs 4.26). Do we have wandering feet which lead us to places where we ought not to be? Or is our walk like that of the man the disciples were told by the Lord to follow at the time He instituted the feast of Remembrance? Luke records the incident in these words:

"And He said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house whereinto he goeth ... he will show you a large upper room furnished; there make ready" (Luke 22.10-12).

Here was a man whom others could follow. Because he carried a pitcher he would walk uprightly. He would also be conspicuous. This was a lowly service usually done by serving women. His feet bore him to the upper room and he led others to that hallowed place where the Remembrance was instituted.

When blessing Asher, Moses said:

"Blessed be Asher. . . . Let him be acceptable unto his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes [R.V. Marg.] shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deuteronomy 33.24,25).

This is a picture of a man whose feet are Spirit-led, and whose walk is one of strength (iron) and endurance (brass). How different from Asa, Judah's king, who foolishly sought and relied on the help of the king of Syria to oppose Israel's king, instead of relying on the LORD. In the prime of life he became diseased in his feet, "yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians". In the closing years of his reign, Asa was unable to walk steadily and uprightly amongst men, and he failed also to walk humbly with his God. At his death he was given the honour of being buried in the city of David with "sweet odours and divers kinds of spices", but of two years of his life it is recorded "that the disease of his feet was exceeding great" (2 Chronicles 16.1-14).

What of your feet and mine? Are they beautiful like the Master's, or diseased like Asa's? Are they crippled like Mephibosheth's or shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace? Are we taking heed how we walk so that if others follow us they will be led to God's house? Let us heed the word of Micah the prophet, "He hath shewed thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6.8).

R. Darke, Vancouver, B.C. | Aug 1966
General