A man's steps are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?
Read Chapter 20
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Do they suppose, accordingly, that God moves the wills of those whom he has wished to the creation of earthly kingdoms but that he does not move them to the attainment of a heavenly kingdom? But I think that it was in reference to the kingdom of heaven, rather than to an earthly kingdom, that it was said … “The steps of a man are guided by the Lord, but how does a mortal understand his own ways?” Let them hear, “Every man seems just to himself, but the Lord directs the hearts.” Let them hear, “As many as were ordained to life everlasting believed.” Let them hear these words, and whatever others I have not quoted, by which it is shown that God prepares and converts people’s wills also for the kingdom of heaven and for eternal life. And think how strange it would be for us to believe that God moves people’s wills for the establishment of earthly kingdoms but that for the attainment of the kingdom of heaven people move their own wills.
You maintain that “all are governed by their own free choice.” What Christian can bear to hear this? For if not one, or a few or many but all of us are governed by our own free choice, what becomes of the help of God? And how do you explain the text, “A man’s goings are ordered by the Lord”? Against the Pelagians
“The steps of man are directed by God.” A mortal, that is a sinner [as such], cannot [of himself] know the ways of the Lord; in fact, since he is mortal, he has [of yet] neither died nor lived with Christ. Therefore in the journey to the kingdom of heaven the steps of man are directed by the Lord. Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon, Fragment
