Chapter XIII.

That the ordering of our way comes from God.

And truly the saints have never said that it was by their own efforts that they secured the direction of the way in which they walked in their course towards advance and perfection of virtue, but rather they prayed for it from the Lord, saying “Direct me in Thy truth,” and “direct my way in thy sight.”^12531253    Ps. xxiv. (xxv.) 5; vi. 9. But someone else declares that he discovered this very fact not only by faith, but also by experience, and as it were from the very nature of things: “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not his: neither is it in a man to walk and to direct his steps.”^12541254    Jer. x. 23. And the Lord Himself says to Israel: “I will direct him like a green fir-tree: from Me is thy fruit found.”^12551255    Hos. xiv. 9.