July 31, 2014
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5, 6
Three times this past week, I have encountered this instruction from God’s Word as I prayed and asked for a specific guidance…specific direction…specific wisdom.
I am always amazed that as we ponder, meditate on, contemplate, consider, deliberate about God’s Word, and His Heart and His intention toward His people, He not only imparts to us His vision and inspiration toward His will and purpose, but He also gives specific direction and instruction as to how to follow, to implement, to achieve the design and the plan of the great Almighty God.
Every follower of Christ eventually has the challenge of determining God’s specific purpose concerning life issues and life decisions… the challenge of seeking answers to tough questions, the challenge of making choices which embrace God’s will and His purpose in the individual life… Quite often the willingness to yield to God’s Hand is the least of the challenges…
The universal…generational question remains, “What is it Lord that You would have me to do in my circumstances?”
I am quite sure that we have all experienced the dilemma. The non-negotiable specifics of a Christ-follower’s life are clear although they may present tremendous dependency on the grace and strength of God in order to comply; the non-negotiables are quite clear as we look at the life of the Yeshua Christ and as we listen to and read and study His words.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34, 35
He specifically calls us to love…to love as He loves…to love one another…There are NO options…We must get the job done! And through His grace, His strength, it is possible!
I remember questions which were not so easily answered, not to mention, not so easily implemented. Sleepless nights of praying…of urgently praying…of reading God’s instruction book…of urgently praying…of finally just giving it up to Him…
But that did not excuse me or absolve me (us) of the responsibility of making decisions… tough decisions… life-changing decisions…bringing life-changing consequences…You’ve been there…It requires stepping into the deep…stepping and stretching out on that limb of faith…of leaping into the Light and into the Promise as you are completely aware that you cannot, will not, choose to turn back…It is done!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5, 6
Three times this past week, I have encountered this instruction from God’s Word as I prayed and asked for a specific guidance…specific direction…specific wisdom…Three times…I love how our Almighty God works…how He takes all things and works them into the BEST for His Kingdom…into the BEST for His children…
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5, 6
I don’t how your mind works, but I find myself reading a scripture, then re-reading, then going word by word, asking what God meant with these words, what His intention was and is, and, finally, asking the question which I am sure that each one of us asks… “How do I do this God? What exactly do You mean, Lord? How do I obey and fulfill Your instruction to me?”
As I thought about, pondered over Proverbs 3:5,6, I started my process by reading through the scripture, word by word…And then I stopped to reflect on my relationship with our Father in the past. How many times I have come to Him believing His Word…but being held hostage by a challenge or problem…believing and knowing that I was specifically instructed to trust Him…to trust Him…with all of my heart…but I was in the midst of a battle…perhaps you are there now, in a battle. Perhaps you are asking the same question…”How do I do this God? How do I trust You? What exactly are You instructing me to do?”
I began by intentionally remembering challenging times in my life when I was at a cross road, or a specific time when I found myself in a storm, and I began to write these moments down, the moments of despair when I would beg God for an answer to a specific dilemma, problem, challenge, sometimes in the face of tragedy, sometimes in decisions of just getting on with life…but always the challenge to do not only the right thing, but the challenge of doing His Best…I made my list of some of these moments when I cried out to God….
“Hello God…God, the One whom I trust…do I marry this man…this wonderful, unique, rebel of a man who really loves You? I think that He loves me, too…God, he pursued me…like You did God…he was relentless…what do I do? Hello God…are you there?
Almighty God…my faithful Heavenly Father…Do we remove our children from the Christian school which they have attended for five years…where other family members now attend?
Who am I Lord to step out into the deep of home-school? Do we dare experiment with the two most precious gifts that You have given to us, Lord?
Lord, do we purchase a ranch and move our little family thirty minutes away from family and friends? Do we dare to move boldly into new territory? Is that You, Lord, leading us?
Oh my God..My Savior…do we try to resuscitate my mother, again, as she is aspirating? After all of the years of illness and pain…What consequences would there be from trying again? And again? Are You calling her home Father? Is it time to let her go, to release her? Is her battle now complete?
My God, my Redeemer…what do I do with this broken friendship which means the world to me?
Please show me how to never stop loving…never stop forgiving those who continually cause hurt…who cause dissention…how can we show them who You are?
Lord…My Father…How do I (we) help the people in our lives who have such great needs…we cannot fix it all…We know that You are the answer…You are the Hope…How Lord? How do we tell them? How do we show them?
Lord, it’s me again…are You calling us to another city…to Austin…to a new church?
What about our family? What about our family?
Faithful Holy God, do we purchase this business? Do we sell this business?
Dear Lord, please show me how to love…how to love the people who mean the most in my life…How do I love them well?
My faithful Heavenly Father…how do I tell my neighbors about the joy in my life? How can I love them like you do?
Please show me how to receive the gift of forgiveness and of grace when I am the perpetrator. I do not know how to…And Lord, help me to be a person of grace in all of my relationships. How do I walk in grace?
Lord…Lord…Lord…can You hear me? What do we do now, in this moment of great decision?
And I clearly remember the moments of earnest prayer concerning each one of these issues…begging God for answers…trying to be obedient to His Word…but sometimes, to be honest, feeling clueless as to how to proceed…sometimes even desperate…
And then, He would move, or speak in such a way that the answer came…He answered…
As I reflect on these challenging times…I am reminded that our God looks not at our performance, or our botched attempts, or even our successes, but He looks for the heart willing to obey…willing to ask and to attempt to do life His way…He looks not at our imperfections…but at the desires of our hearts…
What or whom are we living for?
May I encourage you to stop and at this moment, make your list of times when you have begged God for His guidance, for His wisdom, for His direction…and notice how He was/is your Shepherd…How He leads you…guides you…protects you…how He makes your way safe…how He keeps you…how He upholds you…in the face of your storm…in the face of challenges…
And, He did the same for me.
Moment by moment…hour by hour…day by day…
He instructs…
Trust in the Lord with all your heart…
To trust in your Lord is to be reliant, unsuspecting, secure, safe, confident…completely confident in the strength, ability, integrity, and identity of your Lord.
Your heart is the chief organ for physical life and occupies the most important place in the human system…and represents the hidden springs of the human life…the hidden rational and emotional elements of man…the sphere of Divine influence… (Vines)
He instructs His people to rely completely on the Lord with their hearts, with their thoughts, with their lives!
And lean not on your own understanding.
To lean is to support one’s self…to lie…to rely…to rest…to stay…to incline or to bend…
Your understanding, your mental grasp, your capacity to comprehend, to judge…to apply concepts and knowledge…in contrast to God’s understanding… understanding of wisdom and God’s ways…God’s Laws…His omnipotence…
He instructs His people to not rely on their own capacity!
In all your ways acknowledge Him…
Your ways are your path, your road, your highway, your distance, your journey, your manner, your conduct, your condition…your life-style…your words, your actions…your life…your breath.
To acknowledge Your God is to observe, to follow, to be aware, to comprehend, to consider, to declare, to discover, to take knowledge from, to respect, to have understanding of, to make known…The Almighty God…your Heavenly Father…
He instructs His people to live for Him…with every breath…in every moment!
Then, He Promises…
And He shall direct your paths.
Your Almighty God promises to direct, to point out, to determine a course, or procedure, to show the way, to cause to make right, upright…to make straight…
Your paths…your ways…your road…your highway…your journey…your distance…your life.
And, He is God…the One who keeps His promises!
As I reflect on my list from the past, I recognize the fact, that every one of these prayers has been answered…each one has had a resolution…each one been resolved…even the ones, the storms, the problems, the challenges, the issues, when I ran ahead of God…the ones when I wanted to lean on His understanding, but, I messed up…it was better and best when I allowed Him to move in His timing, in His way…but, the great God of the universe, not one time, deserted me…He never gave up on me, when I became impatient. It is true that His ways are the BEST…His ways are the TRUTH…and when I obeyed and when my heart’s desire was to follow His ways…I was confident that He managed my path and my life…
And when I ran ahead of His timing…there were consequences…but according to His Word…
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
He used all of these circumstances…all of these challenges…all of these storms…for the good of His Kingdom and for the good of His child…according to His Divine Purpose…
I am amazed that we, that I, serve a mighty God who would consider claiming me as His child…after the times when I circumvented His wonderful plans…He still keeps me…
After the times when I disobeyed…He still keeps me…
After the times when I ran ahead of “the wait”…He still keeps me…
After the times when I failed to trust Him…He still keeps me…
After the times when I failed to acknowledge Him…He still keeps me…
And this great, undeserved love empowers and inspires me to love this amazing, Almighty God of Love…He loves…unconditionally…and He gives to us… choice… because He loves…
His Word instructs us to follow and trust in His ways…And there is a promise attached…and He is the God who keeps His promise…who keeps His Word…
As we make our lists so that we remember the great and mighty things that God has done in each of our lives, I pray that we remember that He still works, and intervenes in our daily lives. He hears the prayers of His children and he keeps His promises…because of love…
May we each trust Him…and depend on Him…and acknowledge Him in every aspect of our lives…He is worthy of our trust…He is worthy of our love…He is worthy of our praise…
Now, make your list of all of the current needs in your life…a list with which you are trusting your Almighty God…not according to your plans and purposes, but according to His ways, His will, and His glorious intentions. Pray and trust and acknowledge…Then be amazed at how He will direct you, your steps, your path, your life!
Celebrating life with you…
Abundant Joy,
