Scripture:
Proverbs 3:5,6: Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
When I graduated from high school my church had a mini ceremony for all of the graduates. We all stood in a line while the Pastor gave us a card. He told us that he prayed for each of us and gave us each a verse of scripture that the Lord lead him to give us. Mine was Proverbs 3:5,6. I took these verses of scripture as my life verses that day.
I can't tell you how many times I have thought, and prayed, about my life using these two verses. Hundreds, maybe thousands of times, but I must admit, that this passage of scripture has been both the best passage for me to meditate on and one of the hardest passage of scripture for me to follow.
First of all, I am an analyst by nature. My mind is constantly thinking about how to fix things and analyzing alternatives. Even when I go to Albertson or Home Depot I find myself just walking down the aisles seeing if I can think of anything else we might need and calculating in my head the best prices. I have a tendency to trust and depend on this ability and many times this has lead me away from the Lord.
In this passage God promises to help us by "directing our paths". This is a great promise for those who want God to lead them. However, there are three conditions:
1) Trust in the Lord, with all of your heart
2) Don't rely on your own thinking, or understanding
3) In everything you do acknowledge God (put Him first & thank Him)
The first and last conditions seem more spiritual than practical. There is certainly a practical side to trusting in God or acknowledging Him. When the Bible tells us not to trust in our own understanding that is a hard thing for me to do. So what do I do? I keep reminding myself (and the Holy Spirit reminds me when I forget) about this verse of scripture (and others like it) that I want God to be in charge of my life. I want to follow what God says because he knows best, and even though I spend a lot of time thinking things through, I don't really want to rely on what I think. I want to continually remember that God made me the way I am and he knows what I can and can't do. He wants me to depend on Him.
Prayer Request:
That God help us remember, that He knows best about everything in our lives and trust in Him in all that we do.
Prayer:
Dear Lord, we know, that you know everything. You know the abilities you have given us, and you know that we have a tendency to trust in our own abilities and forget to acknowledge you. We want you to lead us Lord, so we ask that you continue to remind us through your Holy Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Amen! I think, with all the good intention in any ministries I have been involved, I errored on the side of over-analysis. Sometimes, we are led to believe we are simply trying to utilize that gift of thinking when, in reality, we are relying on our own understanding.
Thanks for the reminder, Bruce. It's always a timely reminder!
As a project manager, I can definitely relate to this. Sometimes it's really hard to live life "open ended" in the sense of letting the Spirit have His way with us, but that is what we are called to. Thanks for this good reminder!
Post a Comment