Grandparents/Special Person’s Day
24 October 2017
Trust in the
Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all you ways
submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3:5-6
Blessed Jesus, at Thy word We are gathered all to
hear Thee; Let our hearts and souls be stirred Now to seek and love and fear
Thee, By Thy teachings, sweet and holy, Drawn from earth to love Thee solely.[1]
Trying to understand
God’s will in your life is not always easy. He doesn’t send you an e-Mail or a
tweet. Or, send you a text. Or, write on your wall on facebookTM to say, “I want you to be a preacher or a missionary,
or a mechanic or a nurse or a housewife.”
God doesn’t name the
person you are to marry. He doesn't tell you which career track you should
follow. He doesn’t tell you whether you should go to college or not. Or, which
school you should attend.
Sometimes life is
complex with all these decisions. But in psalm 32:8. God does promise, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way
which you shall go. I will guide you with mine eye.” As always, God
instructs and teaches us His will through His Word.
Solomon gives us
three conditions by which we can know God’s perfect will for our lives.
The First Condition, you must “Trust in the Lord.”
This is absolutely the first step. It you want to know God’s will learn to
trust Him. You must first trust Christ as your Savior. You cannot attempt to
know God’s will in other areas until this issue is settled.
Trusting God is key
in every matter of our relationship with God. We are saved not because of our
own work. We are saved by Jesus’ work on the cross. You cannot save yourself. You
cannot be good enough in order to be made right with God. Salvation is the
Savior’s good gift to you.
When you understand
that the most basic need in life – to be redeemed and rescued from sin – is a
matter of trust, we need to then know and understand that every other issue of
our relationship with our heavenly Father is also a matter of trust. Whatever
your list of worries looks life, all these things-are all a matter of trust.
Trusting God is the key in every matter of our relationship with Him.
In whom do you
trust? You trust in the Lord! This is important! Your trust is not in someone
strange to you.
How do you describe
God? This is not an easy question. But I like the help the Psalmist David gives
us in Psalm 139.
He knows all things. You have searched me Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and
when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and
my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue,
you Lord know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your
hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
(Psalm 139:1-6)
He can do anything. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become
night around me, ever the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will
shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:11-12)
He personally knows me. For you created my inmost being; you knit me
together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was
not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven
together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the
days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
(Psalm 139:13-16)
Trusting seems like
a difficult thing to do because our human nature is so self-reliant. We want to
have things our way. And if not my way…then it’s the highway. Trusting God is
such a comforting idea.
Having a bond is
actually central to trust. The more we walk with the LORD, the more the connection
is developed, the easier trust becomes.
The Second Condition, you must “Trust in the Lord,
with all your heart.” How much are we to trust in the Lord? With all your
heart! Completely! Your trust cannot be a partial trust. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” This is where it all
begins. The word “trust” means to be with a care. This is an indicator of how
much we are actually trusting in the Lord. The less car, worry, anxiety, etc.
that one has, the more they are trusting God will all their heart.
The Third Condition, you must “Trust in the Lord, with all your heart, and lean not unto you own understanding. In
all your ways acknowledge him and He will make your paths straight.”
What does trusting
God mean? A close look at these words helps us define trust. We see trust from
a negative statement. We see trust from a positive statement.
The negative Answer: Do not lean on your own
understanding. We are not to learn on our intellect, our own abilities, or
even our own moral standards. In all things, we must refuse to lean on our own
understanding.
The positive
Answer: Acknowledge Him in
everything. We must acknowledge the Lord Jesus in everything. Recognize God’s
presence in everything...There is nothing in your life that should be outside the
reach of God’s perspective.
When are we to trust God? Always. There is never a
time to not trust God. Whenever we face a crisis, we have two choices. Either
we trust God or we trust ourselves. There really are no other options. When we
trust ourselves, we are saying that the crisis is bigger than God.
Why should we trust God? Because He give us a promise.
He will make your paths straight.
Your Savior has a plan for you. He has a future and He has promised to give
direction in your life.
In Math you have learned – the quickest path between
two points is a straight line. God wants us to get where we need to go in life.
What God has for us, the Lord wants to get us there. Just
life any trip you take, the quickest way to get to your destination is to find
the most direct path…from point A to point B. So it is with your life as well.
A crooked path is one filled with twists and turns
that if we are not careful can cause us to end up in a ditch. If that should
happen, God is there to help pull us out. But the best route is to stand in the
middle of the road and on course with God.
God has a great vantage point over your life. He is
the one that is all knowing. And if we will get God involved in straightening
out our path, we are going to reach our destination in the things of God much
quicker. Realize as He straightens out your path that does not mean it will
always go the way you thought it would.
In fact, God usually takes you through life in a rout
you have never been before. That is what walking by faith is all about.
To have God make straight paths for your feet in
whatever you do take time to learn who you are and whose you are in Christ. Get
completely focused on Him and who he has made you to be. Continue to develop an
intimate relationship with Christ. Look to His Word to walk in His ways in all
you do. Then you will be on the right path. The straight path. That God has for
you.
[1]
Blessed Jesus at Thy Word stanza 1 The Lutheran Hymnal © 1940 Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis
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