IN TIMES LIKE THESE, Trust in the Lord!
This morning I sat down to spend time with the Lord, and He very clearly whispered the word "trust." Immediately two of my favorite verses flooded my heart. Let me share those verses with you.
"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
These verses contain tremendous pieces of advice combined with wonderful promises! There are things in these verses that every dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ must remember.
First and foremost, "trust in the Lord." In Hebrew, this word for trust is בָּטַח ḇâṭaḥ, and it means to be boldly confident, to be secure and sure. In other words, we need to meditate on the greatness of our God!
- That will build in us bold confidence in the character and faithfulness of God.
- That will develop in us the knowledge that God will always do what is right.
- That will instill in us the security to know deep down in our spirit, that "all is well" despite uncontrollable surroundings.
The second part of Proverbs 3:5 says, "lean not on your own understanding." That's excellent advice to every follower of Jesus Christ! He's telling us to never lean on our "humanoid" perception of things. We are limited in our view; God is not!
- Sometimes our perceptions are built on a false foundation.
- Sometimes our perceptions and opinions are built on other people's false premises, calculations, and wrong views.
- Sometimes our perceptions are built on our overconsumption of the news, social media, or friends, family, and acquaintance's negative attitudes.
- Some of the understanding he is writing about here represents ideas that come from people's fearful thoughts about the future. Not God's!
In times like these, many are turning to the news for information. Don't get me wrong; I keep up with the news to be informed on what is going on. However, we must remember that the people who control the "news" are a tiny group of people. Many of these people are not Godly in any sense of the word. Unfortunately, some of them try to manipulate the masses, not with news, but with their own opinions of the "news." Some of them have their own agenda in doing what they do, and it is not to inform us, it is to influence us to their view of things? I will leave that thought there and move on but think about that the next time you listen to them and don't overreact to what they say. Instead, trust in the Lord with all your heart!
Do you want to live life trusting and relying upon the Lord? If you answered yes, then some things will have to change. You probably already know what they are, but let me throw out some suggestions. One of the main things is how we spend our time. Honestly, I find that very few people are spending an hour or two with the Lord every day in prayer and Bible Study. Many Christians spend hours watching the news or sports or consumed in the world of social media. Facebook gets more time than God's book in their daily schedule. That includes Twitter, Instagram, etc.!
It is no mystery why:
- They don't have God's peace in their hearts.
- They don't have faith and confidence in God.
- They are having trouble trusting in the Lord!
Let's be honest:
- How can I trust the Lord in a truly biblical sense if I am not reading His word and talking to God in prayer daily?
- How can I expect to have peace that passes understanding if I'm allowing my heart and mind to be inundated with wrong voices?
- How can I trust in the Lord when I listen more to the words of lukewarm Christians and unbelievers than those who are genuinely seeking God.
Let me say this;
- Nothing will change if we don't change!
- Nothing will change if we don't change what we are inputting into our hearts and minds!
What goes into our hearts will come out of our hearts and mouths. If we fill our hearts with the amoral or immoral, non-spiritual ways of the world, the worldly attitudes of fear and anxiety will come out. That is the truth!
Jesus said in Luke 6:45, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."
Let's move on to Proverbs 3:6, which says, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." What does it mean to acknowledge Him? The word for acknowledge in the Hebrew is יָדַע yâḏa. It means: to acknowledge, be acquainted, be aware of, to comprehend, to discern, to discover, to know as a faithful friend.
In other words:
- Acknowledge God as your faithful Father.
- Acknowledge God by seeking Him in the pages of His book.
- Acknowledge God by talking to Him in prayer and listening for His response!
Acknowledge Him in those ways, and:
- He will direct our paths.
- He will make the way clear before us.
- He will give us bold and Godly confidence and faith.
- He will remove the clouds of uncertainty about the here and now and the hereafter.
He wants to do that for us! He wants us to rest in Him! But there is a biblical and heavenly way to receive that rest. It doesn't just happen; it takes some changes in direction, to live that way! Right?
We will need to acknowledge the greatness of our God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! We will need to be acquainted with His way of redemption found only in Jesus Christ!
- Let's remind ourselves and each other of God's ability to deliver His people.
- Let's remind each other of the grace given to us through Jesus Christ.
- Let's remind each other of the precious promises He gave to us!
It's so vital that we spend time doing these things and less time listening to the news, binging on sports, Netflix or Youtube, and being overwhelmed by what's going on around us. Instead, let's be overwhelmed by God's goodness, grace, and love. Let's be overwhelmed by God's strength and power to save, deliver, and heal! Let's do that! Let's spend some time voluntarily quarantined in His presence! Yes, let's do that! Will you do that? If you do, things will begin to change in your heart for the better.
Our God truly is awesome, and I pray He blesses you today as you seek Him and call on His name! He loves you with an everlasting love. Don't ever doubt that!
Brian