Following After God ~ Trusting God’s Plans, Walking God’s Path
Welcome to a Journal of Blogs, Testimonies and Biblical study from Pastor Dave and friends at Grace Baptist Church.
My desire on these postings is to encourage others to learn to entrust their lives and path to the Lord Jesus Christ and to realize that His Gospel believed and lived leads us to a blessing from Him we could never have worked out or come up with ourselves! In this Journal, we will share:
- Biblical application from personal study and our Sermon series
- Resources that bring learning and insight from other’s gifts and hard work
- Inquiry and study on popular cultural movements around us
- Stories from around the world today and historical works of the Gospel
A Life Long Pursuit ~ Trust God’s Way over Mine!
Personal Reflection on Proverbs 3:5-6
What Truths Direct Your Life? Oftentimes, phrases or advice may not seem as important at the time it is given as when it reappears later in the midst of life events and decisions. What phrases, advice or teaching do you remember from the past that still come to your mind?
At my child dedication in church, a little blue Gideon Bible was given to my parents with my name inside and the Scripture reference Proverbs 3:5-6 written underneath. Later when I was learning to read, I found this and decided this must be important! This Scripture from God’s wisdom to Solomon says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He (God) will direct your paths”. As I got older I repeated these words and began to memorize them, I started to notice how often these verses and ideas were brought up in Church or by teachers and my parents. I thought, “This must really be important!” As I have prayed and tested this truth over 50+ years, I have found that this truth is continually proved true by the end of various stories I have witnessed and experienced. It’s true this Scripture is very important!
God’s Direction is Trustworthy! From childhood to teen years and the challenges of navigating adult life, what a great blessing to know God Directs our Life! He is the Creator who orders and sustains trillions of pieces of the universe every second in perfect order. He is the God who lovingly reveals His Word and path of Grace and New Life to us and patiently puts up with our slow response and stubbornness leading us to genuine Salvation and Life. He is the God who so loved enemies and this world that He sacrificially gave our Savior Jesus Christ to redeem us. Jesus willingly came to among us to live and teach God’s Word and ultimately to take our place and our punishment for sin so He could save all who trust upon Him and His Grace. He receives our meager trembling repentance and faith and rewards us with life! Yes, I can entrust everything to my God and Savior. And I know the safest place in the world is to be Humbled Under His Plan and Word. What an encouragement this truth has been throughout my life and journey with Christ.
Trusting Him Fully is a Challenge! “and lean NOT on your own understanding…” God defines wisdom and trusting Him completely and fearing Him. Ok, I am good with repeating that. However, He takes it one step further to say that trusting Him fully means not trusting yourself more than Him. Just like King Saul (I Samuel 15), I want God to join my way of seeing things and what I feel about it so that I am free to act as seems right to me and with God’s blessing! If I do ______, then God should provide the appropriate blessing that I am picturing. However, thankfully, God is not short sighted, temperamental or ruled by weakness as I am! God once rebuked the faithless (Psalm 50), “You thought I was like you!”
What I am learning about Trusting God is that it must correspond with my Confession of the flaw of my understanding and Examining this under the light of His Truth and then Acknowledging His Lordship over my desire and prayer to fullest degree. Friends, this is not a fast or painless process, but it is absolutely essential to His Joy. Horatio Spafford’s poetic line, “You have taught me to say It is Well” is so true and helpful. I remain a student of God’s Word and wanting to be taught by His Spirit and faithful messengers.
I must not be convinced by the persuasive, “I really feel like…. Or I would like to believe that…. Or God told me that.. I deserve…”. I must run to elderly Peter’s counsel to “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and trust His good time to lift you up” (I Peter 5:6).
An Awesome Hope “God will direct your path in His holy way” The seasons that have taught me the joy of God’s Wisdom and Promise have been when the threat or unknown was overwhelming to my understanding and strength. My strength and capacity was on empty, and trusting that God’s power and grace was immense brought a comfort in the waiting. When God allowed the revealing of His providing and way, it was completely amazing! Why didn’t I trust Him sooner… Why didn’t I trust Him with more? If God would not spare His only Son to bring forgiveness and the defeat of Sin’s power? (Romans 8). Friend, you can trust Him and can give your life and fears fully to Jesus Christ.
Each new season of life will bring new fears and trials and new opportunity to work in the gym of faith to: Trust in the Lord with all my heart and stop trusting in my own understanding Rather in every way to acknowledge God’s presence and glory and then watch Him in His good timing direct my path. Proverbs 3:5-6