Sometimes God is waiting on us to act. Trusting God comes first.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart…”
All my heart?
Every bit of my heart?
The scary places?
The parts of me I don’t let others see?
The parts of me I stay so busy so that even I don’t have to see?
My insecurities?
My fears?
My finances?
My relationships?
My decisions?
My future?
My past?… Trust Him that good could actually come from my past?
It’s a tall order to trust the Lord with all our heart.
“and lean not on your own understanding;”
If I’m honest with myself and with you, and most certainly with God, I don’t have it all figured out anyway. Oh but I try. At a very young age, I was raised with a very independent spirit…
A problem-solver.
A do-er.
A go-getter.
An achiever.
A helper.
Try, try, try again until you figure it out.
There was one problem with that.
It wasn’t Biblical. It left no room for “lean not on your own understanding.”
In the last several years, it’s been a little bit like God has had to break the wild stallion. But not out of anger, but rather out of love.
Leaning on our own understanding is a very lonely, isolating, exhausting, and fearful place to be. What if we’re wrong? And frequently I was.
The Bible says, “my people perish for lack of knowledge.” My soul was perishing because what I really needed was to relinquish the pressure of relying on my own knowledge and trust Him.
Trusting God brings freedom.
Relying not on my own understanding means trusting Him.
“in all your ways submit to him,”
All my ways?
It always comes back to that, doesn’t it? All.
God never tolerates half-way. He never settles for half-hearted.
He always asks us to give all. Be all. Do all for Him.
I don’t even need Him to search my heart…I know the answer to the unasked question…there have been areas that I’ve left unsubmitted wholly to Him.
Why? Fear. Rebellion. Blindness. Doubt.
But until I’m willing to recognize it, I will stay stuck right where I am, and we will continue going around and around this same lesson, just as the Israelites did while waiting to enter the Promised land.
Until I’m willing to submit to Him in all my ways.
“and he will make your paths straight.”
How many times do I circle around or traverse the crooked path because of my own hesitant obedience or lack of trust?
In my journey to more intentionally trust the Lord, what I have realized, and He confirmed again in this verse, is that God often requires something from us before He acts.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
I’ve had to learn to trust first, submit to Him and His ways, and then He shows me which way to go. Trusting God comes first.
What do you need to trust God for today?
(If you have a question you’d like Dr. B to answer, contact her here now. Your name and identity will be kept confidential.)
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Funny you should ask, today of all days.
As various aspects of health and personal life fall apart, I have to trust two things –
1) God’s decision to create a world in which fee will had to be operative to make us fit citizens of Eternity was the right one, even though its artifacts are illness and evil.
2) He will help me weather the evil day, of which this certainly has been one. And He will give me the gumption to,fulfill, as best as I can, the Talmudic injunction – “In a time when there are no men, be yourself a man”.
It isn’t easy, and it’s calling on every reserve of love, compassion, and honour I have – and some that are beyond anything I though I would have to try to reach.
Today really sucked, Doc.I mean, like totally.
Andrew, I’m so sorry it was such a hard day, really. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I know a God who does. And because of that, #HopePrevails.
I have to trust that he’ll lead me to write the right words as I cover a difficult topic for my #write31days series. I know from experience that he’s faithful.
We always have to trust that He will lead us to the right words to write. If we are obedient, He will be faithful! Blessings!
I need to trust that God will continue to meet our every *need*, not necessarily our every *want*.
He always promises to meet our needs! He is faithful! #TrustPrevails
Michelle, trusting is my OneWord365 for 2015…trusting the Lord for that which hasn’t happened yet…Romans 24-25 TLB…many blessings to you ❤️
Trusting Him is the only sure object of our Trust!! Blessings in your worthy pursuit.
Trusting God that my daily busyness is all part of a big picture that I don’t yet see.
He always has a bigger picture…It’s just a matter of whether or not our busyness is in alignment with His plan 😉 Blessings!
I need to remember to trust and lean on Him instead of trying to “fix” things myself. He is so faithful and when we trust He gives us peace. I’m your neighbor at #WeekendWhispers.
I need to remember the same thing Gayl. I get so used to trying to be independent…and then I remember that He never meant for me to carry the load by myself. His peace is a great reward.
I think my past experiences – those times when I didn’t have another human to lean on – taught me early to trust Him with my heart. Unfortunately I battled the feelings of shame and unworthiness – I was filled with guilt for what God would see lingering in my heart. Today He is the first I reach for. It’s taken a lifetime to yield but I wouldn’t trade any of the past because it brought me closer to Him!
You have gained a valuable lesson that many don’t ever learn, Carriel. The closeness to Him is worth the vulnerability, honesty, and trust! He truly longs to give beauty for ashes. It sounds like He has done that for you!
I like the idea that we have faith first, then trust – which leads to obedience. Knowing we can get an answer from God gives us the perspective to relax.
Peace and blessings to you,
Janis
God always knows the right path to take…now if we will just be quicker to take the path He sets before us: faith, trust, obey… #TrustPrevails!
Great post, Michelle! I had been mulling over that passage of Scripture from Proverbs 3 and I found that the more I began to meditate on it, the more the truth of those words began to take root in my heart. … It has been a blessing to visit with you! GOD bless you, beautiful friend! 🙂
Tai, the beautiful thing about meditating on God’s word is that more and more of it does take root, and begins to bring forth revelation in our hearts and minds, life-altering revelation of the goodness and faithfulness of the God we serve! I’m so glad you found your way over here again! Blessings!
Thank you for sharing with us at #JoyHopeLive!
Yikes! Submit to God in ALL my ways? That’s hard. I’m so glad He will help me to trust and give me more faith when I ask.
It IS so hard Constance, but OH SO Worth it!! And He promises to help us along the way!! Hang on to His hand, or at least His robe and watch where He takes you and see the things He shows you that you know not! #TrustPrevails!
I love all the little examples you included for each part of this passage. This has been a life verse for me and it is a great reminder today. Blessings to you friend!