Divine Guidance
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The path to healing and refreshment
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
Last week, Pastor Scott told us that…
“Wisdom is more about attitude than aptitude”
All that I’m talking about today is dependent upon our internal disposition…
You can know every story God has told in the bible. Every verse. and everything about His character. You can have every proverb MEMORIZED…And yet, if it has not sunk deep into your bones. If it hasn’t had a profound impact on your world. Really, if you have not forsaken yourself for the sake of Him. It will do absolutely NOTHING for you.
Trusting in the Lord is the spiritual discipline of covenantal dependence.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart…
LORD = YHWH
This is His Covenantal Name
Dependence upon Him for all
Dependence upon His Word for Truth
Dependence upon His Spirit for walking out our faith
Dependence upon Jesus for salvation.
To benefit from divine guidance, we must remember the…
Tension
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The Tension
The Tension
The Tension that exists is between who we will trust…
God or self...
Just notice how verses 5-7 go back and forth between God and Self…
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
Trust in Self or Trust in God
Try it alone or surrender it to God
Move ahead toward evil or turn away from evil toward God.
God gives us TRUTH. When we do not trust Him, what are we obviously believing?
This tension we experience is heightened by several things.
I want to read a couple of excerpts from a book about this.
If you don’t believe there is a tension in you, than you have a problem. A BIG PROBLEM.
To benefit from divine guidance, we must remember the…
Tension
Invitation
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The Invitation
The Invitation
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
V 5 - if my own understanding of something fails me, then I must conclude that God is active and working within the things I’m trying to make sense of.
V 6 - God can and will direct me. Even then, after I’ve surrendered and depended upon Him, I’m left with the reality that I still need to trust that He is directing me.
V 7 - There is such a thing as good and evil. The implications are that fearing the Lord keeps me from Evil.
God is available and active in my life
God can and will direct me. He is inviting me to trust Him.
I have the capacity to do and love evil. Fearing God keeps me from this.
To benefit from divine guidance, we must remember the…
Tension
Invitation
Promises
The Promises
The Promises
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
God is promising to be active in your life. To walk with you through all roads you may go on.
Proverbs: The (Trans)formation of Character in Accord with Wisdom and Virtue a. The Disposition and Practice of Dependence (3:5–6)
This pious dependence upon YHWH expressed through practical “ways” is rewarded with the promise of a specific way: smooth paths
Personally, I think that the “making straight of our paths” “or the smoothing of our pathts” has less to do with the path we are on and more to do with the fact that God is present with us on the path, actively working, and ready to change us or change our path when its needed. I mean, if you are trusting God and leaning not on your own understanding, then how are you going to treat your own understanding of how that path should be?
I think I shouldn’t have to go down a path of pain, suffering, and loss. That’s my understanding of what my path should look like. But what happens when my path is pain, suffering, and loss. What will it look like for God to be active, right here, right now, as I walk this path of pain, suffering, and loss? What does it look like for Him to “smooth” out or “straighten” my path?
I mean, who is my perfect model of trust in God and acknowledging Him in all His ways?
Jesus
8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
When we live in deep dependence and trust in God, the path we are on leads to healing and refreshment!
To benefit from divine guidance, we must remember the…
Tension
Invitation
Promises
_Savior_
The Savior
The Savior
Jesus invites us to YOKE up to Him.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Jesus is our entrance into the NEW COVENANT
Do you trust God when He says that He loves you?
Remember…
“Wisdom is more about attitude than aptitude”
Its not enough to know these TIPS. These TIPS are meant to form your disposition and motivations as a person.
Trusting in the Lord is the spiritual discipline of covenantal dependence.
To benefit from divine guidance, we must remember the…
Tension
Invitation
Promises
Savior
To benefit from divine guidance, we must remember the…
Tension
Invitation
Promise
Savior
