Trusting the Lord in All Things
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good Morning...
I am glad to be able to connect with you all today, I do wish we were together. I miss you guys a great deal.
There is nothing like worshipping together and doing those things we love to enjoy as we have fellowship with one another.
This morning I want us to consider the topic of trust.
Over the last few days I have heard many wondering what is going to happen as we walk through these days.
We have a great deal of uncertainty right now, a lot of small businesses and shops are shut down because they are not considered essential, and that leaves many wondering how will we make it. What are we gonna do?
Some are wondering what’s gonna happen to our economy overall and again, the words I hear are this… I don’t know what we are gonna do...
So we worry, we doubt, we fear and we wonder, what will we do?
I want to encourage you to not allow yourself to fall victim to fear, instead there is a opportunity to grow, there is an opportunity to find strength and peace in the Lord.
We can accomplish this by trust.
Trusting is a unique situatuion… in that the more we fall back to trusting the Lord, the stronger our faith and trust grows and thus we grow. So this morning I want to walk you back to the Old Testament, to the words of Solomon.
The Book of Proverbs, chapter 3, verses 5-6
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.
When we think about the book of Proverbs, we know that the author is David’s son, Solomon, who was said to have received wisdom from the Lord. It was said that his wisdom surpassed all the wisdom of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt as well.
But know that it wasn’t His wisdom, it was God’s that was imparted to him. So lets break down this passage and see what the Lord is saying to us...
So there is an opening command...
1. Trust in the Lord...
1. Trust in the Lord...
As we open chapter 3, Solomon is speaking to His son, He is giving him instruction for living and it’s important instruction not only for his son, but also for all to hear.
And as we open this passage, Solomon brings a command to pay attention too. He says “Trust the Lord with all your heart.....” The first part of verse 5
The word trust here “be tah” in the Hebrew, it means to believe, to have confidence in and trust in....
So the word Trust here is critical for those who follow the Lord. If there is no “trust” then there is no belief, there is no faith. So the command from Solomon is for all to trust God, and to do it with a whole heart.
Did you hear that last portion, Solomon says your trust must be ...with all your heart. Your whole heart.
There is the point we have to pay attention too.
When you combine “trust” and tie it to the heart of a person. We realize that the heart of man was meant to be placed in the hands of God. That is trust!
Listen- to trust God, and to do so with a whole heart means to submit all of life unto Him. Your beliefs, your thoughts, your will =, your decisions.. all of it, it has to be His if you are going to trust Him.
Unless all of your life is given into His hands, then you cannot trust Him.
So there begs a great question. Are you trusting God with your whole life?
Ask God to examine you and your heart and see if every area is given over to Him. And if you find a area that is not given to Him. Ask Him to help you release it, to give it over to Him and to trust Him with your decisions.
He is able to keep that which you commit to Him my friends..
Now this pushes us to our next thought....
2. Abandon You Ways of Thinking
2. Abandon You Ways of Thinking
When you consider the call to trust the Lord, to hold onto Him with all that you are…there is an understanding that we are called to surrender all to Him, with that, we must turn over our way of thinking to Him.
Let me ask you a question, have you ever thought you knew the answer or solution to an issue only to find out you were wrong.
I think we have all done this, it happens because contrary to what we think, we don’t know it all. We are not as smart as we think we are about everything in life. We don’t know it all.
But God does, did you hear that, God does....
And since is God is all knowing, the call for us today is to abandon our way of thinking, let’s go back to our text...
Verse 5
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
So when you look at this… it’s really a two part command, Solomon is saying.. Do this .. and then this as well.
Trusting the Lord is the first part. but this second section, the call is for us to not depend on ourselves, our own judgments and perceptions.
Now think about this, people go through a variety of experiences in life. Some are joyful and some have disappointments and they teach u, each of these add to the way we process, rationalize and think about life. IN a sense they color our responses to everything else in life.
And God calls us to trust Him in spite of that we think or know or understand. He is the one who truly knows and controls the outcome of life.
Now, lets add this second command to this… “and lean not upon your own understanding...” the word understand there in the Hebrew is more than just intellectual capacities. But it also speaks to the moral standards we have in this life.
So the call is for us to abandon our way of thinking, our way of reasoning..why? it’s faulty, it is wrong, its based on the broken premises of a broken world.
But remember the call to follow the Lord, it is with a whole heart. The whole heart of man has to be given over to Him if we are going to change our thinking.
remember the prophet Jeremiah, 17:9
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
The heart of man, in its natural condition is wicked, it doesn’t love God nor does it want God. So it (the heart) must be changed if we are going to be able to love God and His ways.
Then, and only then can we abandon our way of thinking. Change the heart of man and the rest of man follows Him.
So the call is to take all of Him upon all of us, When He permeates all of us, the n all of us is changed and then His ways change our ways and our thinking as well.
And consider his ways, his knowledge... Listen to Paul in Romans 11:33
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Our mind cannot do anythings but depend on Him and hold on to His promises. Abandon your ways of thinking… and seek His ways.
His ways are prefect… His ways are right and straight. Lay aside you and take hold of His mind. Submit every thought to Jesus.
Now this leads me into my next thought...
3. Surrender your Life to Him...
3. Surrender your Life to Him...
I always think of the old preacher from years gone by, D. L. Moody, He was preaching in London England and in the service he made this quote..-“ He said God can do more with your life than you ever hope too.. If you give it to Him.”
And I must admit, surrender is difficult, the laying aside of self is difficult. Because it is the opposite of what society screams at us. But in surrender there is life, and life abundantly.
Lets go back to our text… verse 6
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Solomon instructs His son.. and all those who are reading... to acknowledge Him in all our ways… what does that mean?
Well, in the totality of our conduct, remember who God is and hold on to that…seeking His wise and perfect counsel and help.
Solomon says in Proverbs 16:3
3 Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.
Again, the theme off abandoning self rings true here. let go of us, instead commit our selves to His ways.
And what is the outcome, your ways.. your life, your future will be established.
Put ourself in His hands and care
let me take you to the prophet Jeremiah,
Jeremiah, chapter 9 v 23-24
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
Do you see the contrast there. if you are boasting, let it be that you know God, That your trust is in Him and your are His...
He says “I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness…
David, Solomon’s father says in Psalm 37:5
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
Remember we are discussing the theme of Trusting the Lord, if our ways are commited to Him, He will direct our steps, make them right, steadfast and pure.
God desires to take our ways if we will trust him…
I remember years ago when I worked for the state of NC. They would have these team building skills, they would blind old you, and have some one lead you around, inside and outside… You had to trust them to keep from falling, from tripping. You had to place yourself in their hands.
God is asking you, commit your way to me…and see what I will do.
Do you trust Him, do you trust God enough to place yourself and your ways fully in this hands and allow Him to direct your steps. making them right, blessing you along the way and keeping you safe.
God is asking you each day, Trust me.
Will you Trust Him?????
Now I want to walk you through a couple more verses to complete this thought today my friends,
4. Shun the Very Appearance of Evil....
4. Shun the Very Appearance of Evil....
If there is anything I am convinced of, God is calling man to abandon evil, to turn from it. He is calling man to seek His face and to walk in holiness.
Why is that imporant?
Consider all that the world, ( the devil) is offering people. All of the thrills and fun that we see, it caters to self, to making us better, making us number one and then there is a whole different class that just leads people into sin.
People talk about going to Vegas. Nothing wrong with going to Vegas, its what you can get into in Vegas that is wrong.
So the call from God is abandon self, embrace Him and His ways and turn from evil..
So as you open verse 7 Solomon says, be not wise in your own eyes… in our eyes we tend to take hold of life and we say look at this or that, haven’t I done well when everything is by His hand.
Let me take you to verse 7 here in Proverbs 3
7 Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
The world is full of lures, those things that would entice man and seek to pull man away from God.
The apostle John wrote about such things in 1 John 2:16. Let me share what John says about the things of life
16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
So what are we to do, the word tells us to shun the appearance of evil, Shun those things that are evil and begin to pursue God and his ways more and more.
Listen to the words of 2 Tim 2:22
22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
So leave one way and pursue another way of living… you can do it, when we Put God first in our lives.
People are always looking at the grass on the other side of the fence. I love cattle, but I don’t know how many times we see a cow reaching their head through a fence of barred wire to reach a little bit of grass on the other side. It is just a continuation of the grass they are standing on.. its the same grass.
People are always looking at the grass on the other side of the fence, they say its better. I can tell you why it looks better. It is sitting right above the devil’s septic tank.
Do you really want that grass…?????
Let that go and take hold of God.
Is that easy? Not at all. Fleeing from the evil desires that pull at us means spending a lot of time crying out to God and leaning on Him. But our Creator promises to honor our commitment to Him when we shun evil:
“This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” (Proverbs 3:8)
When we pursue Him, we find life—abundant life. Running from evil and pursuing God doesn’t come naturally to most of us. Instead, it means we have to make a serious change:
Trusting God with our whole life takes effort, it takes commitment, it takes places ourselves in His hands and learning to depend and live in and upon Him
If we can do that and let go of self, God is glorified.
What are you struggling with in your life today.
Is there sin,
Is there un-forgiveness,
Is there passions that pull you away from the things of God
What ever, God can heal you, save you and grow you to the place he desirs for you my friends.
Will you trust God with your life?
Will you follow Him.