Commit to the Lord

Intro proverbs

our verse this week is

Proverbs 16 :3 “3 Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established.”

so that means if I take my plans. the plan of what I want to do and give them to God. God will take them and make them happen and their is nothing I have to worry about. bada bing bada boom all done. lets all go home because everything is taken care of.

wait is this not true.

When we talk about proverbs it is important to remember these are principals not a law. Proverbs are principals that you can apply to life.

If you doubt this there is a whole book called “Job” not job all about this.

So how do we apply this principal in our lives?

A great illustration of this principal is the story of the Jewish people.

The Jewish people lived in the land of Isreal for about 800 years. this would have started 40 years after the exodus. Any body remember what the exodus was?

so the Israelites were a nation after the exodus until they were completely conquered by the babylonians.

our story is going to pick at the point after they become conquered by the Babylonians

Daniel 1:1–2 NASB95

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.

So the people where defeated and become oppressed.

Daniel 1:3–4 (NASB95)

3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles,

4 youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability

If you did not understand what this verse is talking about let me explain. At this time in history when a nation defeated another nation they would take thousands of captives as slave. even though it was thousands it was only small portion compared total number of Israelites. they would take these captives back to there own land and make them work for them.

Imagine a foreign army comes and takes you to a far away place. without your friends and family. It is just you with a group of stranger and an enemy army.

Image of captivity

this is the journey the Israelites would have been taken to Babylon. the route they took was along the border of a desert. You would have been lucky to survive.

Image of scale

Just so you have an idea of how far they would have traveled on foot here is a comparison of Israel to Texas. the Israelite journey would have been comparable to walking across Texas.

The Israelite would be in captivity for 70 years. Here is the real kicker the Israelites who made up the captives were not the people who sinned against God it was there parents.

can you imagined being punished for something another person did? Paused

that would be like me saying something mean and ugly to Mrs Jenkins and you getting in trouble for.

that just isn’t cool

Proverbs 16:3 NASB95

3 Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established.

lets look at are verse again.

Do you think the Israelites in captivity committed there works to the LORD?

Jeremiah one of the major Prophets who lived in Israel at the time of exile wrote a letter to the Israelites in captivity.

How many of have learned to write letters? or Emails?

same Idea to lets look at it

Jeremiah 29:1 NLT

1 Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.

Jeremiah 29:4–7 NLT

4 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: 5 “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. 6 Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

does anyone remember the city they are in? Babylon

lets recap real fast. because we have covered a lot.

Israel a nation for 800 years.

Defeated by the Babylonians and are no longer a nation

a group is taken into captivity and become exiles

the exiles are not the ones who originally sinned against God.

Now God tells them build home have families you are not leaving any time soon.

The Israelites want and many plan to return home but they wont. this seems to contradict our verse this week.

what shall we do? lets look at the two verses before our verse of the week.

Proverbs 16:1–3 NET

1 The intentions of the heart belong to a man, but the answer of the tongue comes from the Lord. 2 All a person’s ways seem right in his own opinion, but the Lord evaluates the motives. 3 Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

when we take the three verses together a picture is painted for use. People make plans based on what they think is best. However, this is not what proverbs 16:3 means, it means that you submit your plans to God.

another way of describing this is saying, “Lord I don’t know what work you have planned from my, but what ever it is I take it and lay it at your feet for you to take and mold and shape how you see fit. Because I know in what ever circumstance I find myself in I know you will bless me

this is what God wanted the Israelites in Babylon to understand. Babylon is not the place the Israelites wanted to be and the Israelites will be treated poorly. However God blessed the Israelites in Babylon, so much that the were a blessing to the Babylonians.

what a concept. in life you will often find yourself in a place or position that makes you unhappy. but God has allowed you to be there and if you will submit to God and let him shape your plans he will bless you even in a bad place.