This is the first sermon in a four sermon series "Finding and Following God's Guidance"
We cannot see into the future, and without God’s wisdom we will not completely understand today. We can expect that we will encounter some complex and confusing turns in our lives that will test us and our deepest commitment. We will have hills to climb and bumpy roads. We often wonder how we will make it.
Do we have any assurance that we can safely and successfully make it?
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV “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.
God can guide us, but there are three conditions that determine his guidance.
We must acknowledge Him
We must trust Him
And we can't depend on ourselves
Scripture
Proverbs 3:1-8 NIV My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. 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. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
Text:
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV “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.
Introduction
We cannot see into the future, and without God’s wisdom we will not completely understand today. We can expect that we will encounter some complex and confusing turns in our lives that will test us and our deepest commitment. We will have hills to climb and bumpy roads. We often wonder how we will make it.
Do we have any assurance that we can safely and successfully make it?
Our text says we can make it—and make it victoriously if we will trust God’s guidance.
“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.
In times like these today, we are in need of God’s guidance more than ever.
Our text is an excellent battle cry for the testing times, a comfort and strength for our uncertainty. It is a road map we can use, even though we don't recognize the turns, the stops, the difficulties, or the pleasures ahead.
Our text tells us that God can guide us in everything everyday.
“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.
I. God can guide us in our everyday living. In every decision, every action, in every development of our lives, God can and will direct our paths.
A. Let me give you an analogy that may help. When a highway is built and maintained two very important people are the highway road design engineer and the maintenance chief. Both of these people can be visualized in the phrase make “your paths straight”, or as the New King James translation says "direct your paths".
Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
These two people, the highway road design engineer and the maintenance chief assure that we travel to a desired destination because the road is built and maintained, well sometimes maintained because we have some around here that aren’t maintained very well, but you get point.
The Hebrew language contains several words for road or path, including words that refer to a highway, a way, a narrow path, a broad path, a trodden path, and a usual or typical path or road that someone takes.
The Hebrew word that`s used in Proverbs 3:6 is the one for the usual, or typical path or road that someone take from one place to another.
To finish the analogy, God relates to us as the highway road design engineer and maintenance chief in the usual or day-to-day travels and events of our lives.
God designs and builds the road of life and keeps it useful. That is what is meant by the promise “He shall direct your paths.” We can get where we ought to be because God is available to prepare the way. He is active in all our affairs. We may not see the road builder and the maintenance chief during every mile traveled, but we do not travel anywhere without their help. This analogy, although pretty good, doesn't say enough.
B. God goes with us.
Yes the road design engineer designs the road, and the maintenance chief sees that the road is maintained but they don’t get involved with us on a personal level. God who can guide us, becomes personally involved with us on every inch of our journey. Here are just a few of His promises,
Psalms 32:8 NIV I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Psalms 48:14 NIV For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
Isaiah 58:11 NIV The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
John 16:13 NIV But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
II. God can guide us, but there are three conditions that determine his guidance.
We must acknowledge Him
We must trust Him
And we can't depend on ourselves
A. First we must acknowledge him.
“In all thy ways acknowledge him.” In all the steps of your journey, see that you acknowledge God as your guide. We have all had the experience of talking to someone who we knew well but who was preoccupied in thought or conversation and did not respond to us when we spoke to them. We either just smiled, spoke again, or did something to cause the person to acknowledge us or indicate that they heard us. We didn’t think we were being ignored we knew that they were just preoccupied.
We could have spoken directly to them, but they were preoccupied and really didn’t hear a word that we said. This person could have been a family member or a very close friend.
If this can happen in our relationships with friends and family members, it can happen in God’s relationship with us. By our preoccupation with everything that is going on in our lives we may miss his guidance.
So, if we want to have God’s guidance, have to pay attention to him with the sensitivity of a faith that is alive and expectant, and not just in special moments of devotion and prayer. In other words, all the time. We are to acknowledge him in all our ways, in the days and the nights, at work and play, in rest or worship, when we are with others, and when we are alone.
We must acknowledge Him and seek His guidance all the time
B. We must acknowledge God and we must trust him.
Trust is the second condition of God’s guidance: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart.” We always seem to trust him in the hours of special need when there is no one else to trust but God. Or we trust him when we are called upon to do some unique assignment and we are not really sure about our ability to complete it. It's great that we trust him then but trusting God, like loving him, must be total and all the time.
Let me give you an example.
Think of two professing Christians, both of whom affirm their faith in Jesus Christ. One is stable and deals with adversity and changes so smoothly that to the casual observer it seems easy. The other Christian is insecure about almost everything. Any threatened difficulty creates a panic. If they make it through the difficulty it is by the slimmest of margins. What’s the difference? The one with unwavering faith has sought and found God’s guidance. The other “double-minded” person is unstable because he does not acknowledge God in all his ways.
James 1:2-8 NKJV My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
C. And the final condition that determines God's guidance is for us to not depend on ourselves.
These first two conditions are positive. But the third can be a negative one. “Lean not to thine own understanding.” The Revised Standard Version says, “Do not rely on your own insight.” The Living Bible says, “Don’t trust yourself.” This condition suggests the absolute inadequacy of life without God’s guidance. We really can’t make it on our life journey without him, and some people pay an unnecessarily high price to learn that self-management leads to endless defeat.
Here’s an example that we are all familiar with about a family who decided not to trust God and leaned on their own understanding. It is in Genesis, the very first book of the Bible.
God promised Abraham a son.
Genesis 15:1-4 NIV After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
Sarah Abraham’s wife after years of trying did not have a child so thinking she was helping God out of his dilemma of not being able to provide a child, utilized the surrogate custom of that time. She gave her servant, Hagar, to Abraham. and from that union Ishmael was born.
Genesis 16:1-4 NIV Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Now when God made the promise to Abram He ment that he and his wife Sarah would have a child. How do we know?
Genesis 17:15-19 NIV God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
In due time the child of promise, Isaac, was born to Sarah and Abraham.
Genesis 21:1-3 NIV Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
Remember what I read just a little bit ago that once she was pregnant Hagar began to despise Sarah. There was also friction between the two sons Ishmael and Isaac.
Eventually hostility and jealousy between the two women and the two boys came to such a crisis that Hagar and Ishmael were sent away.
Genesis 21:8-14 NIV The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
This personal hostility escalated into national hatred and religious persecution between Arabs and Jews, Muslims and Christians. Here's the point: we only defeat ourselves and God’s purpose when we lean on our own understanding.
Conclusion
God wants to give us his guidance. He knows our need for it; he knows our failure without it. He has a unique plan for each of us, and he waits for us to pay attention to him, to trust him with our whole heart, and to reject our own abilities to guide ourselves. He can and will guide us when we trust him.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV “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.
Let's pray,
Lord, many of us are waiting for an answer, an unmet need, or some indication of what our next step should be. You are the only One who sees the whole picture; help us believe and trust You as we keep waiting.
No comments:
Post a Comment