Today's passage out of Proverbs is one of my favorites. Verses 5 - 6 tell us about the blessings and benefits of allowing ourselves to have total TRUST in the Lord.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don't lean on your own understanding; in ALL your ways, acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight".
Vs. 5: In the Hebrew text, the word trust in this verse refers to the "idea of lying helplessly face down. "
Don't lean means, "relying on something or someone else rather than supporting yourself".
That sure puts us in a vulnerable situation, but that is the place where the Lord meets us and shows us that He is right here with us, holding us in his hands.
Vs 6: I capitalized the little word ALL because I, like most everyone, has the tendency at times to trust God in some things, but then worry about other things. There is no detail of our lives that God doesn't care about, and there's no detail of our lives that he doesn't want us to bring to him and trust him with it. Whether it's our marriage, our health, our children, our finances, our jobs, our relationship to him - we need to turn it ALL over to him with the confidence that he will do what he says at the end of this verse - "make our paths straight".
Being a Christian does NOT mean that we won't ever have trials or face hardships. When I read the Bible and see what we call the "heroes" of the Bible, all of them faced many trials and suffering, which brought them closer to the Lord. Look at David - he was a little runt, the least likely to be chosen as King, and was mocked as he approached Goliath - the others had run away from Goliath in great fear. David said to Goliath, "Who is this uncircumsized Philistine that he should defy the armies of the Living God"? He told Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine, your servant will go and fight him." David had previously while out shepherding, killed both a lion and a bear, and said to Saul again, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine". David then approached Goliath, who was mocking and taunting him because of his size and age, and cursing him by his gods. David said to him, "You come against me with sword and spear, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, who you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head".
We all know the rest of the story - David took out the giant with one stone to the head. He had TOTAL trust that God would deliver him out of that situation, and his unwavering trust is what brought the presence of the Living God to him.
We all have our "giants" that we face daily - the Lord wants us to rely on His strength and power to fight our battles WITH us, and he will surely deliver us.
There is a song out by the group Casting Crowns, caslled "The Voice of Truth" - it's a powerful song that always gives me strength and encouragement when I'm facing my own "giants". If you google the group Casting Crowns, you can probably find an audio clip of this song. I'm going to post the words here, and I hope you will be strengthened and encouraged today by them, and this powerful passage from Proverbs.
"Voice Of Truth"
Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
To the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He's holding out his hand
But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling meTime and time again.
'Boy, you'll never win!'"You'll never win"
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
And the voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
Oh what I would do to have
The kind of strength it takes to stand before a giant
With just a Sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors
Shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand
But the giant's calling out my name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
Time and time again "boy, you'll never win!"You'll never win"
But the stone was just the right size
To put the giant on the ground
And the waves they don't seem so high
From on top of them looking down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
When I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
Singing over me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
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