Six Temptations of Failure, Day 1 of 6

Blogs by nature are generally supposed to be short. I’m not good at that. I’ve written an article that I’m confident is a message that many people need to hear. Rather than subject you to the reading the article as a very long blog, however, I’m breaking it into six smaller blogs.

Now, on to an introduction and temptation #1.

Six Temptations of Failure

Failure. It’s such an “ending word.” At least it sounds that way to me. In God’s economy, though, it is anything but an ending word. It is the beginning of something great that God wants to make out of the situation and those involved in it. God’s Word says:

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28 (NRSV)

If you love God and are pursuing His purposes for your life, when you experience failure you can know that God is going to begin to make something good out of the situation. Failure isn’t necessarily from Satan – God allows us to fail to bring about growth in our lives. He uses our failures to teach us things, to conform us to the image of Christ, and to show forth His glory. That’s part of the “good” that God works in our lives.

But when God begins to make something good, we can also know that Satan tries to foil His plans. One of his favorite tactics, especially in failure, is to misdirect God’s people with enticing alternatives. Failure carries with it many temptations, all of which have the potential to stop us in our tracks if we don’t resist them.

Bringing goodness – or even greatness – out of failure is God’s specialty. Bringing defeat and death is Satan’s specialty. Whether we embrace the greatness or the defeat is up to us. In this blog, I hope to debunk many of the temptations the enemy uses to entice us away from God’s plan when we experience failure.

Temptation #1: Believing That You are a Failure
I hope all of you have heard the phrase “failure is an event, not a person.” I’ve heard it from many people, but I think the first was Christian motivational speaker Zig Ziglar. Failure is the event that didn’t go as planned; it is not the person who planned, implemented or participated in the event.

One of the first things Satan throws in our face when we experience a failure is the lie that we are the failure. On the surface it would seem like a hard sell for Satan – after all, who wants to think of themselves as a failure? The truth, though, is that for many of us it’s easier to believe the lie that we are a failure than to hold on to the hope of success. Scripture says “hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12). When we experience a failure, it’s easy to lose hope. If we allow the failure to define us instead of applying the word “failure” only to the event, it’s easier to believe that we are the failure instead of holding onto the promise that God has something better for us.

The truth is that God made us uniquely for His purposes. Holding on to His truth requires actively engaging our faith. Believing the lie that we are a failure doesn’t require much of anything from us. Experiencing a failure takes the wind out of our sails and lowers our resistance to temptation. Although it is debilitating and painful, believing the lie can be the path of least resistance. Believing the lie is easier than holding steadfastly to the truth that God has something greater for us. Believing the truth requires that we expend the emotional and spiritual energy to actively engage our faith – to say “God will prevail on my behalf.”

Tomorrow’s Temptation: Allowing a Failure to Spread It’s Branches

In my last blog in the “Heart of a Worshipper” series (HWS). I wrote that we must have a willing heart, allowing God to use us in whatever way He wants. The very exciting thing about serving God is that when we are willing to let Him lead, the paths He takes us lead us into ever increasing freedom. Read on as I look at three ways that the heart of a worshipper is a free heart.

A Free Heart

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
          2 Corinthians 3:17

Regularly worshipping God means regularly entering into His presence – allowing our spirit to encounter the Spirit of God in a stronger and more intimate way. That experience changes us forever. As we learn more about God and who He is, we learn more about the insignificance of this world. And that’s freedom! It unencumbers your heart and mind. It releases you from the bondage of this world. It sets us free.

In what ways has the Lord set us free? Let’s look at just three of them.

Freedom from Condemnation
You probably know Romans 8 verse 1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” But did you realize that verse 1 ends in a comma? The statement is incomplete. Let’s look at the full sentence (verses 1 and 2):

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
          Romans 8:1-2

There is no condemnation because Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death. When we recognize Him as Savior and receive Him as Lord, we are freed from eternal judgment and given the Spirit of Life. I am not condemned. Period. And if God can forgive whatever I’ve done and all that I’ve done, it seems a bit prideful to me not to forgive myself. When I don’t forgive myself, I am setting myself up as judge above God – I am overriding (or overturning) His “not guilty” decision. I really try not to trump God. I’ve found that it doesn’t work in the long run! God has declared me “not guilty.” I choose to agree with Him (regardless of how I feel on any given day). Again, I choose to agree with Him.

Freedom from Fear
A little further in Romans 8 we find the following verses:

because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
          Romans 8:14-15

These verses tell us that we have been released from a spirit of fear and have been given the opportunity for an intimate relationship with God (“Abba” can be translated “Daddy”) – the Spirit of sonship.

2 Timothy 1:7 is a verse that many people memorize:

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity [or fear], but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline [or a sound mind].
          2 Timothy 1:7

Fear does not come from God. Faith comes from God. Assurance comes from God. Love comes from God. I don’t know what your greatest fear is, but I do know that spending time in God’s presence can give you His perspective on things. His perspective includes, among other things, the following facts:

• That God is good and desires good things for me (Jeremiah 29:11).
• That He knows me and understands me better than I know and understand myself (Psalm 139:1-3, 13)
• That He is the One who controls all that happens to me today (Proverbs 16:9, 24).
• That He will provide all that I need (Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 9:8)
• And that He is the One who has said “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).

Meditating on these statements and verses pushes fear away. And while you’re meditating, here’s something else to think about: If you look up the verses I referenced in the short list above, you’ll find that you are familiar with nearly all of them. If I can come up with a list like this from the most commonly known Scriptures, imagine how much longer the list could be if you or I were to dig further. If you struggle with fear, let me encourage you to focus on the character of God. As you read your Bible today and tomorrow and the next day, ask God to show you His goodness, compassion and love and His awesome ability to hold you near to His heart. Ask Him to allow you to see yourself, those around you and the world through His eyes.

Freedom to Obey and Serve
There is tremendous freedom in knowing God and being willing to obey Him – to do what He calls you to do. Many years and several states ago, I had a good friend who was afraid to give herself fully to God because she was afraid that God would require too much of her. He’d ask her to become a missionary to Zimbabwe or he’d allow her to become paralyzed so she could have a ministry like Joni Erickson Tada. (Perhaps she’s never heard Joni’s full testimony. I’ve heard Joni say that she’d rather spend the rest of her life in her wheelchair with God at her side than to have spent one minute of her life without Him.) Knowing that you are willing, are doing and have done what God wants you to do is tremendously freeing. Withholding from God, or being outright disobedient to God carries a whole lot of emotional baggage. It’s like a constant nagging in your heart and soul. My friend was never free from the knowledge that she wasn’t living God’s best for her because she wasn’t willing to give herself entirely over to Him. It pulled on her spirit and dragged her down. And perhaps appropriately so – she was grieving God’s heart. But doing His will brings a lightness, a freedom to our hearts. Even the difficult tasks bring with them the peace that comes from knowing that God will enable and supply. And that allows us to be free from worrying about the results.

Let me give you just a couple of verses to meditate on:

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.
           James 1:25

This verse describes God’s law as “the perfect law that gives freedom.” This seemed strange to me when it first registered with me because I had never thought of God’s law as bringing freedom, but I now understand that obedience brings freedom. When you’re driving on the freeway within the speed limit, you have no fear of who’s around the corner. When your foot is heavy on the gas pedal, there’s a bit of wariness that leads to stress.

I will always obey your law, for ever and ever. I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
          Psalm 119:44-45

The Psalmist is saying that because He has studied what God wants and has decided to obey, he will walk in freedom. Obedience brings a freedom of spirit that is life-giving. It is a freedom that brings light-heartedness in difficulty.

Freedom Here We Come!
We value freedom very highly in this country. Christ has come to bring a degree of freedom to our lives that is beyond any freedom we can experience at the hands of men. That freedom comes about by getting to know God better. The heart of a worshipper is a heart that is free! Spend some time today in worship!

 I hope you’re enjoying this “Heart of a Worshipper” series (HWS). We’re about half way through the series, so this blog begins with a review. You can click on any of the topics to go to the blog on that topic.

A Willing Heart

Time for review. When this series is completed, I’ll have written about seven characteristics of the heart of a worshipper. We’ve covered four so far. How many of them can you remember? Can you name them? Let me help. Reading about them interspersed with “life” can make it difficult to see the natural progression, so let’s review the first four.

• A hungry heart - one that desires to know God more intimately. There are many scriptures we could look at that express this sentiment, but I like these two:

“Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.
          Isaiah 26:8-9

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
          Psalm 42:1-2

• A pursuing heart – one that follows hard after Jesus. Proverbs 16:26 says: “The laborer’s appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on.” So it is with God. Our desire for Him drives us to get to know Him better – the hungry heart becomes the pursuing heart. 
    
  In His book The God Chasers, Tommy Tenney explains his title like this: “A God Chaser is a person whose hunger for God exceeds his grasp…whose passion for God’s presence presses him to chase the impossible, in hopes that the Uncatchable might catch him.”
    
  And the wonderful thing about our God is that He promises to allow us to catch Him! Review these scriptures if you have any doubts: Deuteronomy 4:29, Jeremiah 29:13-14, Matthew 7:7-8, and Proverbs 8:17. (There are lots more, but these should give you a good start!)
      
• A transparent or unveiled heart – one that allows the Light of Life (Jesus) to shine through it so that He can reveal to us what is hidden in it’s deepest, darkest corners. When our heart is transparent, we can say with David “All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.” (Psalm 38:9) Having a transparent heart allows God to reveal our sin to us.
      
• A vulnerable heart is the logical extension of the transparent heart – it’s the heart that suppresses our “fight or flight” response as we sit at Jesus’ feet and allow Him to change us. It moves from allowing God to reveal our sin to allowing Him to transform us into the image of Christ. It also means total dependence on God – trusting Him to make the right choices for you. It means giving God the right to make the rules and put the ball in play. And it means giving up our right to say “No, I don’t want to be like that,” or “I don’t like those rules.”

A Willing Heart – The Second Half of the Equation 
A key phrase in the last paragraph is “put the ball in play.” In other words, having a vulnerable heart that allows God to change us is only the first half of the equation…we must also have a willing heart that allows God to use us.

Chapter 6 in Isaiah is a fascinating illustration of the vulnerable and willing heart of Isaiah. Let me do a quick outline of verses 1 through 11 for you

Verses 1 – 4: Isaiah is given a glimpse of the throne room of heaven

…I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs…And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty…” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

Verse 5-7: Isaiah experiences conviction for his sin

Woe to me!…I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips…

Verses 6 and 7: God demonstrates that Isaiah’s sin has been forgiven by having an angel take a coal from the altar and touch his lips with it

With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Verse 8: God makes a request and Isaiah enthusiastically responds

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Verse 9-10: God elaborates on the assignment, revealing that it won’t be a pleasant one

“Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes…”

Verse 11: Isaiah remains committed to carry out his task

Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged…”

There are no words in scripture to give us an idea of what inflection to put into Isaiah’s response, but we do know that the last thing he said was spoken with enthusiasm or passion: “Here I am! Send me!” It seems reasonable, then, that the next line would continue in a similar emotion. So even though the Lord has told him to go do this seemingly miserable task, his response is “For how long, Lord?”

 I don’t think Isaiah was dragging his feet and saying “Oh man, how long do I have to do this?” I think He was saying with eagerness “How long can I do this for you Lord?” or “I’m happy to do it as long as you want me to, Lord. How long?”

Isaiah sees worship in heaven and his first response reveals his transparent heart “Woe is me, I am undone.” His second response reveals his willing heart: “Here I am. Send me.”

Oh, that I might be as enthusiastic when I receive assignments from God. I’m tempted to pray here, “Lord, make my heart and spirit cry with enthusiasm, ‘Here I am, Lord, send me,’ even when Your assignments mean obscurity or unpopularity or drudgery.” And that would be a good thing…but you know, sometimes my heart isn’t really there!

It’s at those times that I am tempted to feel condemnation because I think my heart should be always willing, no matter what the circumstances or assignment. So I try to get my heart to the right place…yeah, right!

One thing I’ve learned is that I can’t manufacture a change in my heart any more than I could manufacture the heart itself! I cannot rely on myself for such things. Charles Spurgeon made this point well in a book called All of Grace.

If we trust to ourselves for our holding on [i.e., continuing in Christ] we shall not hold on. Even though we rest in Jesus for a part of our salvation, we shall fail if we trust to self for anything…Beware of mixing even a little of self with the mortar with which you build, or you will make it untempered mortar, and the stones will not hold together. If you look to Christ for your beginnings, beware of looking to yourself for your endings. He is Alpha. See to it that you make Him Omega also. If you begin in the Spirit you must not hope to be made perfect by the flesh. Begin as you mean to go on, and go on as you began…

In other words, don’t look to yourself, look to God.  Don’t trust yourself, trust God. 

Returning to our passage in Isaiah, we see that he didn’t work up his own obedience – it was a natural response to having seen the glory of God. So perhaps my prayer shouldn’t be “Lord, make my heart and spirit cry ‘Yes Lord’ with enthusiasm;” perhaps the secret lies in sitting at Jesus’ feet in worship and praying “Lord, give me a glimpse of Your glory as you gave to Isaiah.” And that brings us full circle – it all starts with having that heart which is hungry for God and it leads to the wonderful privilege of being used by Him.

If your response to God isn’t as whole-hearted as you’d like it to be or you’re feeling condemnation from the enemy for lacking enthusiasm for the things of God, let me encourage you to take time to sit at Jesus’ feet in worship. Just for a while, stop doing things for God and simply spend time with God. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you in a new way. He delights to do so!

In the previous blog in our “The Heart of a Worshipper” series (HWS) we looked at the first condition of the heart of a worshipper: it is a heart that is hungry for more of God. In this blog, we continue to look at the qualities of the worshipping heart. May you be blessed and transformed as you grow in your own worship of the King of Kings.

A Hungry Heart 
The first condition of the heart of a worshipper that we looked at is a heart that is hungry for more of God. Psalm 42, verses 1 and 2 describe the condition well:

          ¹    As the deer pants for streams of water,
            so my soul pants for you, O God.
       ²    My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
          When can I go and meet with God?

Verse 2b tells us where a hungry heart leads us – to a desire to meet with God. Proverbs 16:26 says:

“The laborer’s appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on.”

Satisfying the Hungry Heart
When the condition of our heart is that we are hungry for God, the response of our heart is to pursue Him more aggressively. Spiritual hunger is fed by pursuing God. A pursuing heart is one that is trying to satisfy the hunger for God that is within it.

In His book The God Chasers, Tommy Tenney explains his title like this:

“A God Chaser is a person whose hunger for God exceeds his grasp…whose passion for God’s presence presses him to chase the impossible, in hopes that the Uncatchable might catch him.”

He goes on to say that the chase begins with worship – recognizing Who God is. Become a “God Chaser” Pray “Lord, make me a God-Chaser!” Chase after God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength – He will not disappoint you!

A Pursuing Heart
Let’s look at Deuteronomy 4:29:

“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

The word for “seek” is baqash (baw-kash’) which means to search out (by any method, spec. in worship or prayer); to strive after, ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make) request, require, seek (for).

That same word is used in Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek (baqash) me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” What a great promise! But God doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say in verse 14 “I will be found by you.” These verses provide a prayer that we can be confident is always in God’s will: “Lord, I want to know You more. Teach me more of Your ways.” God will satisfy the hunger in our heart when we pursue Him.

Baqash is the word used in the Old Testament; there’s a similar word used in the New Testament: zeteo (dzay-teh’-o). It means to seek (lit. or fig.); spec. (by Heb.) to worship (God),to desire, endeavour, enquire (for), require, seek (after, for, means). This word is used in Matthew 7:7-8.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek (zeteo) and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks (zeteo) finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Again, God promises that we will find Him when we pursue Him.

Zeteo was also used by Paul in his sermon at Mars Hill. Acts 17:24-28 is a passage worthy of meditating on in worship:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek (zeteo) him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’

Wow! God did all this, he created this world and mankind and determined the time in which we were to live and the exact places where we should live…why? So that men and women would SEEK him. God’s desire is that we seek Him. He makes us hungry, then rewards us with a stronger relationship with Him.

Let’s look at 2 more verses that give us God’s perspective and response to those with a hungry and pursuing heart:

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” Proverbs 8:17

“Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:8-9

God’s ways truly are not our ways. He loves us beyond our understanding, and He’s implanted in us a desire to know us. He created and controls the entire universe for the purpose of bringing you into a greater loving relationship with Him.

A hungry heart develops into a pursuing heart. If you have a hungry heart, don’t ignore your hunger pains. Don’t put yourself on a spiritual diet. Know that it is God Himself who has made you hungry and wants to satisfy that hunger by revealing more of Himself to you. Pursue God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Do it today!

In Genesis 12, Abraham lied about Sarah, telling the Egyptians that she was his sister. The king of Egypt, the Pharaoh, took Sarah into his harem. God sent a terrible plague on Pharaoh’s entire household.

In Genesis 20, Abraham lied about Sarah, telling the Gerarites that she was his sister. The king of Gerar, Abimelech, took Sarah as one of his wives. God came to Abimelech in a dream and warned him that he would die if he kept Sarah as his wife because she was already the wife of Abraham.

What strikes me is that our sins cause those around us to sin unknowingly. In both situations above, the kings would not have taken Sarah from Abraham and into their homes if they had known that she was Abraham’s wife. But Abraham allowed his fear to be the justification for lying instead of trusting God to come through for him. So he chose to sin instead of trust God. And in choosing to sin, he caused those around him to sin.

First, let’s get something straight. Sin is serious stuff and lying is a serious sin. Deuteronomy 25:16 says that God detests anyone who deals dishonestly. Proverbs 6 tells us that there are seven things that are detestable to the Lord and one of them is a lying tongue. Detests is a pretty strong word. The King James Version uses the words “are an abomination.” I am far from sinless, but I don’t want to knowingly do something that is detestable to the Lord, that is an abomination to Him. Nor do I want to be the cause of someone else’s detestable actions. Abraham lied. It caused those around him to commit other sins.

Is this relevant today? You bet! When we lie (even the white lies), we put those around us in a difficult position. If they don’t know we lied to them, they are likely to repeat our lie unknowingly or act sinfully because of the lie we told. For example, if I illegally download software then give it to someone telling them it is a legal version, when they use the software, they will be violating the law. When I illegally download music, all those around me are listening to stolen music.

Now suppose the person knew I was lying. That puts them in the position of telling others the truth, revealing my sin, or continuing my lie by lying themselves. That’s not an easy place to be. Let’s say I want to go to the movies with my husband this afternoon but I had previously told my mom that I’d visit her. Maybe I’ve considered this and think it’s more important today to take the afternoon and spend it with my husband. But I don’t want to disappoint my mom or hurt her feelings, so instead of telling her the truth, I tell her that I can’t come visit today because I have too much work to do. Having too much work to do seems like a better reason to skip visiting her than going to a movie instead. But it’s a lie. If mom talks to Phil and begins saying how glad she is that we’re busy at work, he is immediately put in the position of telling her that her daughter lied to her or lying himself to protect me.

Yes, these are small examples, but they are every day examples. You might say “what’s the big deal.” I say that the Lord detests a lying tongue. I don’t want to own or be what the Lord detests. AND, it’s not just about me. When I sin, I cause those around me to sin.

How much better to cause those around me to rejoice in the Lord because I am rejoicing in the Lord? How much better to cause those around me to serve the Lord because they see my joy in serving the Lord? How much better to cause those around me to live with integrity because they see that God honors those who live with integrity?

Our actions have consequences – whether for good or evil, what we do impacts what those around us do. Will you be challenged, as I am, to live righteously before God and others?

The horses are prepared for battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.
           Proverbs 21:31

I’m a planner. I love planning. It brings me a sense of peace. It brings order and structure to chaos. Although many would see planning as something restrictive – something that boxes them in, I have come to understand that planning is a form of creativity. In creation, God brought order to chaos. The earth was “without form, and void” (Gen 1:2). That describes many projects before a planner steps in. Anyway, I used to believe that I had no creativity. Now I recognize that creativity comes in many forms, and my ability to bring order to chaotic projects is a form of creativity. And I feel better about myself!

Strange, I suppose, how I feel better about myself because I now believe I have creativity. I’m not sure why that is and should probably do some inner searching to figure it out…but that’s a blog for another time I suppose.

Today’s blog is about preparing horses for battle. Planning is a lot like that. To mix a few metaphors, planning is getting all our ducks in a row, it’s lining up the troops. It’s laying out an efficient and strategic way of getting the job done. Like I said, I love doing that. The  challenge that’s hard for me to resist is the challenge of bringing order out of chaos.

Maybe you’re like me. If you’re not, you probably know someone who is (perhaps the person you’re married to!)…Now you have insight into our wierdness.

To Those of You Who are Like Me
Let me strongly encourage you to remember that God is honored by our planning, but only when the planning is done with the full faith and trust that victory belongs to the Lord. We prepare our horses for battle, but victory belongs to the Lord. The trap that Satan will set for us is that we subtly begin to believe that our well-established plans are sacred and that they have won the victory. At that point, friend, your strength has become your besetting sin. To avoid this, let me encourage you to develop the strong, consistant habit of acknowledging Him in all your ways (Proverbs 3:5-6) – always pause to pray before, during and after planning. You need to do this not only to allow God to direct your planning, but to remind yourself that you need God to direct your planning.

Let me also encourage you to not take your plans (and yourself) so seriously. Practice flexibility. Yes, you probably developed the best plan, but sometimes following someone else’s plan is more important. There are more important things than attacking a project in the most efficient manner possible. Sometimes making someone else know how important they are to the team is more important. Sometimes giving someone else the experience of leading is more important. Sometimes just playing well with others is more important. Be flexible. Don’t let your plan become your idol.

To Those of You Who Know Someone Like Me
What a treasure you’ve found! Help us become the people God wants us to be. When you see us placing too much importance on/in our plans, gently remind us that victory belongs to the Lord. I used the word “gently” for two reasons: (1) Depending on your personality, just a little planning on our part might look to you like I’m trusting in my plans when in reality I’m just using the gift God has given me – don’t crush my spirit by accusing me of not trusting God everytime I use my gifts. (2) If I really have fallen into Satan’s trap of trusting myself or my plans instead of God, you are uncovering my sin. No one wants that to be broadcast to the world. Be gentle with me. Trust that the Holy Spirit will convict me of my sin.

Praise God! Victory is always His!

⁵    Trust in the LORD with all your heart
     and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶    in all your ways acknowledge him,
     and he will direct your paths.
               Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust, Lean, Acknowledge, Direct

When we trust God, leaning not on our own wisdom, but instead acknowledging him – seeking His wisdom, we can be confident that He will direct us into paths that are a perfect for us. What a great thing! I can rest in knowing this. I can quit my striving and my worrying when I am confident of this…Can’t I? Then why is it still so hard sometimes? Why am I still tempted to worry and/or take things into my own hands?

How Do I Really Trust God?

First let me tell you that it’s possible. I come from a long line of worriers. Within my family, worrying is something like a badge of honor. Somehow, worrying about someone seems to be a primary way that we show someone we care about them. When I first met my husband he affectionately called me his wart – which was short for worry wart. It didn’t take long before I decided I wanted a better nickname! So I began to intentionally work on trusting God instead of worrying. It has worked. Many years later, I am no longer Phil’s wart. Every now and then he’ll catch me slipping into patterns of worry and he’ll use the nickname, but it doesn’t happen very often any more. And trust me. Life is so much better when we forgo the worrying.

I saw a sign once that said “Worry is an incredible waste of the imagination.” I thought that was wonderful – because it’s so true. Worry uses the imagination to conjure up all the negative things that could possible happen in a given situation. Wouldn’t you rather use that imagination to think about all the positive things that could come out of a given situation? I would! So I’m going to give you a couple of steps I’ve followed, and continue to follow, that enables me to put feet on the verse we’ve been studying.

1. The first step in trusting God is to decide to trust God. This isn’t rocket science! At some point, we have to decide that God is trustworthy, based on His Word and His character and His past history with us. We have to come to the point where we don’t just say we believe Him, but we actually act like we believe Him. He says He’ll direct us. Let’s trust Him to do so. That means every time there is doubt creeping into our thoughts, we decide again that we will trust God and we stop letting our imagination go to all the negative possibilities.I remember leading a missions trip a few years ago. My dear aunt was a part of the trip. We were out of the country for ten days, and finally were back on US soil. We had just gotten on the plane that would take us home. I was sitting next to my aunt and she was looking out the window. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! My aunt saw that they did not load our luggage on the plane. The brought the luggage cart to the plane, loaded some of it, then took it away. Our luggage was still on the cart they drove away. She became anxious and told me about it. My response was born more out of tiredness than wisdom, but it proved to have wisdom in it. I simply said “Well, you can worry about that if you want to. I’m going to enjoy the flight home.” The wisdom is that we can choose to worry about things if we want to. Most of those things will work themselves out on their. We made it home. Some of us didn’t get our luggage until the next day. Not a big deal. And the truth is that most of what we worry about really isn’t a big deal. You’ve heard the phrase “don’t sweat the small stuff…and it’s all small stuff to God.” So at some point, you just have to decide that you will trust God and not worry.
2. Get to know God better. I’ve found that we trust most those we know the best. So get to know Him better than you know anybody else. You’ll learn how He has been faithful to others in the situation you’re facing. Your eyes will be opened to how He has been faithful to you in the past. You’ll even see how He has met your needs when things spun out of control in the past. God is the One who holds your future in His hands. Period. Not you, not your spouse, not your children, not your parents, not your boss, not your friends, not your pastor, not your counselor, not your job, not your hobby, not the money in your bank account, not your connections in the community, not anything that you might be tempted to depend on. God holds you and He holds your future in His hands. So get to know Him. Join a Bible study, attend church regularly, read your Bible and pray for longer periods of time one or two days a week, read other Christian books. I find that reading Christian biographies really teach me a lot about how God works and how faithful He has been throughout time.What he’s done before He’ll do again. What He’s done for anyone He can do for you. You’ve made a decision to trust God. The ability to trust Him comes through faith. Faith is increased by pursuing God consistently.

If you struggle with trusting God, choose just one situation today and decide to trust Him in that situation. Don’t try to trust Him for every need you have right now – it will be too much for you and you will undoubtedly fail to trust Him in one of those areas. Then you’ll forget all the situations you trusted Him in and you’ll feel like you’ve failed. I don’t want to set you up for failure. I want you to experience what trusting God feels like. How it is different from the way you’ve been living. So start small. Find that one situation, commit to taking that matter to God in prayer and trusting Him to reveal what, if any, action you should take. Then rest. Be confident in Him. Know He’ll answer, so you don’t have to figure out what to do in the meantime. When you’re tempted to worry remind yourself of His faithfulness and thank Him for the answer that is on the way. When you’re still tempted to worry, spend some time getting to know Him better. God is up to something in your life! He wants you to trust Him for that thing you’re most worried about.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
      Proverbs 3:5-6

⁵    Trust in the LORD with all your heart
     and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶    in all your ways acknowledge him,
     and he will direct your paths
                 Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust, Lean, Acknowledge
Trust God. Lean on Him, not your own understanding. He is trustworthy. Seek Him for wisdom. He gives it generously to those who ask. He knows the big picture. You don’t. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will direct your paths.

“He Will Direct Our Paths”
Your translation of the Bible might say “He will make your paths straight.” The word that’s translated “direct” or “straight” really means both things (and an exciting third thing we’ll see in a minute).

He will direct our paths – We can have confidence that God will give us direction. He will put people in our paths that make the action we should take clear, or He will whisper into our spirit which choice is the right choice for now, or He will highlight a verse of Scripture that makes it clear which direction we should take. He will direct our paths.

He will make our paths straight – He will also straighten out the path, making it smoother, avoiding some of the obstacles that we would run headlong into. He will keep our meandering, “wandering in the wilderness” to a minimum – when we trust God and acknowledge Him in all our ways, we’ll only wander when God has a purpose for it. I like that. Wandering with a purpose!

He will find the “well fitted” path – The word translated “direct” or “straight” also means “well fitted.” I love this! God will direct each of us to the path that is well fitted to us – the one that fits us like a glove. One of the ways the word is used in the Old Testament is in the discussion of the building of the Solomon’s Temple. There is a discussion of carved pieces of wood that are overlaid with gold. When gold is overlaid on wood, it is perfectly molded to the wood. The word “overlaid” is the same word as used in Proverbs 3:6. That’s pretty exciting to me. God is going to lead me in the paths that are perfectly molded to fit me, the one that best matches my talents and temperament and passions. He knows those things better than I do because He created me in my mother’s womb. He knew me before the world was formed. The path He will lead me in will be the best fit possible – and that will be incredibly satisfying.

And He’s just waiting for me to rely on Him for guidance. He is eager to lead me into those perfect places, even joyful watching me take those steps that demonstrate my trust of Him.

There’s one more blog in this series – the practicals of putting it all in action. Watch for the next blog.

⁵    Trust in the LORD with all your heart
     and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶    in all your ways acknowledge him,
     and he will direct your paths
                      Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust Him, and Not Your Own Understanding
God is trustworthy. Our own understanding is not always so. He is the Creator who knows the big picture. We are the created who see our small part. Trusting Him with all our heart and not leaning on our own understanding is not only biblical, it’s logical.

But how do we go from trusting him and not leaning on our own knowledge of a situation to actually knowing what to do? That’s where the next verse comes in.

“In All Your Ways Acknowledge Him”
I am immediately struck by the word “all” in this verse. In ALL my ways I’m to acknowledge Him…not just the beginning of my ways, or the middle of my ways, or the end of my ways after I’ve likely messed things up. No, I’m to trust Him throughout the entire process.

In addition, I’m to acknowledge Him in all that I do, not just those things that I feel like I need His help on. I don’t know about you, but I am most prone to forget to acknowledge God in all my ways when I’m doing something that I’ve done before. I don’t think it consciously, but my attitude becomes one of “This is a no brainer – I just have to do this, this, and this…” and then I start working on it.

Warren Wiersbe talks about this. He says that “we may think our own wisdom is sufficient, but it is not. We need the wisdom of God…Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard…we put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding instead of trusting God with all our hearts.”  (Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines of the Old Testament)

He essentially says we act like atheists – those who don’t even believe God exists – when we trust on our own understanding instead of acknowledging God and leaning on His wisdom.

God promises wisdom to those who ask for it. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, James wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.” (James 1:5) God says he will give wisdom generously. And He doesn’t “find fault” with us for asking – I believe He actually takes delight in us asking for wisdom, as any other parent does when his or her child asks for their wisdom.

The word “acknowledge” doesn’t mean what it means in contemporary society. It’s much more than the nod of the head, a handshake, or a raising of the eyebrows in recognition. It’s even more than a “welcome” hug. The root of the word is “know” – it means “know the Lord” – “in all your ways, know the Lord” so that His ways can become your ways. In the second blog of this series, I stressed the need to get to know God better because we are most likely to trust someone when we know him or her better.

God is the One outside creation – He knows the beginning from the end. He knows what unexpected difficulties there are along the way. He can navigate around them. Acknowledge Him in all that you do so that He can lead you around those unexpected difficulties. More about that in the next blog…see you then.

⁵    Trust in the LORD with all your heart
     and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶    in all your ways acknowledge him,
     and he will direct your paths
                     Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart”
“There is no panic in trust” Bertha Munro said. Trusting God means a panic-free life. I like that. But in order to be able to trust Him, I need to get to know Him better, and then I actually need to make the decision to give my situations to Him - I need to actually trust Him.  These thoughts were the subject of the first two blogs in this series.

Today, we switch gears a little to find that the action of trusting God has a partner. That partner is not leaning on your own understanding.

“Do Not Lean on Your Own Understanding”
The word “lean” means to support yourself – so don’t support yourself with your own understanding. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use your own understanding. God has given us intelligence and reasoning for a purpose – he wants us to use them. But He doesn’t want us to “lean” on them. He wants us to lean on Him.

Have you ever broken a leg or ankle or foot? You probably used a pair of crutches for while. You leaned on them and they supported you. Let it be the same with God. Lean on Him and let Him support you. Don’t support yourself with your own understanding.

In America we don’t like the word “crutch” – we admire independence. But independence is inconsistent with Christian maturity. As we mature as Christians, we learn to rely on, to support ourselves with, to trust God, not our own understanding.

If Noah had leaned on his own understanding, he wouldn’t have survived the flood. It had never rained before God told Noah to build a boat. The land had been watered from underground streams. When God told Noah He was going to cover the entire earth with a flood, He was telling Noah that He was going to do something He had never done before. Relying on his own understanding would have been disastrous for Noah. He couldn’t possible have had full understanding of the situation. The same is always true with us. We never know the whole picture. But God does.

In my last blog, I wrote that “God IS the most trustworthy person in all of creation.” That’s true. Let me change the emphasis for this lesson: God is the most trustworthy person IN all of creation. Yet, what’s even more important for this lesson, is that God is the most trustworthy person OUTSIDE of all creation. God knows it all. We don’t. If Noah had relied upon his own understanding, He would have drowned with the rest of the earth. Instead, he trusted in the One who created the earth and so when God said “build an ark”, he began to build an ark.

Notice that Noah’s trust of God lead to an action – he built the ark. Action demonstrates the trust we have. Trust isn’t trust if we don’t act upon it. Stay tuned for more on that in the next blog.