ApprehendingGrace.com

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.

If left to my own devices, I’m a late sleeper. Even when I go to bed early, I can sleep late. I am also a heavy sleeper. I frequently don’t hear the alarm clock no matter how loud it’s set. And since every other day of the week I have a reason for being up early, I have always treasured Saturday morning as the day I get to sleep a little later. Not as late as I’d like, mind you, but until a respectable 9am or so.

About a year ago, God began to wake me up early on Saturday mornings. I admit it…for quite a long time, I resented this. Saturday morning is my only morning to sleep late, I like to sleep late, I’m still tired, but I’m lying here in bed awake. What’s with that? No matter how late I go to bed on Friday night, I’m awake early on Saturday morning. If I don’t get out of bed, I just lay there staring into space. I rarely fall back asleep.

Eventually I remembered that when things aren’t as they normally are, when things seem out of place, always look for the hand of God. Since I had spent my life sleeping in on Saturday mornings and now that seemed an impossibility, I realized that it was God who was waking me up.

And Saturday  mornings have become such a special time with God. I don’t do anything significantly differently from what I do most mornings, but on Saturdays (because I’m awake and getting an earlier start), there is less pressure from the things that have to be done later in the day. The house is quieter, the spirit more peaceful. God seems more accessible.

Now the truth is there’s nothing different about the house on Saturdays than on Wednesdays or Fridays and God isn’t any more accessible on Saturday than He is on Wednesdays or Fridays. The truth is that I’m different. I’m more relaxed and looking forward to hearing from God on these early Saturday mornings than on other days. Because I’m up earlier than I need to be, I can enjoy Him without other distractions. And our time together is longer than other days of the week. I worship Him longer, I read more, I listen more, I write more.

The very cool thing is that this was all God’s idea. He initiated it. I’m so thankful that we serve a God who initiates a relationship with us. As A.W. Tozer writes in The Pursuit of God, God is always previous. He always reaches out to us first. He goes before us in everything we do, arriving where we are before we get there. He is always previous.

So God and I have an appointment that He helps me to keep every Saturday morning. Actually, we have an appointment every morning, but Saturday’s appointment is more like a date.

I bet God would like to have a date with you, too. I’m praying that He would begin to awaken readers of this blog early one day next week. Just so you and He can spend more time together.

Let me know how it goes.

⁴¹But as they came closer to Jerusalem and Jesus saw the city ahead, he began to cry. ⁴²“I wish that even today you would find the way of peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from you. ⁴³Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you. ⁴⁴They will crush you to the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you have rejected the opportunity God offered you.”  Luke 19: 41-44, NLT

“Because you have rejected the opportunity God offered you.” The NRSV says it this way: “because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

Our God is such a gracious God. One who is not slow to act, but gives ample time for people to repent. And yet a time comes when the window of opportunity closes, when the visitation from God leaves. Lord, I don’t want to miss that opportunity. I don’t want to allow that visitation to go unrecognized.

The things that might cause me to do so are largely summed up in the busyness of life. Lord, help me to get away with You. Lord, thank you for helping me keep our weekly appointment.

The more busy I get, the less I am able to truly hear those around me, let alone God. Think about it…when was the last time you misunderstood your child or husband or friend simply because you were too busy to hear the whole story, both what was said and what was left unsaid?

Lord, save me from the self-absorption that comes with busyness.

A friend sent me an e-mail recently. You know, one of those that is passed around to everyone and many people find a blessing while others only find it annoying. (I fall somewhere in-between, depending on how busy I am!) Anyway, this one included a quote that I thought was worth saving and it relates here: “God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind. Sometimes when you don’t have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you. It’s your choice: Listen to the whisper or wait for the brick.”

Listening for the whisper is listening for God’s visitation, watching for His opportunities. Lord, open my ears and my eyes to hear and see You in my world today.

Watch for tomorrow’s blog for more from this passage.