Good morning,
My wife is in several book clubs, and one of them recently read a book about time travel. One of the discussion points about the book was, if you had a Time Machine and could go back and change something in your life, would you? So, around the dinner table one night, she asked me that question, and I honestly said I wouldn’t change anything.
It is not that I haven’t had my share of mistakes that I would love to erase from my life. I certainly have had many times of being out of God’s will, going astray, coming back to Him, not listening to His direction for my life, acting on my own will, and ignoring the voice inside that I knew was God telling me differently. But, when I look back, it is all of those wrong decisions that made me who I am today. I can now honestly say that even though there were some painful times, I would not change them because through all of them, God taught me to trust him more, I grew spiritually, I learned more about God and my own spiritual walk, and had to become more and more dependent on Him to get me out of my own messes that I created.
Psalm 139:23-24 NLT
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. [24] Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Life!
What’s it all about?
Why do we go through seasons?
When is it going to get better?
We’ve all had these questions go through our minds. We sometimes get caught up on the treadmill of life just going through the motions, including in our spiritual walk. We check the boxes of reading the Bible, going to church, paying our tithes, and doing good deeds, but when we self-examine, something inside just doesn’t feel right. We go through spiritual dry spells and don’t understand why. We know something feels “off” and don’t know how to fix it.
This is not a time when we should ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit. This is God’s way of saying to you, “I want you to draw closer to and be utterly dependent on Me.”
James 4:8-10 NKJV
[8] Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Psalm 62:5-7 GNT
I depend on God alone; I put my hope in him. [6] He alone protects and saves me; he is my defender, and I shall never be defeated. [7] My salvation and honor depend on God; he is my strong protector; he is my shelter.
But how?
Proverbs 3 (read the whole chapter) gives us a clear direction of how we can rekindle the fire in our souls.
Proverbs 3:3-6 NKJV
Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, [4] And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man. [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 shall direct your paths.
Let’s break it down:
Part 1: Defining our walk with the Lord
- Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
- Mercy: a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion
- Truth: a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality
If we are to bind mercy and truth around our necks and write them on the tablets of our hearts, we soon understand that through the grace of God and Christ’s ultimate sacrifice for us, we can live under God’s plan of salvation and mercy. Jesus told us that He was the way, the truth, and the life.
Think of mercy and truth hanging around your neck like a chain. Every day, everything we do and say should line up with God’s mercy and truth. This affects every aspect of our lives: our finances, our relationships, the conversations we have, the way we look at other people who need God in their own lives, and most of all, our relationship with our Lord.
If every decision we make uses the old adage WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?), we soon realize that many of our past decisions were not in line with God’s word.
Part 2: Back to the “How?”
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.
This is where the rubber meets the road. Notice the word “ALL” is used twice in this passage. What does “all” mean? As you may have heard, “All means all, and that’s all that all means.”
All of our hearts and in all of our ways, we are to trust and acknowledge the Lord. This means that we can’t depend on ourselves, our bank accounts or finances, our abilities, our anything! We must depend on the God of the universe, who created it all and owns it all. Nothing in this world is our own. We came into this world naked and owning nothing and will one day leave the same way.
If we remember that God owns it all and let go of the things of this world that we so closely cling to, then we will feel a sense of relief that we don’t have to do it on our own. We ONLY have to depend on the Lord, who created us, who knows us, who loves us, who cares for us, who provides for us, who heals us, who delivers us, who protects us, who has redeemed us, and who will, in the next life, bring us to live in eternity with Himself.
As Christians, we have the secret of life that so many people in this world are searching for. It is comforting to know that we don’t have to know all of the answers. We don’t have to figure it all out. We don’t have to understand why God allows things to happen in this world. We serve a God who does have all of the answers and has put a plan in place for this world before time began. Trusting in Him, who does have all the answers, is all we need.
Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
When we trust in ourselves, the world, or any other created thing, we will fall short of what God wants for our lives. When we allow our hearts to be humbled and seek Him first, trust Him first, and lean on His understanding, we can walk in a faith that is on solid ground. We can take the “swings” of each day in stride and not worry about our futures. We can understand that we don’t have to understand everything, but only that which God has revealed to us.
Prayer plays an important role in all of this. As we prostrate ourselves before God in a humble way, He will lift us up and give us a renewed and rekindled fire in our souls for what He has in store for our lives. Trust in Him and let Him lead your paths as you draw closer and closer to His desires and His plans for you. He will make your paths straight.
When we are in the position of humility before God, we set ourselves up for success. It is counterintuitive in the human mind, but it is exactly what God wants us to do. We are putting “self” aside and saying to God “I want you first in my life, above all else.” According to James (above), God’s promise to us is He will lift us up. He will use us for His glory and His kingdom. He will pour blessings into our lives like we have never seen before, and we will stand in awe of Him. Jesus taught us over and over the importance of humility and demonstrated it in so many ways throughout the gospels, with His greatest example of dying for all of humanity. If we are to be like Jesus, we are to walk in humility.
Luke 6:40 NKJV
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.
Proverbs 4:10-13 NLT
My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life. [11] I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths. [12] When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble. [13] Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go. Guard them, for they are the key to life.
Matthew 6:33 NLT
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
Psalm 23:3 NKJV
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Psalm 85:6 AMP
Will You not revive us and bring us to life again, That Your people may rejoice in You?
Psalm 143:10 NLT
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.
I love you and am praying for you today!
Dad
We all experience times when we are at the end of our resources and it seems as if God is not there. When this happens, the answers are to be found in our own prayer rooms, where God will in time reveal himself. His timing may not be our timing, but his plan is perfect if we are willing to wait and put our trust in him.
I am confident that I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.
Psalm 27:13-14
From the Post: An Unexpected Arrival
