continued
God so loved you that he provided his son Jesus to die in your place to save you from the penalty of sin. That proves his love for you. You can trust in him because he has your best interest in mind.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" or, as it says in the King James version "He will direct your paths."
Now, the way to know God's way is to passionately "trust in the Lord." Notice what the opposite of trusting in the Lord is - "leaning on your own understanding." In other words, "This is what looks right from what I can see." But the word "understanding" tells you what's wrong with that. You're standing under the situation; yeah, your under-standing. You're seeing only what you can see from the ground, but that's not the whole picture. With a decision like you may be facing right now, you need over-standing - the view from over the whole situation - the big picture. What may look right from underneath may be an incomplete or distorted perspective.
The enemy of God's will, according to the verses, is "my own understanding." I need to submit that to the view from above - to what God says. And how do you "trust in the Lord with all your heart?" You "acknowledge Him" in all your ways. In other words, you declare many times a day, "Jesus is Lord of this." Like the centurion with the dying servant - the soldier whose faith, the Bible says, amazed Jesus. You say, "Jesus, You have the final say in this situation. I acknowledge Your total authority over what seems so hard and so impossible to me."
And you keep submitting to His Lordship, trusting in Him with everything you've got, whether you can see His working or not. But you refuse to run ahead, to force it, to fix it yourself, or to try to make it happen. Why? Because you have asked your Pilot to let you see what He sees: the big picture view from up above.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" or, as it says in the King James version "He will direct your paths."
Now, the way to know God's way is to passionately "trust in the Lord." Notice what the opposite of trusting in the Lord is - "leaning on your own understanding." In other words, "This is what looks right from what I can see." But the word "understanding" tells you what's wrong with that. You're standing under the situation; yeah, your under-standing. You're seeing only what you can see from the ground, but that's not the whole picture. With a decision like you may be facing right now, you need over-standing - the view from over the whole situation - the big picture. What may look right from underneath may be an incomplete or distorted perspective.
The enemy of God's will, according to the verses, is "my own understanding." I need to submit that to the view from above - to what God says. And how do you "trust in the Lord with all your heart?" You "acknowledge Him" in all your ways. In other words, you declare many times a day, "Jesus is Lord of this." Like the centurion with the dying servant - the soldier whose faith, the Bible says, amazed Jesus. You say, "Jesus, You have the final say in this situation. I acknowledge Your total authority over what seems so hard and so impossible to me."
And you keep submitting to His Lordship, trusting in Him with everything you've got, whether you can see His working or not. But you refuse to run ahead, to force it, to fix it yourself, or to try to make it happen. Why? Because you have asked your Pilot to let you see what He sees: the big picture view from up above.