Watch as Ray David unpacks Proverbs 3:1-12, and explores the question “How Does God Guide Us?”
The idea of God having a will and you finding it and following it, should not leave you anxious or paralyzed with fear – it should leave you joyfully confident.
When you are trying to discern God’s will it is not about you finding the right path, it is about these things; trusting in the Lord with all of your heart, leaning not on your own understanding, and acknowledging him in all of your ways. Aim to live this way, and God will make your path straight. You can’t step wrong.
Trust
Our lives can be lived with a joyful confidence when we trust in the goodness of our Father. You have to know God before you can trust Him. And when you truly come to know God you will find that He is trustworthy.
Begin discerning God’s will not from a place of anxiety, but instead from a place confident that if He cares for the birds of the air, and the lilies of the field – that He cares so much more so for you.
Lean Not On Your Own Understanding
What do you do when God’s council of you demands something that doesn’t make sense? You can either lean on your own understanding and find ways of getting out from under God’s counsel, or you can trust that God knows more about your life and the universe than your own 3.5 pound brain can understand.
The person who is truly seeking to follow and trust God cannot step wrong. God is the one who will make your path straight. The direction of your life is not subject to your wisdom of your good choices, but to the God who said ‘I will make straight your paths.’
Acknowledge the Lord in All of Your Ways
Set your affections on the coming kingdom of God, and the reality of tomorrow will become your reality today. Whatever you look at, whatever you set your gaze upon – there you will go. Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness and that is where your life will end up.
Acknowledge God in all your ways, not just in the ways that work out the way you hoped. To acknowledge God in all of your ways means to acknowledge Him in the seemingly good and the bad – to acknowledge that He is still supremely in control and good.
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If someone did a forensic analysis of your checking account, would they conclude that you believe in a supreme God who is good, able and loves you, or would they just conclude that you love your swimming pool and cottage? Acknowledge the Lord in all of your ways, including your bank account.
The Straight Path May Lead to a Cross
When we are honest, we must admit that we don’t trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, but there is One who trusted in the Lord unto the end. There is one who never leaned on His own understanding. There is one who acknowledged God in all of His ways. His name was Jesus.
Jesus’ straight path led to a cross. Just because you are faced with difficulty and hardship doesn’t mean you have stepped out of God’s will. It doesn’t mean that you have failed to trust him. For Jesus, the cross was not the final destination of His straight path. Neither is your difficulty your final destination. Your straight path leads through the cross, through death, through loss to resurrection and new life. Sometimes the straight path leads to an orange jumpsuit on a beach somewhere in Syria, but the promise of God is that this world is not even worthy of them. Their final destination is not death – it is new life and resurrection. Death is not the final word.
