Ye have never passed this way heretofore.
PROVERBS 3:5,6
Whenever a handful of Christians get together, it is not long till someone brings up the subject of the will of God. It is exciting to know that God has a master plan for your life. He has a plan for each individual life. According to Psalm 27:23 every single step in that life is ordered by the Lord. To know and do God’s will is highest achievement for nay person. Success is not spelled m-o-n-e-y. Success is not spelled f-a-m-e. Success is knowing the will of God and doing it.
How can I know the will of God for my life? What can I do to let God direct me in His individual will for my life? What can I do to put myself in the position to know the will of God for my life?
Proverbs 3:5,6 gives us the answer very simply to find your way in perilous times.
I. There is a PERSON on whom your faith is asked to TRUST
“Trust in the lord with all thine heart; an lean not unto thine own understanding”
TRUST IN THE LORD. Lean on the Lord!
There is no other scheme to which you are to subscribe- no other plan, philosophy, or program. TRUST IN THE LORD. It is on GOD, not on thyself, that thou art commanded to depend. Trust your life with Him. You are in better hands with God than you are Allstate.
A. The rejection faith makes
“Lean not unto thine own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:7 “Be not wise in thine own eyes”
Proverbs 23:4 “cease from thine own wisdom.”
Proverbs 28:26 “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool”
There is not a greater enemy knowing the will of God than the conceitedness of our own wisdom. “The fool may learn, but the conceited man will not.”
Jeremiah 10:23 “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”
Isaiah 5:21 “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” Leaning on the arm of flesh is certain to fail you.
Leaning upon our own understanding will lead to trouble. Abraham leaned unto his own understanding when he went down to Egypt because of the famine. Joshua leaned unto his own understanding when he attacked the little down of Ai. David leaned unto his own understanding when he fled to the Philistine camp. I Samuel 27:1 “And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines ; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.” The truth was there something better for him to do!
I heard about a man who had a sick mule. He asked his Uncle Joe, “Didn’t you give to turpentine to your sick mule?” His uncle replied that he did. Later the man’s mule died and he told his Uncle Joe that his mule had died when he gave him the turpentine. Uncle Joe replied, “Yep, it killed mine too.”
Need to be careful upon whom you lean for direction. Jeremiah 17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
B. The direction faith takes
“Trust in the lord with all thine heart” — look to the Lord. He is utterly dependable. His wisdom is so great He can never make a mistake. He can be trusted. He had high and holy purposes and no ulterior motives. Trust Him with all your heart.
Once there was a carriage being driven along the road. The mother sat on the front seat and the maid, carrying for the spoiled baby, on the back seat. The child began screaming for something. The mother impatiently said, “Why don’t you let him have what he wants?” The nurse let him have it. What he was crying for was a wasp on the window. After the child screamed loudly as he felt the terrible sting of the wasp, the mother called out again to ask, “What is the matter with him now.” The maid quietly replied, ”He got what he wanted.” How often have I seen this. It is so much better to trust the Lord and let him give the directions in and for our life.
The middle verse in the Bible is Psalm 118:9 “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” David knew this by experience, for he confided in Saul his king, at another time in Achish, the Philistine, at another time in Ahithophel his own most prudent minister; and they all failed him; but he never confided in God without reaping the benefit of it.
This is what the Jochabed did when she put Moses in the Nile River, the very place Pharoah had charged the people to cast their new-born sons. Human reasoning would have suggested to carry him as far away form the river as possible. Jochabed acted by faith on the directions God have her.
There is a person on whom your faith is asked to trust
II. There is a PRACTICE in which your faith is asked to TEST
“In all thy ways acknowledge him”
God is wanting us to learn total commitment. Test what you should you do by acknowledging the Lord. Acknowledge the Lord in everything you do. He is asking us to be committed to begin, continue, and end every work, purpose, and device, with God.
A. How inclusive this is practice - “in all thy ways”
Recreation, business, home, work, worship........in all- not merely some of your ways
Colossians 3:17 “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
Begin with Him, and end with Him; invoke His name, and pray for His direction and support, in all that ye do. Doing every thing in the name of God, and referring every thing to His glory, is as rational as it is pious. Could it be ever supposed that any person would begin a bad work in God's name?
Colossians 3:23 “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;”
I Corinthians 10:31 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatseover ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
In all the actions and plans of life; whatever be your schemes, your desires, your doings, let all be done to the glory of God. The acknowledgment of God is to be in everything. It extends to everything. If in so small matters as eating and drinking we should seek to recognize God, assuredly we should in all other things.
This acknowledgment of God is designed to be one of the chief directors of our lives. It is to guide all our conduct, and to constitute a test by which to try our actions. Whatever can be done to advance the honour of God is right; whatever cannot be done with that end is wrong.
What a change would it make in the world if this rule were everywhere followed! How differently would even professing Christians live! How many of their plans would they be constrained at once to abandon! And what a mighty revolution would it at once make on earth, should all the actions of men begin to be performed to recognition of God!
B. How decisive is this practice
Anywhere, anytime, any cost, He will be acknowledge! It will take some firm determination. It will take some resolve to acknowledge Him in everything! Acknowledge him in your
1. Appetites, attitudes, and actions
2. Blessings, burdens, and battles
3. Company, conduct, and conversation
4. Dreams, disposition, and deportment
5. Time, treasure, and talents,
6. Possessions, pleasures, and plans (James 4:13-15)
There is a person on whom your faith is asked to trust
There is a practice in which your faith is asked to test
III. There is a PATH upon which your faith is asked to TRAVEl “And he shall direct thy paths” It is the path of His direction and choosing. “Direct” literally means to cut a path or to clear the way. For the person who faithfully trust God and acknowledges Him in all of his ways, God will bulldoze a path through the wilderness. He will go before the trusting heart to clear the pathway. He will run the interference and do the down field blocking.
I may not always know the way
Wherein God leads my feet;
But this I know, that ‘round my path
His love and wisdom meet,
And so I rest content to know
He guides my feet where’er they go.
No ifs or buts about it. He will direct your paths. There will be Divine direction and guidance. “He shall direct thy paths” is a promise that is predicated on your complete trust of Him.
GOD’S WILL IS NOT A ROAD MAP; IT IS A RELATIONSHIP.
A. God leads through the Holy Scriptures
Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path”.
Don’t be like man who after the reading the Scriptures said absent-mindedly, “If there are no additions or correction, it will stand as read.” The Scriptures stand whether you accept it or not.
If you will know God’s Will, you must study the Scriptures!
Unfortunately many homes are like the one in which a little girl pointed to the Bible on the mantel that was never open and said to her mother, “Whose book is that?” Her mother quite startled by her daughters question replied, “Why, honey, don’t you know. That is God’s book.” The girl then answered, “Don’t you think we had better give it back to him. No one around here ever reads it.”
B. God leads through the Holy Spirit
Acts 8:29 “Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”
Acts 13:2 “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”
God will never guide contrary to His written Word. The Holy Spirit will never contradict the Holy Scripture.
CONCLUSION:
Once there was an old man who was an excellent checker player. There was a young lad who boasted that he could whip the old man. One day the seasoned checker player man saw the young inexperienced checker player and invited the young lad to play him. After several moves the young player began to jump some of the veteran man’s checkers. One by one the younger player removed the old experienced’s man checkers. It looked to the young man that the game was soon to be his because he felt he had the old man in the corner. However, on the very next move the seasoned player jumped all of the remaining checkers of the young lad and replied, “Crown me.”
When questioned on the strategy of the veteran player in giving up so many checkers, the elderly man answered, “Son, never be concerned about giving up a few checkers when you can have a crown.”
I don’t know what you make have to give up to trust in the Lord and acknowledge Him, but you rest assured you will not be a loser in the end.