"Leaning To The Wind"

Introduction: My sermon title is, "Leaning To The Wind." If you have your Bibles,

please turn with me to the third chapter of the book of Proverbs,

verses five and six.

(ILL). Circuses and carnivals often have a special attraction called, "The Tight Rope

Walker." A rope is stretched tight high in the air between two poles. The star

of the show takes a death defying walk, with nothing under him but a half inch

diameter rope and nothing on either side of him but the wind. The audience

watches breathlessly as the man proceeds. He carries a wooden pole, about six

feet in length, for the purpose of balancing. When his body leans to the wind too

much in one direction or the other, he moves the pole just enough in the opposite

direction to maintain his balance. If his body leans too much to the wind without

counter balancing, using the pole, he falls to sudden destruction.

This vividly illustrates the folly of leaning too heavily on our own understanding,

leaving God out of the picture. Now, let us look at the first part of our text:

I. "Trust In The Lord With All Thine Heart" ( vs. 5a).

1. What is, "trusting the Lord?"

(1) It means that we are fully persuaded that God is able (Dan. 6:9).

God’s servant Daniel was a praying man who lived a godly life in a very

ungodly world. His nation had been defeated in battle and taken far away from

their home land, to the heathen city of Babylon. Because of Daniel’s faith and

trust in God, some wicked men plotted to kill him. This resulted in Daniel being

thrown into a den of hungry lions. After spending the night with those vicious

lions, at day break, the King of Babylon shouted into the den; "Daniel, servant

of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been ’able’ to deliver

you from the lions?" Daniel’s answer in short, was, "my God was able! Daniel,

when faced with the threat of a most certain death, could have compromised

his faith and escaped the lion’s den. He could have easily leaned to his own

understanding and found several reasons, in his own mind, why it was not God’s

will for him to provide supper for the lions.

(2) It means that we are fully persuaded that God is willing (2Chro.16:9)

Many times, I’ve heard Christians say, "I know God can, but will he?" Yes! God

is not only able, He’s also willing. Scripture says, "The eyes of the Lord, run and

fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose

heart is loyal to Him.." The context has to do with a big mistake that Asa, king of

Judah made when his enemy was threatening to destroy him. Instead of trusting

God for His wisdom and protection, Asa made a decision to trust the king of

Syria to save him. In the past, Asa relied on God and God always came through

for him. But this time he leaned to his own understanding and the results were

disastrous.

God’s eyes are always upon the righteous. His ears are always open to their

cry. When the righteous cry out to God, He delivers them! (Ps. 34:15-17)

Yes, God is willing. The problem is not His reluctance to answer. It is our

reluctance to ask. Jesus said; "ask, and you will receive, seek, and you will find,

knock, and the door will be opened for you." God is willing,waiting, and searching

for those who will trust Him and earnestly seek Him in every detail of their lives.

(ILL)-I will never forget my decision to serve God and trust Him the rest of my

life. I had gotten married at seventeen years of age. We soon had six

children. I was doing a poor job raising them. My life of sin was resulting

in bad decisions and many adverse consequences. Finally I came to realize

that, ’doing it my way’ wasn’t working. I humbled myself and prayed. I asked

the Lord to forgive my sins. I asked Him to come into my life and help me

raise my kids and provide for them. That was way back in 1957! At that time

I would never dream that God would call me to preach, make preachers

out of my two boys, save my four girls, and bless my wife and I with a long,

happy marriage and a prosperous life!

What God so wonderfully has done for me, He has also done for multiplied

millions who have decided not to lean on their own understanding but instead,

believe in God and seek His direction continually.

II. "Lean Not Unto Thine Own Understanding" (vs. 5b).

1. Why not?

(1) Because at its best it is finite and fallible.