SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: July 27, 2010
Date Preached: Aug 1, 2010
Church: OPBC (AM)
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Series: Finding God’s Guidance in this World
Title: Trusting In God’s Guidance
Text: Proverbs 3:5-6
ETS: The writer of Proverbs wanted his readers to rely on Godly wisdom and not trust in human wisdom
ESS: This passage also speaks to believers today and lets us know we should rely on Godly wisdom and not trust in human wisdom
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”
Introduction:
Today we begin a new month, and we look back at 2010 and see that 7 months have past… we are over ½ way thru this year! Today, like we do every Sunday we come to worship and give praise to God who brought out of darkness and has shined His holy and purifying light on us.
For many of us here, the future seems a bit murky, a bit out of phase and although we can see the road God has placed us upon, we cannot see very far ahead! We also know that when God is leading us, the road is well planned, but without God’s wisdom and guidance to lead us we will not understand the path God has set.
We have so much more to look forward to this year as a fellowship. We have come so very far over the past 7-10 months. We have seen 16 people join our fellowship and 6 by way of baptism and next week we will be baptizing at least 4 others into our body! This has been truly a great and moving year for our fellowship!
But this year is FAR from over, we have many things to look forward to during the remainder of this year and they are going to take us down roads that we may feel we cannot travel, but rest assured that even though it may seem complicated and confusing with all the twists and turns it will bring, God is there to guide us and as long as we rest on His wisdom, we cannot fail… in fact the Bible tells us we have already WON!
When we face these twists and turns of life, it is naturally going to throw us for a loop… it will naturally challenge our highest knowledge and our deepest understanding of the things of life. There ARE going to be hills for us to climb as a fellowship… there ARE going to be waters to cross for us as a body of believers! There ARE going to be bumps in the road and rapids in our way!
Preacher how will we manage to survive? How can we know with assurance that, as a church, we can successfully traverse these scary and uncharted waters? Is there anything that will guarantee that we are safe in God’s will? Is there anything out there that will definitely lead us in the direction we should go?
This morning we will be looking at a passage that answers these questions. The passage says that we CAN make it – and that we WILL make it victoriously if we but trust in the guidance of God.
Our Scripture this morning says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”
GUIDANCE…that is an excellent watchword for us as believers as we face the remainder of this year and what God has for us as a fellowship! I believe it to be a a battle cry for our believers as we face the testing times within our fellowship! I believe it will be THE comfort and strength we look to and seek in ALL the uncertain times that we will all encounter.
This guidance is a sufficient substitute for a road map, even though our eyes cannot ‘see’ the turns in the road, the stops that lie ahead, the difficulties in our journey, or the pleasures that God has in store for us.
So pastor what are saying? What does this passage mean for my walk in Christ? What does this passage mean for the life of our church? How can we use this passage of Scripture and apply it to our lives in serving God here at Oak Park?
First I see that…
God can guide us in our everyday living:
In every decision we make, in every action that we take, in every development in our lives, God WILL be there and God will direct our paths.
An analogy comes to mind when I see the word ‘direct’ in this passage.
The analogy is one of a road builder and a maintenance man for the road. These people assure us that when we travel to a desired destination we will make it because they have built the road and they have also maintained it.
The Hebrew language contains several words for ‘road or path’, including words that refer to a highway, a street, or even a narrow path. The word being used here in this passage is the customary word that the Hebrews used for a simple path or road.
God relates to us as the ‘road builder’ for our lives as well as the maintenance man for this road as well! He relates to us as the builder of the road of our life, and also as the one who keeps it maintained even when we really try to mess it up.
God’s road is straight and He keeps it free of debris and His path is not just a path, but a useful path. I believe that is what is meant in the latter part of our passage this morning… “and He will keep your make your paths straight!”
We are able to get to where God wants us to go because God is preparing the way for us. He is involved and active in everything that we do.
You may not actually ‘see’ the one who builds the road or who maintains the road, but you know they are there! You know that they have prepared a way for you to travel. But this picture of the road builder doesn’t say all that there is to say about this matter.
B. You see it is not enough for God to be the road builder and maintainer! He desires to be the guide as well and God goes with us on our journey…
The God who guides us does, in fact become personally involved in every inch of the journey. He has given us a promise that we can hold onto, “…I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go: I will guide you with my eyes…” Ps 32:8 [ESV]
In Psalms 48:14 [ESV] God also promises, …that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever…
Another promise that God has made to guide us along the path of life can be found in Isaiah 58:11 [ESV] where he says, …and the LORD will guide you continually...
One more promise that we can hold onto is found in John 16:13[ESV], “…When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come..”
God has promised to guide us, but that guidance is NOT automatic…
God can guide us, but there are 3 conditions that determine His Guidance:
We can find these conditions right here in our passage of Scripture for this morning, let’s look at our passage one more time:
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”
Trust Him. The very FIRST thing this passage shares with us is to “…trust in the Lord with all your heart…” We FIRST have to place our full faith and TRUST in God! That means everywhere in our life, we are called to trust Him! When we are in the dark hours of special need…when there seems to be NO ONE else around that we can trust... we are called to TRUST Him!
When we are called by God to some difficult assignment or down a path that is uncomfortable or inconvenient for our life! When we are in a place where we don’t recognize and things don’t SEEM right… and we feel a little insecure about it… WE are still called to trust in Him!
Trusting God is just like loving God. Trusting in God is revealed the same way our love for God is revealed and that is through our obedience to Him! Our love and trust in God cannot be situation specific… it cannot be for times when we agree with God… but it is something that must be done at all times, in all circumstances and against all opposition.
That trust must extend even in the most routine aspects of our lives. So many of us have areas of our lives that we feel we can handle and that God doesn’t need to bother with, but what the Bible says is that we should trust those areas to God! God wants to be involved…in fact He insists on it!
This is played out in those who have professed God as our Savior! There are those who profess Christ as Savior, and we see them as very stable in their walk with God and no amount of change never seems to bother them. To the casual observer this may look like they don’t care or that they are clueless, but what it is… that believer has been able to FULLY trust God for all things and does not allow themselves to be swayed and derailed by things they know God is in control of…
On the other hand there are those who profess Christ as Savior and we see that they are not as stable in their walk with God and when change comes their way, they ALWAYS seem to be bothered with it!
These people MAY be able to get by and deal with it, but you can definitely see their struggle! Some of these people cannot deal with it and as much as they try, they fail and falter because their trust and faith is not FULLY in God, but they are relying on their own guidance and wisdom!
The difference between these 2 Christians is that one chooses to acknowledge God in ALL things and the other does not. These believers who choose NOT to trust God with all things are what the Bible calls ‘double-minded’!
What that means is that they have one set of things or one area set aside for God… AND THEN they have another set of things and area set aside for themselves to deal with and handle on their own! What Scripture says is that if you are doing this you are trying to live a double life... You minded is divided and your efforts are doubled and you will experience misery and failure!
Scripture clearly reveals to us that we are NOT to live this way AFTER surrendering to Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives! If we insist on living like this it is going to make us miserable and it will destroy our witness to the world!
But not only does God require that we trust Him, but this passage also tells us that we have to ACKNOWLEDGE Him!!…
We must ‘Acknowledge Him. “In all your ways acknowledge Him…” is what the Bible instructs believers to do. That means EVERY step of your life journey should be guided by God… you should acknowledge Him at every turn of life!
Have you ever met someone on the street or in the office or in town that you knew really well and said hello to them, but they were so preoccupied in thought or with their own lives they didn’t even notice you? We usually either greet them again, tap their shoulder or smile and keep going. You knew that there was no malice intended, but that they just did not see you.
I know my wife can relate to this, but have you ever been speaking directly to someone and they are looking you directly in the eyes, yet they don’t hear a word your are saying. They are in the same room, but they are MILES away! I believe that if this can happen in our most intimate of relationships here in this world, then it can also happen in our relationship with God.
God chooses to speak with us and He comes into the room and greets us, but much of the time we can be SO preoccupied with the distractions of this life, and the things of this world that we miss what He has to say to us. We are in the room with Him, but we seem miles apart!
When we are too preoccupied to ‘hear’ the voice of God in our lives, we miss out on the blessing of God’s guidance for our lives! If we desire to have the God’s guidance…if we are seeking for the promised guidance from our Savior, then we must be sensitive to His presence… we must acknowledge His presence in our lives! We must pay attention to Him with a sensitive faith that is alive and expecting Him to guide us.
Now I am NOT only speaking about the times when it is very EASY to acknowledge Him… you know when you are in your prayer time or reading your Bible… or in a wonderful worship service, such as today… during THOSE times it is easy to focus on God!
What I am saying to you is that this must become a lifestyle habit on your part… it must be something that happens all the hours of everyday, all the days of the week, all the weeks of the year, all the years of our walk with God.
This verse tells us that we are to acknowledge Him in ALL our ways! That means in the ALL our days and in ALL our nights! That means at work and at play! That means when we are resting and when we are worshipping! That means in all of our relationships and even when we are ALL alone… We are called to acknowledge Him and His presence in our lives!
When we do what Scripture leads us to do… when we trust Him and when we acknowledge Him in all we do… God is going to lead you… God is going to guide you… God is going to bless you with His divine guidance and direction.
But let’s finish up the passage this morning… when we read it again we can see that God doesn’t only require that trust Him and acknowledge Him, but His desire is also that we…
Not depend upon ourselves The 1st 2 conditions can be considered to be positive conditions that God has set forth… things that we SHOULD/MUST do… action items of active service! But this 3rd item can be considered as a negative condition set for the by God!
Our passage this morning tells us,“…lean NOT on you own understanding…”
The Message translation says it like this, “…DON’T try to figure out everything on your own…”
After 2 very positive directives, Solomon inserts this VERY negative directive! After calling on us to acknowledge and trust in God… he then WARNS us NOT to trust ourselves! Jesus used the phrase in His teachings that you cannot serve 2 masters… and I believe that principle is evident in this teaching by Solomon.
You cannot TRUST God and TRUST yourself for guidance, one has to be the leader… If you are leading the way, God is NOT… if God is NOT leading the way, you are going to wander aimlessly and without purpose!
This reveals the sheer and utter hopelessness that we have on our own! Without the guidance of God in our lives our journey is empty and hollow and has no purpose… we cannot serve God, and we cannot get where God wants us to be…
Now I know of MANY people who have professed Jesus as their Savior, who have learned this terrible lesson by paying a very high price! That high price comes when they try to ‘self-manage’ their lives and find that it leads only to countless defeats and non-stop despair.
Let me give you an example of what happens when you don’t trust God, but begin to trust our own wisdom! There is a story in the Bible about a man and a woman named Abraham and Sarah. God had called Abraham and promised him a son, but Abraham was old. God’s promise was that Abraham would be the father of a great nation.
After many yrs of waiting, Sarah takes it upon herself to take matters into her own hands. She thought that she knew how to get things done and I believe that Sara felt in her heart that she was just helping God in His plan! So she did what custom dictated and she allowed Abraham to father a child through her servant girl, Hagar. The child born from that union was named Ishmael. BUT the story continues and in time God delivered on His promise and Sara gave birth to a son named, Isaac.
It did NOT take long before jealousy and hostility arose between Hagar and Sarah over who was the true heir to Abraham. Ishmael was the 1st born, but it has always been God’s plan for Isaac to be the heir.
We can see that Sarah in her own ‘wisdom’ did something that interfered with God’s plan and because of her disobedience… how many countless wars have been fought… how many countless lives have been lost in the struggle between the people of Ishmael [the Arabs] and the people of Isaac [the Jews]… to this very day there is still hostility and hatred between these two people! All because Sarah chose to lean on her OWN understanding!
What about you? Have you ever tried to work out a situation by yourself? You thought you could leave God out of it? Did it blow up in your face? Did you think it had worked only to discover it had the opposite effect and that it was going to do more damage than good? Have you ever been down that path?
People GOD wants to be there for us… God wants to guide His children! He tells us in His word because God knows we NEED it and would fail without it. God has a very unique plan for this world and it is His desire to include each one of us in that plan.
Do you know YOU have a special place in God’s plan for humanity? Have you ever seriously considered that God want YOU to be a part of His plan? But here is the rub… YOU cannot know what that plan is…until you are totally willing to trust God to guide you… and fully surrender when He does!
Far too often we either run away or ignore what God wants us to do… where God wants us to go…because it is NOT what we want or desire! But the wonderful thing about God is that He is NOT us! I would never be patient enough to wait on those of this world… but God is…
The God we serve Sovereign King over the Universe! His patience is vast beyond our comprehension… He is gracious and merciful beyond what we deserve! God waits ever so patiently for us to come to Him.
He is patient in waiting for us to reject our own ability and for us to begin to fully rely on His guidance and leadership. Aren’t you glad we serve a God like that; a God who can and will guide you when you trust and acknowledge Him.
You may think there’s nothing in this message for me, but this message is for everyone who is here this morning. Believers, this message is for you! If you are trying to live the Christian life WITHOUT God’s guidance… on your own understanding… you are failing miserably… and YOU know it! You know what God wants, you know where God is leading… but you are trying to do it your way, and it just isn’t working out, is it? Today you can give it back over to God… let Him take the wheel of your life!
Maybe you are here today and you don’t have this personal relationship with Jesus! You could be thinking, I have been making it just fine on my own… sure things go south from time to time but I am doing ok! Well my friend, this message is still for you!
I want you to know that I know exactly where you are… and that is because I was once there! I used to think I had all the answers for my life, I had all the plans, I set the course and direction… but it never failed, I would always be cleaning up the mess my decisions and my wisdom had caused.
This happens to ALL of us because we come to trust in ourselves AND we leave God out of the equation. So much so that we begin to believe that we can even do what it take to ‘save’ ourselves!
You might even be sitting there this morning saying to yourself, “I have asked God to guide me, but He doesn’t speak to me, preacher don’t know what he is talking about!” Well I can tell you that God is only going to guide those who place their FULL trust in Him, He is only going to guide those who will faithfully acknowledge Him in everything in their life!
If you are here this morning and you want God to be the guide of your life, but can’t seem to get Him to guide you…then that is your key to know that you are NOT trusting in Him, you are NOT acknowledging Him for who He is!
God wants us to come to salvation. The Bible tells us this in 2 Pet 3:9 where it says that God desires ALL to come to salvation and that He wishes NONE to perish.
God wants to be the guide of your life this morning, but he WILL not force Himself on you! It has to be YOUR choice…it has to be YOUR decision! This morning you have to make the choice if you want to accept the salvation Jesus has promised and will give! Accept Jesus or Reject Jesus… there is NO middle ground, there is NO OTHER WAY!
This is not a Bro Bobby thing, this is NOT a Baptist thing… but this is a Bible thing! In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, NO man comes to the Father except through ME!”
Now that verse is VERY exclusive in its language! Jesus was clear in that He was not simply A way, but He was then ONE way! This means that we can do nothing to get to God, but come to Jesus! The Bible says that there is NOTHING that we can do that will save us!
Christ has done it all for us and He has offered it to us as a free gift! So it’s up to YOU to make the decision to accept the free gift of forgiveness, grace, mercy and salvation that comes ONLY from God! Your choice cannot be to ignore it, because ignoring it is rejecting it… you can only accept or reject it!
If you choose to NOT accept Jesus this morning you choose to reject Him. I would be careful about that because we never know what the future holds for us! I can bet that you remember the where you were the day the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were attacked.
I can remember thinking how awful it was for those poor people at work… There were over 2,000 who died that day who were not sitting around waiting to die. They did not know what was about to happen. It was sudden and they could not change it!
We don’t know what tomorrow holds for us, so that is why Jesus said that TODAY is the day of salvation, not tomorrow, not next week, but TODAY, because we don’t know about tomorrow!
Won’t you come today and let Jesus save you from yourself. Come today and let Jesus forgive you of your sin and turn your life around. Come and begin to trust in God for His guidance and not on your own guidance system. Come as Jason and Steven come to lead us in our hymn of invitation (#285 – Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go)
