Proverbs 3:5-8
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding for support.
6 In all your habits acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight
7 Don’t look at yourself as wise—fear God and leave evil
8 It will bring health to your umbilical cord and refreshment to your bones
Trust.
Trust and belief are intertwined.
Around 1855, When Charles Blondin, an acrobat & tightrope walker, claimed he could walk from one side of Niagra Falls to the other on a rope, some people thought it was impossible. Without a net, the crossing would be treacherous at best. But crowds came and paid to watch him make the attempt. Before crossing he asked the crowd “Do you believe I can walk across to the other side” the crowd yelled “we believe!” He said “do you believe I can cross with a man on my back?” The crowd yelled “we believe!”
“So”, Bondin said, “Who will volunteer to take the trip on my back?” You could have heard a pin drop, if Niagra weren’t so loud. Finally one man raised his hand and said “I Believe!” and he climbed on Blondin’s back & the two crossed Niagra together. The man was Harry Colcord, Blondin’s manager. He trusted Blondin’s strength and ability with all his heart.
There is a difference between believing in God and trusting Him with all your heart. When you trust Him whole-heartedly, you can submit all your ways to Him, and trust Him for the outcome. The world says “fight back”, the LORD says “turn the other cheek”. The world says “Be proud of yourself” the LORD says “he who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted”. The world says “pursue your passion” the Lord says “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done”. In all our ways, all our habits, we have to seek to NOT follow the ways people behave on TV (k. Hula, Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter-whatever), or even the way we see our family behave. We have to look to Him for our example, as Paul exhorted
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5)
But following the LORD is something we see so few doing. It’s difficult for us to follow an example we read about, and Person we pray too, and easier for us to follow the example of the people we live with and interact with on a daily basis.
It does no good to say you believe in God. As James said “the demons also believe and tremble” (James 2). It does no good to say you trust in God if you are not willing to align your habits of thought and behaviour to His standard of love and kindness and grace and truth and wisdom.
He can carry us over to the other side.
Let’s climb on & enjoy the view & the ride.
Prayer for Today
Father
Teach us to look to You as our Example.
Teach us to trust in You with all our hearts, to obey You in all our ways
To follow You wherever you go
To lean on You when we are weak
To humble ourselves before You when we are tempted to be proud.
To be like You in humility, smallness, grace, gentleness, and wisdom
Make our paths straight, keep us on the straight and narrow road
In the Name of Him Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus
Amen.
Proverbs 3
9 glorify God with your wealth, and with your first and best of your revenue.
10 Thus your warehouses will be filled to capacity and your new wine will overflow.
Wealth
Bob Marley’s at the age of 36, had fame, influence, and all the money he might want to spend. He also had cancer. With his last breath he said “Money can’t buy you life”.
George Best was the best (forgive the pun) footballer in his day (that’s soccer, for all of you in America). He also said that he had used all his money on “booze, birds (that would be women), and fast cars”. His last words were “don’t die the way I did”.
Steve Jobs was asked shortly before he died if he was glad he’d had children. “It’s 10,000 times better than anything I’ve ever done” (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/steve-jobs-final-wish-to-get-to-know-his-children-before-it-was-too-late-2367355.html).
Each of these men knew he was near death, and that gave them perspective concerning money that I think many of us never develop. Each is a stark contrast with Jesus.
Jesus said
“Give and it shall be given to you, pressed down, shaken together and overflowing”.
And one of my favourite quotes of Jesus in the whole Bible is NOT in the Gospels where you’d expect it to be. It’s in the book of Acts. And it’s not written by one of the Apostles who was there with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry. It was written by Paul, a latecomer to the Apostleship game. Paul, also knowing he would likely die before seeing this group of friends again said this
“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. . . . I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
It is more “blessed”- more happy – to give than to receive.
I believe God blesses with material wealth so we’ll have more to give. He wants us to know the joy of giving-the pleasure of taking part in His creative work on this earth, the beauty of participating in the lives of others for their betterment and wellbeing. We are made for this, and when we construe our lives as the pursuit of excellence, or the striving for wealth, or the will to power, or the drive for more, rather than the work to have more to give, we miss out on all that makes our lives fulfilling and wondrous.
He calls us to something more.
Prayer for Today
Father
Give us a generous heart like Yours-
You who “so loved the world that you gave” (John 3)
Teach us to be wise with the resources of life and time and wealth so we have more and more to give to others, and especially Your people.
Use us as Your resources to bless others with time, expertise, wisdom and wealth.
Make us ambassadors of Your lavish love
In the name of Him Who died to give us life, Jesus
Amen
