“THANKFUL FOR THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF GOD”
Proverbs 3:5-6
FBCF – 11/8/20
Jon Daniels
INTRO – What’s your biggest fear right now? We’ve been inundated over last several months w/ lots of different circumstances that have been fear-filled.
- Take 30 seconds right now & think about whatever it is that is causing you the most fear
- WHATEVER that thing is that you’re focused on right now, the antidote for it is the trustworthiness of God.
o He can always be trusted!
o He’s in complete control!
o He is sovereign over all the world!
o Daniel 2:21 – “…He removes kings & sets up kings…” – That means He removes Presidents & sets up Presidents, too!
o He is completely just!
o He has never broken a promise, & He’s not going to start now!
Steven Curtis Chapman video
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Dwayne’s favorite
- One of most well-known passages in Proverbs
APPLICATION – God’s trustworthiness is a huge reason for thankfulness b/c it combats all our fears.
I want to start w/ the last statement in this passage in v. 6 – “He will make straight your paths” – “He will make your paths straight” (NIV).
All of us want to have a clear, straight path to walk on. To have a straight path means to make the course of our life one that continually progress toward a goal.
- There aren’t a bunch of different right paths for us to choose from.
o Read a blog written by a yoga teacher named Amber – “Inspiring women to escape ordinary, discover their bliss, & find freedom within” (what does that even mean?) Talked about walking through the woods w/ her rescue pup as she contemplated which path to take. Her conclusion: “…it would never really matter which choice I made…The choice becomes unimportant when you realize that there really is no right answer…”
o Oprah – “While Christianity is a valid way to achieve high states of spirituality, it must not be considered a unique way, or a ‘correct way.”…“I’m a free-thinking Christian who believes in my way, but I don’t believe it’s the only way, with 6 billion people on the planet.” (https://ses.edu/all-roads-don-t-lead-to-heaven-discovering-god-in-the-new-age/)
o To the Ambers of the world, I say: There IS a right answer!
o To Oprahs of the world, I say: There IS a unique way, a correct way, an ONLY way!
And the absolute promise that we stand on today is that, if we will trust in the Lord, He will make the path straight.
- Love what Isa. 30:21 says – “Whether you turn to the right or the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’”
Do you want to have a straight path to walk on?
Do you want to have a clear direction to go?
Do you want to have a deep-seated confidence about the future?
Do you want to have an abiding peace, an abundant stability, an amazing calm in the midst of these turbulent days in which we are living?
Then do these things:
- Trust God
- Trust God a lot
- Don’t trust yourself
- Trust God to guide you in the right direction
Think about what it means to trust God – “Trust in the Lord” –
It means that you are secure in Him. It means that you’ve set your hope & confidence in Him. It means that you fear nothing for yourself b/c you firmly & solidly believe that your God – THE God – has your life in His hands right now & for all eternity.
Trust falls – There would always be one kid who wouldn’t catch the person who was falling. That kid just couldn’t be trusted.
That’s the exact opposite of our God in whom we trust. We aren’t trusting in a group of adolescents to catch us when we fall. We are trusting in the God who created the heavens & the earth; who created every living thing that lives on the earth; who created & named every star & every galaxy in the universe; the God who knows the number of every hair on your head, the number of every grain of sand on every beach, the number of every leaf that you will walk on when you walk in to your deer stand this week; the God who knows every thought before you think it, every word before you say it; the God who knows how many times your eyes will blink today & every day for the rest of your life, how many heartbeats you have left in this life, & how many breaths you will breathe before you finally breathe your last on in this life.
Settle it & settle it NOW: Our God IS God & He can be trusted. So:
- Trust God
- Trust God a lot
- Don’t trust yourself
- Trust God to guide you in the right direction
Think about how much you need to trust God – “with all your heart” – In other words: You need to trust God a lot!
You know how you trust God a lot? You spend a lot of time w/ Him. You are intentional about getting to know Him better & better. The more you get to know Him, the more you grow in your knowledge of Him, the more you grow in your trust in Him.
- Promises from the Psalms – scroll through & read some
- Nothing hard about doing that. It’s not something I was taught in seminary that only us preacher-types can do. YOU can do the same thing! Or you can do something else. But the point is that I knew that I needed to grow in my trust in God b/c of the crazy uncertainty of today.
Just this week, 2 pastors that I know have experienced unimaginable loss – 1 lost his 20 yr-old son suddenly & unexpectedly; the other lost his 10 yr-old grandson to cancer. And both of these pastors have given great words of faith & trust in the midst of what is probably the deepest grief & pain & agony either of them have ever experienced. And it’s not b/c they’re pastors – It’s b/c they know God & they know Him really well.
- “Well, I would never be able to do that.”
- You better be able to do that b/c those days of pain & grief & struggle are coming to all of us!
What can YOU do to grow in knowing God better?
- Consistency in your quiet time
- Have a systematic plan for your quiet time
- Use the Bible app
- Listen to sermons – podcasts
- Stay faithful in church
- Start a Bible study in your home
Remember:
- Trust God
- Trust God a lot
- Don’t trust yourself
- Trust God to guide you in the right direction
Think about the alternative to trusting God – “lean not on your own understanding”
Why? B/c your own understanding is flawed. It is tainted w/ sin. It wants what IT wants, not what God wants.
- Jeremiah 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things & beyond cure…”
It is limited in its understanding. It cannot be depended on to understand all that God is doing.
- 1 Corinthians 13:12 – “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (NLT)
- Right now, we can only see part of the picture that God is painting. So, if we are going to truly trust God, we have to let go of our pride, our programs, our plans, the ways of living that WE think are right. Even the best-laid human plans can never approach the dimensions of God’s plan.
o 1 Corinthians 1:25 – “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom…”
This all means that we need to:
- Trust God
- Trust God a lot
- Don’t trust yourself
- Trust God to guide you in the right direction
Think about the direction of your life if you’ll trust God – “in all your ways…”
When we stop acknowledging God – trying to know Him, understand Him, discovering Him, experiencing Him, caring about Him & His ways – that’s when we get in big trouble.
- This is what Paul was talking about in Romans 1:21 – “…they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.” (NLT)
This is why we MUST continually trust Him. He will make our path straight & keep us off the paths that will lead to the destruction of our lives.
CONCLUSION – So let’s sum this up:
- Trust God
- Trust God a Lot
- Don’t Trust Yourself
- Trust God to Lead You in the Right Direction
“path” – One definition I read: route to water
Water is necessary for life. Jesus is the Living Water. What an awesome truth - As we trust in the Lord, He will lead us to the Water that we need!
