Thankful For The Trustworthiness Of God Series

“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: