Proverbs 3:5-6
“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.”
I found this verse really hitting me hard this week, and realized how directly it relates to the condition of my faith. I had to ask my-self: ‘do I have a true understanding of faith? Or have I been leaning on my own understanding?’
Do I really trust the Lord with all my heart, or do I just say I do because I think that’s what he wants to hear? Aren’t we so very good at that…telling people what we think they want to hear?
The world taught me that I could not rely on anyone but myself, and if someone let me down I was to always have a backup plan. So has this mindset been impacting my ability to trust in God? You bet it has!
As I’ve been walking out this life with Christ, I have had to allow him to transform my mind, and give me a new prospective…the prospective of faith! I’ve had to be very careful along the way to not fall back into those mindsets when things get tough.
When I say I have faith; who is it I'm trying to convince. Do I really believe God is going to fulfill his promises in my life? Do I really believe he will bring me through whatever I'm facing? What if he doesn't? What if it doesn't get better? What if what I'm hoping for never happens?
Then I as I thought about it, I came to a worst case senerio:
He doesn't answer my prayers, I never meet the love of my life, never get out of debt, never have children, never succede in the career of my dreams, never become anyone of any significance, and never get delivered from the oppressions of life. So what if this happens?
Well, eventually I will die, leaving all my burdens behind on earth, and go spend eternity with the God of the Universe! This is the one thing we are guaranteed, that all who call on the name of Jesus WILL be saved and WILL recieve eternal life in heaven. Somehow, everything I was worried about before now seems completely be-littled by this fact!
Even still, I take comfort in what the Word of God says he will do in my lifetime on the earth:
"In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."-Prov. 3:6
"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands."-Psalm 138:8
"he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."-Phil. 1:6
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."-Rom. 8:28
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."-Jer. 29:11
"For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things."-Psalm 107:9
...The list goes on.........and on..........and on of how faithful our God is and how much he wants to fulfill His promises in our lives.
I also take comfort in remembering that He is the only one who has never let me down. He has always been faithful to bring me through, and His ways of doing so have proven to be greater than anything I could have done on my own. And He has been my teacher.
Then I think of why we do some of the crazy things we do for recreation, e.i. wake boarding, riding horses, rock climbing, sky diving, bunji jumping etc. And I believe it's a perfect example of how God wants us to not be afraid when things get crazy. He wants us to hold on, enjoy the adventure, learn as we go, and trust that He will get us to the final destination.
In my mind, faith is the ultimate way to live life on the edge, because He most often makes us leave the edge behind altogether!
So today I am not convincing myself or God that I have faith; I'm just choosing to remember that at this point my feet are no longer on the ground, and Jesus is the only thing keeping me from falling.
