We all have favorite verses in the Bible and one of mine is Proverbs 3:5 - 6.
[5] Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.
[6] In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (KJV)
In the King James Version of the Bible trust is mentioned 134 times! Did you know that the verses above were written by King Solomon. However, Solomon wrote more wisely than he lived. Even though he was blessed with great wisdom, he did not follow God’s plans for marriage. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. You see on the subject of women, Solomon followed what I like to call the Frank Sinatra School of Theology - “I did it my way.” Unfortunately, we are no different. We read the Bible. We pray. We hear messages preached when we attend church; but we still want to do things our own way.
Solomon was a great king. He wrote 3,000 proverbs. He wrote 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:31-32). Yes, Solomon had been given great wisdom and very great insight and he had a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand of the seashore. Solomon was a philosopher, a scientist, he was the one who built the temple under God’s direction. In fact, that temple was one of the wonders of the world. He far surpassed the Egyptians who were considered at that time to be the greatest scholars. Remember, not only was Israel blessed, but so did every nation that took advantage of Solomon’s wisdom.
What does it mean to TRUST? It is basically to have confidence, to believe in the steadfastness of our Lord. If we really trust the Lord we should not find it difficult to surrender to Him. I get the picture in my mind of something my children did when they were young. Have you ever seen a young child jump into their father or grandfather’s arms? Yes, my children would do that. They would go up a few steps and yell, “Dad or Pop catch me!” There would be such joy on their faces. They trusted.
But over the years I have heard people say: I can’t trust God, I can’t trust Jesus. I don’t see them. I need something tangible. That is when I would tell them; you trust that the alarm clock is going to wake you up for work. You trust that the mechanic properly fixed your brakes on the car when you take it out of the shop. You trust that the workers at your favorite fast food chain washed their hands after their last bathroom break. What about those of you who have been sick recently; you trusted the Doctor whose name you could not pronounce. Yes, you saw degrees on the wall but you never actually checked them out. That Doctor wrote you a prescription you couldn’t read. Then you took it to a pharmacist you have never met and she/or he gives you a chemical compound and you go home and take those pills according to the instructions on the bottle. All of this encompasses TRUST.
In a world of distrust whom can we trust?
Solomon tells us about the one and only person we can always trust - He is the Lord, Jesus Christ. We do not put trust in ourselves, or our abilities, not in our education, not in our money, the only one worth trusting is the Lord.
Have we given the Lord our entire heart?
You see, living the Christian life is fairly easy if everything is going our way; but if we add a little stress, a little hardship, a little despair we quickly find ourselves at a fork in the road. Are we going to rest and trust the Lord or are we going to go our own way? We must accept that God’s promises are true even when He seems to be so far away.
The Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation while on the barren island of Patmos; it was not Paradise Island. John Bunyan completed the classic book, Pilgrims Progress while in jail. Beethoven composed his immortal 9th symphony while totally deaf and Fanny Crosby once remarked that if she had not lost her sight she would never have written all the hymns God gave her; the thousands of hymns in most of our hymn books.
We need to recognize, to concede, to confess, to acknowledge who Jesus really is to us. We need to acknowledge His presence, His power, His purpose and His promises at all times. Most of the time we don’t want to give up control concerning our spiritual lives. Let me give you an example. I lived in New Jersey for most of my life. Land is so tight that valet parking is provided for hospitals, restaurants, theaters, museums, etc. in the New York and New Jersey areas. To park your car you must hand over your keys to the parking valet and he brings your car to a large parking area or a parking garage which has many levels. Then he puts the keys to your car on a pegboard and if you look at that pegboard there are hundreds of others keys there also and they all look the same. And if you watch them drive your car –NASCAR has nothing on them! You see, we have no trouble handing over our car keys to a valet but we hesitate to hand over our lives to the Lord, the One who died for us, the One who loves us unconditionally. Yes, we fight the Lord but we are the fools for He has the best in mind for us. But we need to simply place our Faith exclusively in Christ Jesus and what He has done for us at the Cross, which then gives the Holy Spirit room to work in our lives. (Romans 8:1-2 and 11).
There’s a song that we sing in church and it is titled: I’m Trusting You, Lord.
I’m trusting You, Lord , I’m trusting You
You’ve been so faithful, You’ve been so true
You never failed me like I failed you
I’m trusting You, Lord. I’m trusting You
Well. are you going to Trust Him or are you going to go it alone? Choose wisely!
[5] Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.
[6] In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (KJV)
In the King James Version of the Bible trust is mentioned 134 times! Did you know that the verses above were written by King Solomon. However, Solomon wrote more wisely than he lived. Even though he was blessed with great wisdom, he did not follow God’s plans for marriage. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. You see on the subject of women, Solomon followed what I like to call the Frank Sinatra School of Theology - “I did it my way.” Unfortunately, we are no different. We read the Bible. We pray. We hear messages preached when we attend church; but we still want to do things our own way.
Solomon was a great king. He wrote 3,000 proverbs. He wrote 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:31-32). Yes, Solomon had been given great wisdom and very great insight and he had a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand of the seashore. Solomon was a philosopher, a scientist, he was the one who built the temple under God’s direction. In fact, that temple was one of the wonders of the world. He far surpassed the Egyptians who were considered at that time to be the greatest scholars. Remember, not only was Israel blessed, but so did every nation that took advantage of Solomon’s wisdom.
What does it mean to TRUST? It is basically to have confidence, to believe in the steadfastness of our Lord. If we really trust the Lord we should not find it difficult to surrender to Him. I get the picture in my mind of something my children did when they were young. Have you ever seen a young child jump into their father or grandfather’s arms? Yes, my children would do that. They would go up a few steps and yell, “Dad or Pop catch me!” There would be such joy on their faces. They trusted.
But over the years I have heard people say: I can’t trust God, I can’t trust Jesus. I don’t see them. I need something tangible. That is when I would tell them; you trust that the alarm clock is going to wake you up for work. You trust that the mechanic properly fixed your brakes on the car when you take it out of the shop. You trust that the workers at your favorite fast food chain washed their hands after their last bathroom break. What about those of you who have been sick recently; you trusted the Doctor whose name you could not pronounce. Yes, you saw degrees on the wall but you never actually checked them out. That Doctor wrote you a prescription you couldn’t read. Then you took it to a pharmacist you have never met and she/or he gives you a chemical compound and you go home and take those pills according to the instructions on the bottle. All of this encompasses TRUST.
In a world of distrust whom can we trust?
Solomon tells us about the one and only person we can always trust - He is the Lord, Jesus Christ. We do not put trust in ourselves, or our abilities, not in our education, not in our money, the only one worth trusting is the Lord.
Have we given the Lord our entire heart?
You see, living the Christian life is fairly easy if everything is going our way; but if we add a little stress, a little hardship, a little despair we quickly find ourselves at a fork in the road. Are we going to rest and trust the Lord or are we going to go our own way? We must accept that God’s promises are true even when He seems to be so far away.
The Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation while on the barren island of Patmos; it was not Paradise Island. John Bunyan completed the classic book, Pilgrims Progress while in jail. Beethoven composed his immortal 9th symphony while totally deaf and Fanny Crosby once remarked that if she had not lost her sight she would never have written all the hymns God gave her; the thousands of hymns in most of our hymn books.
We need to recognize, to concede, to confess, to acknowledge who Jesus really is to us. We need to acknowledge His presence, His power, His purpose and His promises at all times. Most of the time we don’t want to give up control concerning our spiritual lives. Let me give you an example. I lived in New Jersey for most of my life. Land is so tight that valet parking is provided for hospitals, restaurants, theaters, museums, etc. in the New York and New Jersey areas. To park your car you must hand over your keys to the parking valet and he brings your car to a large parking area or a parking garage which has many levels. Then he puts the keys to your car on a pegboard and if you look at that pegboard there are hundreds of others keys there also and they all look the same. And if you watch them drive your car –NASCAR has nothing on them! You see, we have no trouble handing over our car keys to a valet but we hesitate to hand over our lives to the Lord, the One who died for us, the One who loves us unconditionally. Yes, we fight the Lord but we are the fools for He has the best in mind for us. But we need to simply place our Faith exclusively in Christ Jesus and what He has done for us at the Cross, which then gives the Holy Spirit room to work in our lives. (Romans 8:1-2 and 11).
There’s a song that we sing in church and it is titled: I’m Trusting You, Lord.
I’m trusting You, Lord , I’m trusting You
You’ve been so faithful, You’ve been so true
You never failed me like I failed you
I’m trusting You, Lord. I’m trusting You
Well. are you going to Trust Him or are you going to go it alone? Choose wisely!
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