By Darrel Proffit, Lead Pastor
Proverbs 3:5 English Standard Version (ESV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
I am never surprised that I am often surprised. Does that make sense? It is so easy to fall into the trap that life is intended to be easy, that each day will go smoothly, and problems are easily surmountable. I suppose that is human nature. The surprise comes when the problem comes, when you look at an issue you face seems so overwhelming that you can hardly take a breath. You know it is coming but it always takes me by surprise.
Jesus was very clear that life is not easy. If anything it is messy. What do we do when we face the unexpected, the difficult, the overwhelming challenge?
I think that the first thing we need to do is to remember that God is not surprised by the challenge. We also need to remember that He is sovereign and desires that we grow from the challenges. But that is never easy.
The writer of Proverbs gives us the key to not only surviving those challenges but to grow from them. He wrote, “trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Faith is being certain about that which you cannot see. When we face challenges we cannot see how they will turn out. All we can see is the challenge. If we will seek to take our eyes off the challenges and put them on the Lord and trust that He is at work, the sting of the surprises lessens.
But that is not all we do. We are called to stop over analyzing things. We will never figure it all out but we do not have to. We are to “not lean on our understanding.” God has you in the palm of His hand. We can drive ourselves crazy trying to figure everything out. If we could stop that and start leaning on God, these surprises can be transformed into something that works out for your good and God’s glory. Amen.
Proverbs 3:5 English Standard Version (ESV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
I am never surprised that I am often surprised. Does that make sense? It is so easy to fall into the trap that life is intended to be easy, that each day will go smoothly, and problems are easily surmountable. I suppose that is human nature. The surprise comes when the problem comes, when you look at an issue you face seems so overwhelming that you can hardly take a breath. You know it is coming but it always takes me by surprise.
Jesus was very clear that life is not easy. If anything it is messy. What do we do when we face the unexpected, the difficult, the overwhelming challenge?
I think that the first thing we need to do is to remember that God is not surprised by the challenge. We also need to remember that He is sovereign and desires that we grow from the challenges. But that is never easy.
The writer of Proverbs gives us the key to not only surviving those challenges but to grow from them. He wrote, “trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Faith is being certain about that which you cannot see. When we face challenges we cannot see how they will turn out. All we can see is the challenge. If we will seek to take our eyes off the challenges and put them on the Lord and trust that He is at work, the sting of the surprises lessens.
But that is not all we do. We are called to stop over analyzing things. We will never figure it all out but we do not have to. We are to “not lean on our understanding.” God has you in the palm of His hand. We can drive ourselves crazy trying to figure everything out. If we could stop that and start leaning on God, these surprises can be transformed into something that works out for your good and God’s glory. Amen.
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