Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
Hey, that sounds good. Lets do that...........yeah right, if were honest that's easier said than done! WHY?
Over the past few weeks God has shown me what it means to "trust and lean not". Lets just say, when you are lying on an ICU bed, the doctors are telling you that you are dying and they need to do XYZ to save your life....... Trust me, there is no pride in that situation. I'm not sitting up in the bed saying, "Hey doc, I know you know more about this situation and you are the most qualified and prepared person to make decisions for my LIFE but.............lets do ABC!?!?! Absolutely not! I am persuaded that the best, most obedient patients in the hospital are the ones that are in a life threatening situation and they are dying and NEED the doctors to save their lives.......more importantly they TRUST the doctors because when your dying, what other options do you have?
Well, the similarity between trusting Doctors (in an emergency situation) and trusting God was not lost on me....
Just like Doctors, when we NEED them (in an emergency) its a lot easier to "Trust" them. When its life and death and there is nothing you can do its very easy to "Trust" them.
In the same way, when we NEED God its easy to Trust Him as well. I can think of MANY times when Colleen and I we were brought to our knees and there was no other choice but to trust God because it was "out of our hands", no greater example then last week, there was no other choice but to Trust God. People said, you guys are SO Faithful and trusting in the LORD. well......Trusting in God when there is no other option is pretty easy.
But what happens when its not life threatening or when we do have some control over our situation...? From my experience the similarities between God and Doctors continues. Its easy to trust a doctor when the situation is dire (emergency) but we all know, as soon as the doctor saves our lives and we are on the road to recovery we start to "lean on our own understanding". The doctor says, you need to start eating healthy, exercise more......you have to take your medicine. Sure, we might do it for a little while but many times we see people stray from the direction of the doctor thinking they don't need to or even that they actually know better. Most of the time this leads to your health deteriorating and you get in a situation where you NEED the doctor again........ but sadly, sometimes its not the same doctor because now that you are sick again or you are not better yet, you need a second opinion.
You all know what I am getting at. This is why God says "Trust in the Lord" moreover this is WHY He says "AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING".
Folks, we are called to Trust in our Lord for ALL things but not just "trust" but to have faith that God will give us the best possible care even if we don't understand it. Its easy to do when you have no other choice....but do we trust Him when we do have a choice?
Don't wait for an emergency to "Trust in the Lord". The doctors told my wife in the ICU that I may need to be put on a ventilator. (its basically a life support system). What was interesting was what he said. He said "at this point we would put him on the ventilator to avoid crisis, notbecause of crisis". Truth is folks, we all need to be on a ventilator and that ventilator is the Word of God. We need to commune with Him daily in the Word......not because of crisis, but to avoid crisis.
God allows hardship in our lives. Lord knows, that I have seen my fair share of trials in the last 6 years since I started living for Christ.........If I'm honest, I have also been one of the most prideful and sinful guys I know over that time period. I cant help but think that these "struggles" were God's way of getting me to a point where I would trust and obeyHIM........where He is the LORD of my life.....where I would work hard for HIS kingdom and not my own kingdom. Everyone has a "testimony". Some are crazy stories of drugs, sex, alcohol, lawlessness etc etc......I think God is working my testimony from being a "christian".....you know, luke warm, carnal, fake, hypocritical, prideful, hidden sin etc etc....to actually, really, no kidding, seriously LIVING FOR HIM! We all have to get to a point where we Trust Him with the little things that we have control over. Not just trusting Him in the ICU but trusting Him in our homes, how we raise our kids, how we spend our money. We need to trust him with how we LIVE not how we die.
Kind of long winded today but I guess to sum up what I have learned:
God bless!
Mike
Hey, that sounds good. Lets do that...........yeah right, if were honest that's easier said than done! WHY?
Over the past few weeks God has shown me what it means to "trust and lean not". Lets just say, when you are lying on an ICU bed, the doctors are telling you that you are dying and they need to do XYZ to save your life....... Trust me, there is no pride in that situation. I'm not sitting up in the bed saying, "Hey doc, I know you know more about this situation and you are the most qualified and prepared person to make decisions for my LIFE but.............lets do ABC!?!?! Absolutely not! I am persuaded that the best, most obedient patients in the hospital are the ones that are in a life threatening situation and they are dying and NEED the doctors to save their lives.......more importantly they TRUST the doctors because when your dying, what other options do you have?
Well, the similarity between trusting Doctors (in an emergency situation) and trusting God was not lost on me....
Just like Doctors, when we NEED them (in an emergency) its a lot easier to "Trust" them. When its life and death and there is nothing you can do its very easy to "Trust" them.
In the same way, when we NEED God its easy to Trust Him as well. I can think of MANY times when Colleen and I we were brought to our knees and there was no other choice but to trust God because it was "out of our hands", no greater example then last week, there was no other choice but to Trust God. People said, you guys are SO Faithful and trusting in the LORD. well......Trusting in God when there is no other option is pretty easy.
But what happens when its not life threatening or when we do have some control over our situation...? From my experience the similarities between God and Doctors continues. Its easy to trust a doctor when the situation is dire (emergency) but we all know, as soon as the doctor saves our lives and we are on the road to recovery we start to "lean on our own understanding". The doctor says, you need to start eating healthy, exercise more......you have to take your medicine. Sure, we might do it for a little while but many times we see people stray from the direction of the doctor thinking they don't need to or even that they actually know better. Most of the time this leads to your health deteriorating and you get in a situation where you NEED the doctor again........ but sadly, sometimes its not the same doctor because now that you are sick again or you are not better yet, you need a second opinion.
You all know what I am getting at. This is why God says "Trust in the Lord" moreover this is WHY He says "AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING".
Folks, we are called to Trust in our Lord for ALL things but not just "trust" but to have faith that God will give us the best possible care even if we don't understand it. Its easy to do when you have no other choice....but do we trust Him when we do have a choice?
Don't wait for an emergency to "Trust in the Lord". The doctors told my wife in the ICU that I may need to be put on a ventilator. (its basically a life support system). What was interesting was what he said. He said "at this point we would put him on the ventilator to avoid crisis, notbecause of crisis". Truth is folks, we all need to be on a ventilator and that ventilator is the Word of God. We need to commune with Him daily in the Word......not because of crisis, but to avoid crisis.
God allows hardship in our lives. Lord knows, that I have seen my fair share of trials in the last 6 years since I started living for Christ.........If I'm honest, I have also been one of the most prideful and sinful guys I know over that time period. I cant help but think that these "struggles" were God's way of getting me to a point where I would trust and obeyHIM........where He is the LORD of my life.....where I would work hard for HIS kingdom and not my own kingdom. Everyone has a "testimony". Some are crazy stories of drugs, sex, alcohol, lawlessness etc etc......I think God is working my testimony from being a "christian".....you know, luke warm, carnal, fake, hypocritical, prideful, hidden sin etc etc....to actually, really, no kidding, seriously LIVING FOR HIM! We all have to get to a point where we Trust Him with the little things that we have control over. Not just trusting Him in the ICU but trusting Him in our homes, how we raise our kids, how we spend our money. We need to trust him with how we LIVE not how we die.
Kind of long winded today but I guess to sum up what I have learned:
- "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding".
- DON'T WAIT FOR A CRISIS to practice this! Get on that life support system NOW.
- When things have been going good and they take a turn for the worse, don't look for a second opinion, listen and obey the Father.
- Trust in the Lord for ALL THINGS, not just the big ticket items. To truly do this, this will take some big Humility. Like I said, its easy to trust Him when you have no other choice. The question is, do you trust Him when you HAVE a choice?
God bless!
Mike
I was blessed by reading your blog today Mike, thanks for sharing those thoughts!
ReplyDeleteYour story has kicked my spiritual rear end as well, Mike. I guess you could also say in times of peace, prepare for war. It's in those quiet, boring, easy moments that we forget God is just as much with us and for us. And it's even more important to be with Him and for Him in those quiet moments as well. Thanks for sharing! We love and appreciate you!
ReplyDelete