“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 your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
To be assured that God’s leading me I must choose to do one thing and choose not to do something else. I must trust God with all my heart. There is no “plan B;” I must be “all in” with God. The most famous poker game today is called, “Texas Hold ‘em.” Anyone at any time can go “all in,” which forces everyone else to decide if their present hand is worth risking the entire game on.
To be assured of God’s guidance, we must be “all in” in every circumstance we face. Our lives are His to guide, so we acknowledge Him in all our ways, not just in our religious ways. He is central in our work, our fun, our marriages, our families, our friendships, our vacations, and in our service. Someone said guidance can be broken down this way: The “G” stands for God; the “u and i” stand for you and I, and the “dance” stands for dance. You and I are to live dancing with God and letting Him lead.
But to walk in assurance we must listen to the warning in the text above: “Do not lean on your own understanding.” Some have misinterpreted faith by declaring that God doesn’t want us to use our minds, but that’s false. God gave us minds and wants us to love Him with all our minds. Faith does not contradict our minds but it will transcend them, because God is bigger than our minds can conceive. He calls us beyond what makes “sense” to us. Peter can’t walk on water, but Jesus calls him out of the boat – will he trust God or his own common sense? David can’t kill Goliath and shouldn’t even face him without Saul’s armor, but God is speaking something else – which voice is true?
Most people in America, even religious people, are leading their lives by common sense. Living in the “real world” has come to mean making decisions without the possibility of supernatural help. Yet to be assured of God’s guidance, we should not be surprised if He calls us to step out beyond what is comfortable for us.
Dance with God. Don’t tell Him where it’s reasonable and comfortable for you to go – enjoy His leadership and follow!
One Thing 