A COMMENTARY FROM THE HEART

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.  – Proverbs 3:5&6

This is one of my favorite Proverbs because it reminds me that I serve a God who can be trusted completely.  When we lean on God and His wisdom when we need to make good choices, His power when we feel so powerless, and His goodness when we feel as though nobody in our lives is good to us, it teaches us how to fully rest in Him.

God’s promises never fail and His provision is complete.  If we need direction in life, we know God is faithful to guide us in the best direction.  He wants to help us in our daily life and keep us from harm.  We don’t know the future, but our Heavenly Father does, and wants to guide and bless our journey along the way.

While some may put confidence in physical strength, wealth, or friendships, children of God know that these things can disappear.  Acknowledge His sovereignty, His wisdom, power and goodness, being careful to praise and glorify His name.  In return, God will direct our steps.  That is how we stay safe and happy in life.

We read the phrase “my son” in the book of Proverbs.  It’s like the father offering wise advice to the son.  There are uncertainties in the young son’s future, and the father just wants to save the son from learning lessons the hard way.  Of course, the son is getting bad advice in his other ear from his worldly friends – so the dad is diligent about emphasizing the importance of making wise choices in life.

By yielding the decisions of life to God, the son is saved from heartache.  He’s encouraged to trust in God with all his heart – and give God all his heart, not withholding any area of his life from the Lord.

It’s not okay to just forsake a few things that are unwise – make good choices across the board and please your God.  He wants your whole heart.  Be humble enough to understand that you are not wise enough to be your own guide.  God cares about us and our welfare.  He knows that life is challenging sometimes, but He can be trusted to guide us in the right direction and face every challenge that comes along.  🙂

 

ECCLESIASTES 3:11 ON 3/11

Have you ever had to pray the most difficult prayer?  It’s the one that begins with, “Lord, change me!”

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.  – Ecclesiastes 3:11

Often times we get wrapped up in dreams for the future that may or may not come to pass.  I wonder how healthy it is for us to put so much stock in what might not come to pass.  Maybe it’s better to do our best to enjoy today since  the Bible makes it quite clear that we are not promised tomorrow.  God makes everything beautiful in its time – not in our time.

Everything really does happen for a reason.  Just because we don’t understand the reason doesn’t mean that God doesn’t understand and have a plan.  We get hung up on the questions when things aren’t going our way – questions that usually begin with “why” – Why was I born this way?  Why did my mom treat me like that?  Why did I have to be left alone?  Why couldn’t I be a mother?  Why did You have to take my babies?  It’s exhausting.

We have to come to a point where we give up the WHY questions and lift our hands to the sky and declare that God is God.  He is the wise, omnipotent, omnipresent God of the universe who knows everything.  He alone knows how different my life would have been if I had been a mom.  I don’t pretend to know anything.  I have to call a cease-fire on the war with God because it’s a war I can’t win.  To be honest I’m too old and too tired to keep fighting it.  I surrender all – and I mean ALL to God.  The ultimate surrender is when the why questions stop.

It’s clear that beauty, whether it is beauty in thought or beautiful happenings, come from God above.  That brings the first part of the verse closer together.  And once we trust God to be Lord of our life, He definitely puts the desire in us to know Him better.

How do we know God better?  It’s not complicated.  Read God’s Word, the Holy Bible, and talk with God.  Pray to Him and make sure you listen for His answers.  Don’t be angry if you don’t understand His answers.  Just raise your hands and tell God that He is God – and you are not.

Remember that while we are focused on the external, God is focused on the internal.  While we see today, He is working on eternity.  We focus on the gift bag and He focuses on the gift inside.  He makes all things beautiful in His time – including the losses, the brokenness, the battles, the fragmented dreams, lost romance, heartache and chronic illness.

Without Him, life is purposeless and profitless, miserable and meaningless. With Him, it will ultimately make sense.  🙂