SPEAKER_00: Well, growing up, my family spent a lot of time up north.
SPEAKER_00: My parents had a cabin when I was young, and we would go there often, especially in the summers, and we would do all the quintessential things that you would do up north in the summer, right?
SPEAKER_00: So we would go to the lake and hang out there, or we would have campfires and make s'moors.
SPEAKER_00: We would do all sorts of things.
SPEAKER_00: One of the favorite things that I would do when I was young, when we would go up north, is I would actually walk through the trails in the woods with my brother.
SPEAKER_00: We would do that quite a bit.
SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of cool because where the cabin was, there were some woods not far away with a bunch of trails that went all over the place.
SPEAKER_00: And so we would do that all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And we would go through, spend hours kind of just going on adventures, checking out places we've never really seen before, hoping we'd find something cool when we go around the bend somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: And it was just a great time.
SPEAKER_00: Most of the time it was exciting.
SPEAKER_00: However, there were times where it got a little bit scary.
SPEAKER_00: And the times it got a little bit scary were the times on occasion where we would find ourselves in a situation where we were a little bit lost in the woods.
SPEAKER_00: Now, at that point, right, this is before cell phones.
SPEAKER_00: So you don't have a cell phone, so you can't pull out your phone to find out where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: You can't look at where you're at on the map and find your way out, and you can't call for help.
SPEAKER_00: And so at that point, when you're lost, you have to figure it out on your own.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember a number of times where we were walking through the woods, and maybe the sun was kind of blocked, or it was straight up in the sky, or or had been going down, and so we didn't really know where we were.
SPEAKER_00: We weren't able to get oriented.
SPEAKER_00: We kind of lost our bearings.
SPEAKER_00: And it became a little bit tricky sometimes to navigate where we were going.
SPEAKER_00: And on more than one occasion, I remember coming to a place where I saw one trail kind of look like the other.
SPEAKER_00: And then sometimes you get to a fork in the road and you had to make a decision.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember in those moments asking myself, well, which way do I go?
SPEAKER_00: Now, maybe some of you have been in that situation before.
SPEAKER_00: The truth is it's tricky, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because if you pick the wrong direction, well, you'll end up being even more lost.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you pick the correct one, hopefully it'll lead you to the place you need to go.
SPEAKER_00: But that can be a scary situation.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you have faced this before as well.
SPEAKER_00: But even if you've never been lost in the woods, the truth is, all of us know what it's like to be at a place in life where the future is uncertain.
SPEAKER_00: We all know what it's like to be on unfamiliar paths in life, to face difficult decisions that we don't know what to make or unknown destinations.
SPEAKER_00: We know what that's like.
SPEAKER_00: We all know what it's like to not be able to see what's around the bend.
SPEAKER_00: And sooner or later we'll come to a place in life where maybe we're at a crossroads and we need to make a decision.
SPEAKER_00: We know we can't stay where we are.
SPEAKER_00: We know we need to move somewhere, but we don't know which direction to go.
SPEAKER_00: So, how do we handle situations like that?
SPEAKER_00: How do we know where to go and what to do when we feel like we have no direction?
SPEAKER_00: Well, thankfully, God's word says something about that today.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to see what Scripture has to say about this, I want to invite you to open your Bibles with me to the book of Proverbs today.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Proverbs is where we're going to be at.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs chapter three is our text today.
SPEAKER_00: If you came here and brought a Bible, great.
SPEAKER_00: We open our Bible every single Sunday here at Frankenmouth Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you brought it, awesome.
SPEAKER_00: If you didn't, we got you covered.
SPEAKER_00: There's a Bible in front of you somewhere, and you're welcome to use that.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't own a Bible, take it home.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're looking for the book of Proverbs, let me help you out.
SPEAKER_00: It's right in the middle of your Bible, right?
SPEAKER_00: So if you open up to the middle of the Bible, you should have Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: The next book is Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: If you hit Ecclesiastes, you went too far.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 3 is where we're at.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, as you're turning there, I'm Joe.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the lead pastor here.
SPEAKER_00: Thankful that you guys are here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We are continuing a series that we began last week called Digging Deep.
SPEAKER_00: And the whole point of this series is we look at some of the most famous and popular Bible verses in Scripture, and we don't just stay on the surface, but we what we do is really dig in to try to understand these verses in a far better way.
SPEAKER_00: Because the truth is, some of those verses that are familiar to you that you know really well, sometimes those are the verses that you need to look at the most.
SPEAKER_00: Because when we know something, that becomes familiar to us, and when it becomes really familiar, it becomes common.
SPEAKER_00: And when it becomes common, we often overlook it.
SPEAKER_00: And so the goal of this series is to look at these and understand them in a deeper way.
SPEAKER_00: And today we're at one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, this is a verse that I committed to memory when I was younger, and it's kind of cool because I've I've learned through the series, even, that I'll look up some of the verses I learned in the various translations.
SPEAKER_00: There's different English translations, and I can kind of track where I learned it based in my spiritual walk.
SPEAKER_00: So last week I did a verse from the King James, right?
SPEAKER_00: John 3.16, and I shared about how I learned that when I was in the Sparky program for Iwana.
SPEAKER_00: So I was young when I learned that verse.
SPEAKER_00: This next verse, I realized I learned it in the New King James Version.
SPEAKER_00: And so I actually have a New King James Bible.
SPEAKER_00: It's a blue Bible, still in my office here at the church downstairs.
SPEAKER_00: I got that Bible when I was in junior high.
SPEAKER_00: And so between junior high and senior high youth group, I probably would have learned this verse.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's the way I memorized it in the New King James Version.
SPEAKER_00: It's trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's been a favorite verse of mine, one of my favorites for many, many years.
SPEAKER_00: It's been a great verse.
SPEAKER_00: As I said, I memorized it in the New King James Version.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at this in the ESV today.
SPEAKER_00: That's your seatback Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: It's very, very similar, only a few phrases or things are phrased slightly differently.
SPEAKER_00: Same, same meaning.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we're going to look at.
SPEAKER_00: Before we jump in, though, can we just take a moment to get kind of oriented to where we are in our Bibles?
SPEAKER_00: I always try to do this so we understand.
SPEAKER_00: We're in the book of Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Proverbs is what's called part of Israel's wisdom literature.
SPEAKER_00: So if you were to read Proverbs, uh, it's in the same group of books that they lump Ecclesiastes and Job into.
SPEAKER_00: And so the wisdom literature imparts wisdom to the reader.
SPEAKER_00: Now, traditionally, people will say that Solomon is the author of Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: And that's true probably for most of it, but not all of it, because there are places that we read in there that there are other people who are actually writing.
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes you just look at the headings and you'll discover who wrote what part.
SPEAKER_00: Traditionally, though, Solomon is said to wrote or to have written the majority of it.
SPEAKER_00: And if you look at 1 Kings 4, and you know Solomon, he was one of the kings of Israel, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in 1 Kings 4, the Lord granted Solomon, it says, wisdom beyond measure.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in that same text, it says that Solomon spoke over 3,000 Proverbs, and that people all over the world would gather to hear him teach and speak.
SPEAKER_00: They would listen to his instructions.
SPEAKER_00: And so it makes sense if he was somebody who wrote Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: And so the book of Proverbs includes a series of statements, phrases, things that are mentioned that hopefully impart wisdom, as I mentioned.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the thing: it's important to understand how we interpret the Bible based on genre.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so sometimes you're reading a story that's narrative genre.
SPEAKER_00: So we're supposed to understand it based on the story.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you come to places where there's really strange things being said.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's like prophetic literature or at the end of the Bible, apocalyptic literature.
SPEAKER_00: And that often has symbols and signs and things that are really hard to understand.
SPEAKER_00: What we're reading here is not narrative, it's not the law, it's not prophetic.
SPEAKER_00: No, what we're reading, proverbial literature, are a series of statements that make truths, truth claims that are generally true.
SPEAKER_00: What I mean is they're not always true, right?
SPEAKER_00: But they're generally true.
SPEAKER_00: And when we understand them and apply them, it instructs us how to live skillfully and wise wisely in the world.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's not always true, but generally true.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you an example.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 15, 22 says this without counsel, plans fail, but with many advisors they succeed.
SPEAKER_00: Now, is this true?
SPEAKER_00: Well, generally speaking, it's true, right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's say in life you got a big decision to make, and so you're trying to make a wise decision, and so what you do is you you say, Well, let me consult some people, let me ask some people, get some consensus here, so I can make an informed decision.
SPEAKER_00: Generally speaking, those decisions work out better.
SPEAKER_00: But is that always the case?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a time where you need to make a big decision, and before you even ask anybody, you just have a gut feeling, and you kind of really quickly make a switch, you know, flip a quick decision, whatever you want to call it, quick decision, and you you do that and then you make the decision and it works out wonderfully.
SPEAKER_00: That can happen.
SPEAKER_00: Or on the other side of the coin, you say, you know what, let me just ask some people, let me get some some advice here, and you you seek out counsel and then you slow down and make an informed decision, and then you make that decision, and it ends up being a terrible decision.
SPEAKER_00: You're like the result is a train wreck, right?
SPEAKER_00: That can happen too.
SPEAKER_00: So this is true generally.
SPEAKER_00: It's not true always, but generally speaking, this is the way that Proverbs works.
SPEAKER_00: There are no guaranteed outcomes here, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's the way it works.
SPEAKER_00: And we have to understand that that generally speaking, there's a truth, um, but but it's not always true.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we interpret Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, one more thing I want to mention about the book of Proverbs is while these truths can be applied to people who are maybe not even like worshipers of God, because many of the things are just true in the world.
SPEAKER_00: The intention of Proverbs is that we're to see all this with an understanding that there is a God who created all things.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So, Proverbs, it's not intended to be interpreted divorced from God.
SPEAKER_00: Even though some of the things are really wise principles, that's not the point.
SPEAKER_00: We're meant to understand this in light of the fact that there is a God who created all things and who created us, and we're to be wise as we operate in God's world.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: This is why in the beginning of Proverbs, it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: God is at the center of this book.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom does not originate with us, it originates with him.
SPEAKER_00: True insight, understanding, knowledge, it flows from him, and it's imparted to you.
SPEAKER_00: It's given to people who humble themselves before him and fear him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: So we're in Proverbs, we're in chapter three.
SPEAKER_00: Just a quick heads up, the first nine chapters encompass one kind of unit in the book where Solomon is believed to be the author.
SPEAKER_00: He is speaking as a father would speak to his son.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's all this instruction for his son.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in chapter three, we begin seeing that the father is speaking.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, Son, listen to my instructions, listen to the words I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_00: And then picking up in verse five, he says this.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
SPEAKER_00: That's our passage today.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's how we're going to do it.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to take each four of these lines and we'll break them into four different sections, and then we're going to start digging deep.
SPEAKER_00: You guys ready to dig deep this morning?
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So let's jump in.
SPEAKER_00: The first section we're going to see, number one, is dependence, the dependence.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the opening line of this proverb.
SPEAKER_00: It begins by saying, Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this word trust that's used here, we know the word trust is found in the Bible a lot.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of the words in Hebrew that's used pretty frequently.
SPEAKER_00: We find this specific word used well over a hundred times in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew Bible.
SPEAKER_00: This is a word that means placing confidence in or relying upon or feeling secure in or depending on someone or something.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when we see this word used in context, usually it's when a person is facing danger or uncertainty or opposition or they're vulnerable and they need to make a decision in those moments where to place their trust.
SPEAKER_00: That's usually when it's used.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want you to consider something for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: As human beings, we are frequently in situations where we have to trust something or someone.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a human, trust is part of your experience.
SPEAKER_00: It's inevitable.
SPEAKER_00: It will happen.
SPEAKER_00: That's a guarantee.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we're creatures.
SPEAKER_00: Creatures are finite, right?
SPEAKER_00: That means that uh on some level we're dependent on someone or something all the time.
SPEAKER_00: It's part of our finite nature.
SPEAKER_00: This is not God's nature.
SPEAKER_00: God does not operate on the same level.
SPEAKER_00: There's a doctrine, it's kind of nerdy, people don't talk about it very often.
SPEAKER_00: It's called the doctrine of the asseity of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's a fancy way of basically just saying that God is self-existent and self-sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: God does not rely on anyone else or need anyone else for anything.
SPEAKER_00: God never finds himself in a compromising situation and goes, oh boy, I need some help.
SPEAKER_00: I need to trust on, or trust in or rely on somebody to help me.
SPEAKER_00: He never needs to do that.
SPEAKER_00: He is fully sufficient, he's fully able.
SPEAKER_00: He's not limited by anything.
SPEAKER_00: And so he only simply needs to just rely on himself.
SPEAKER_00: That's the nature of who God is.
SPEAKER_00: But we we are different.
SPEAKER_00: We're limited creatures.
SPEAKER_00: And so there are situations that we have to place our trust in someone or something.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that can be dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you stop and you think about it, the truth is not all things and not all people are always trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: That's the tricky part.
SPEAKER_00: You can't guarantee all the time that the object of your trust is reliable.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that can be dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you an example of this.
SPEAKER_00: There's a story I was thinking about when I was in college.
SPEAKER_00: It's a really good story.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of long, but I'm going to keep it short and sweet.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so back when I was in college, I lived overseas.
SPEAKER_00: I lived there for a couple years, and uh I didn't have much money.
SPEAKER_00: And you can travel through Europe without much money, but it's not always like the bougiest way to travel, right?
SPEAKER_00: You gotta kind of rough it.
SPEAKER_00: And so I had a backpack, was traveling around quite a bit.
SPEAKER_00: We had a mid-semester break, and I found myself in Italy at the time, and I was trying to get somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: And so I went to the train station, and when I got to the train station, it was closed.
SPEAKER_00: It closes at a certain time of night.
SPEAKER_00: And so there I'm I'm finding myself kind of in the middle of the night, outside of a train station.
SPEAKER_00: I had hoped I was supposed to go on the train the next day that I could go in the station and just like find a bench somewhere and sleep that night.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I couldn't.
SPEAKER_00: I was locked out.
SPEAKER_00: So I have no money.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, I had no cell phone there either, right?
SPEAKER_00: So for two years I lived in Europe, no cell phone.
SPEAKER_00: I have no money really, no cell phone.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a sketchy area that I'm at, but I'm stuck.
SPEAKER_00: I have nothing to do.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm kind of sitting there.
SPEAKER_00: It's maybe two or three in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm getting tired, getting exhausted.
SPEAKER_00: And so what I eventually do is I just say, okay, I'm just gonna lay down on the ground right outside the train station and just try to get a little bit of sleep.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a long day tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: So I lay down, I'm holding my bag at the time, I lay on the ground, and I start to fall asleep.
SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden, I'm startled awake.
SPEAKER_00: I hear something, I wake up, I open my eyes, and staring straight in my face is a man who is hovering over me and reaching his arm out.
SPEAKER_00: And the moment I lock eyes with the guy, he says, Go back to sleep.
SPEAKER_00: I'll watch your back.
SPEAKER_00: Do I trust this man?
SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
SPEAKER_00: Should I trust him in this scenario?
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't trust this man.
SPEAKER_00: I wet my pants and I leave.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I do.
SPEAKER_00: I actually didn't wet my hands, I just made the story better.
SPEAKER_00: Everything else is true, but the point is, no, this is a sketchy situation.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know who this guy is.
SPEAKER_00: He he's there are reasons for me to doubt what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling me to trust him.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not trusting him in this situation.
SPEAKER_00: The truth is, this is not what we're dealing with in the text.
SPEAKER_00: Not at all.
SPEAKER_00: Solomon is commanding us to trust, but who or what is the object of our trust?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he says, trust in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me remind you of something.
SPEAKER_00: In in the Bible in Hebrew, right?
SPEAKER_00: So the Old Testament, when we when we come across in our English Bibles, Lord with a capital L, a capital O, and a capital R, and a capital D, that's the English translation's way of flagging us that this is a very special name for God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you just have a capital L and a small O R D, that's a different word in Hebrew.
SPEAKER_00: This specifically is the name for God Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: So to kind of help you understand the significance of this, in the story where Moses was in the wilderness and he sees the burning bush and he hears a voice calling out to him.
SPEAKER_00: And God begins to speak from the bush and he commissions Moses to go to the land of Egypt to talk to Pharaoh and to tell him to let his people go.
SPEAKER_00: When Moses hears this, he begins to kind of question himself.
SPEAKER_00: God, you know, I don't, I'm not eloquent.
SPEAKER_00: I can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: There's no way I could do that.
SPEAKER_00: And so God begins to reassure him, and God says, No, I'm commissioning you, I'm calling you Moses, to do this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the one who made your mouth, I'm the one who's going to use you.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, Moses says, Well, well, God, if I go to Egypt and I do this, and the people say, Well, who is it that sent you?
SPEAKER_00: What do I tell them?
SPEAKER_00: What's your name?
SPEAKER_00: And in that passage, the Lord begins to say, Well, Moses, tell them, I am sent you, I am who I am.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, I'm Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of your ancestors.
SPEAKER_00: I am the one who is sending you.
SPEAKER_00: So this name, Yahweh, with the capital L-O-R-D, this is the covenant name of God.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh is the one who demonstrated his past faithfulness to God's people.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who always keeps his promises.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who is proven to be both loyal and dependable for generation after generation.
SPEAKER_00: So this is not a call to exercise blind faith.
SPEAKER_00: What we see here, Solomon is telling us to not trust in the unknown God.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling us to trust in the one who's proven himself to be trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point here.
SPEAKER_00: Now, your heart, this word here is your inner self.
SPEAKER_00: In Hebrew, this is the word that's often used to describe the seat of your emotions and your feelings, your will.
SPEAKER_00: The idea here is intended to tell us that when we trust in the Lord, we're to trust in the Lord with everything that's in us, with every fiber of our being, every aspect of your life, both small and great, is an opportunity to rely on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you this morning, are you trusting in the Lord for your life?
SPEAKER_00: Are you trusting in the Lord for the things that you're going through and facing this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust him with your plans?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust him with your fears?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust him with your marriage?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust him with your children?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust the Lord with your dreams?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust him with your ambitions?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust him with your finances?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust him with your future?
SPEAKER_00: This proverb begins by commanding us to live a life of total dependence on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Trusting Him with everything that's in us.
SPEAKER_00: That's the idea here.
SPEAKER_00: It's a life that's built upon dependence.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's where we begin.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, we looked at the dependence.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in Yahweh with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we begin.
SPEAKER_00: But as we keep working through the text, the second thing we need to see, number two, is the danger here.
SPEAKER_00: The danger.
SPEAKER_00: You see, there's a propensity that we have to sometimes rely on the wrong things.
SPEAKER_00: And so notice what Solomon says next.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this warning is about leaning on our own knowledge of things.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the word lean here is a very good word that's used in our translation.
SPEAKER_00: It means to support yourself.
SPEAKER_00: It means a word that's about putting weight on something, right?
SPEAKER_00: In order to sustain or hold something up.
SPEAKER_00: It's a vivid word used to convey the danger that's associated with self-dependence, depending on yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Now, once again, can I remind you, we're limited creatures.
SPEAKER_00: We're finite beings.
SPEAKER_00: We do not have an exhaustive knowledge of all things.
SPEAKER_00: You may be an expert in your field.
SPEAKER_00: You may have committed thousands and thousands of hours towards something, and yet, I'm telling you, you don't know everything.
SPEAKER_00: Not about that subject or anything in the world.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know everything.
SPEAKER_00: Our knowledge is always limited, but God is limitless.
SPEAKER_00: He knows everything, he's all knowing.
SPEAKER_00: So to presume that you have enough knowledge about things that you're going to put the weight of your life on your own ability to know things, that's foolishness.
SPEAKER_00: This verse is meant to contrast those who trust in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord sees what you cannot.
SPEAKER_00: See.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord knows what you don't know.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord understands what you can't understand.
SPEAKER_00: So why would you lean on your own understanding if you're insufficient?
SPEAKER_00: Lean on Him, on His understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Now, before we just move on, let me just clarify something.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's very important to highlight here.
SPEAKER_00: We can swing the pendulum a little too far sometimes when we're reading things like this.
SPEAKER_00: This verse is not instructing us to stop thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Let me make that really clear.
SPEAKER_00: I talk about this often.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes in some circles, you have some people who have a theology that's very much so hands-off of our own life.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's the Jesus take the wheel kind of attitude where it's like, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even going to drive, I'll let Jesus do it, and I'll just sit back.
SPEAKER_00: That is not, I think, a wise way to live.
SPEAKER_00: Can I remind you of something Solomon says in the chapter before?
SPEAKER_00: It says this for the Lord gives wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: By implication, who is the Lord giving wisdom to?
SPEAKER_00: Us.
SPEAKER_00: God gives people wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
SPEAKER_00: He's the source of wisdom, and so he imparts to us wisdom and knowledge and understanding.
SPEAKER_00: God gave you a mind for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: God gave you common sense for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: God gave you wisdom and discernment and rational thinking for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: So use those things, employ those things, grow those things, be good stewards of those things.
SPEAKER_00: This passage is not calling us to abandon our minds, it's calling us to recognize their limitations.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: The issue here is not about the fact that you should never think.
SPEAKER_00: You should be thinking people.
SPEAKER_00: But the point here is that don't make that what supports your life.
SPEAKER_00: Don't make your understanding the thing that supports your life because at the end of the day, you're putting your weight on something that can't bear the load.
SPEAKER_00: And so don't lean on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Your understanding is limited.
SPEAKER_00: God's is not.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lean on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Lean on Him.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: So now that we've seen number one, the dependence.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And number two, the danger, right?
SPEAKER_00: We lean on our own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: The third thing we're going to see, number three, is the devotion.
SPEAKER_00: The devotion.
SPEAKER_00: So notice our text.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to our verse.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Do not lean on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: In all your ways, acknowledge Him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this word acknowledge is kind of a tricky word.
SPEAKER_00: In Hebrew to try to explain, in part, because I think in English the word acknowledge, it's a little bit weak.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you acknowledge something or somebody, it's kind of like you're giving a nod to something, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or you're kind of recognizing it.
SPEAKER_00: That's what acknowledge means.
SPEAKER_00: So you ever go to an award ceremony and someone wins an award and everyone claps and they stand up and they give their speech and they, you know, they're really excited about all the things, and then they begin to rattle off a list of names of maybe people who helped them along the journey, who were contributing in some way.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I think of when I think of acknowledging something, right?
SPEAKER_00: So it's like, hey, I accomplished something great.
SPEAKER_00: Now let me just kind of say, give a shout out to the man upstairs.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, God, yeah, also thanks for what you did.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's not that's way too thin of a word.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what this means.
SPEAKER_00: Truthfully, this word is more often translated as know than acknowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it means know in the sense of cognition, like in your mind, but also know in the sense of like a relational knowing, an experiential knowing, right?
SPEAKER_00: So it's intellectual and it can be relational knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're called to know God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the cool thing: God is knowable.
SPEAKER_00: He's not impersonal, he's a personal God.
SPEAKER_00: We can know God.
SPEAKER_00: God is knowable.
SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, if you want to know him in an intellectual way, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You can open the Bible, and he has revealed himself to us.
SPEAKER_00: He tells us who he is, he reveals his nature and character.
SPEAKER_00: He talks about what he's done, he reveals his will to us, he talks about his desire for our lives.
SPEAKER_00: All those things can be known if you crack open your Bible and you begin to read.
SPEAKER_00: God has revealed himself.
SPEAKER_00: We can know him in our mind if we open scripture, but guess what?
SPEAKER_00: We can also know him relationally in that he sent his one and only Son.
SPEAKER_00: God sent Jesus to this earth who lived a perfect life.
SPEAKER_00: He died a substitutionary death.
SPEAKER_00: And then three days later, he was raised bodily to a victorious resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, who is fully and completely God and man, came into this world so that we could enter into a relationship with a holy God by grace and through faith in him, so that we could know God and find fellowship with God.
SPEAKER_00: God is a knowable God.
SPEAKER_00: That's good news for us.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: God is knowable, and the command here to know him is to offer up an invitation for God to be known in every facet of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: In all our ways we are to acknowledge or know him.
SPEAKER_00: This is a good, good principle for us.
SPEAKER_00: In all our ways we are to know him.
SPEAKER_00: The truth is, this includes every path, every decision, every direction, and every area of our life.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this morning that you understand that your knowledge of God, your knowing God, that's not relegated to one hour on a Sunday morning, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Our knowledge of God, knowing him, experiencing life with him, walking with the Lord, that should be every part of every facet of our life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wants to be part of everything.
SPEAKER_00: He's an integral part of our total lives.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know him?
SPEAKER_00: Have you acknowledged him in all your ways?
SPEAKER_00: Have you brought him into every sphere of your life?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you building up walls to keep him out certain areas?
SPEAKER_00: Because you want to be in charge of those areas of your life.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you, do you know him?
SPEAKER_00: Is he welcome in every part of your life?
SPEAKER_00: We must be willing to bring him into view, to take him into account.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you are doing, whatever path you find yourself in, the Lord wants to walk with you through those things.
SPEAKER_00: Are you walking with the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Do you truly know him?
SPEAKER_00: That's what this verse is about.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about being devoted to him, being with him and knowing him in every part of our lives, in all our ways, acknowledging him.
SPEAKER_00: And so now that we've seen the dependence, trust in the Lord with all your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And now that we've seen number two, the danger, right?
SPEAKER_00: Don't lean on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Now that we've seen number three, this devotion in all your ways, know him, acknowledge him, be committed to him.
SPEAKER_00: The fourth and final section we see, number four, is the direction.
SPEAKER_00: The direction.
SPEAKER_00: So let's go back to our text.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here in this last verse, we see that if we truly know God, and if we're sincerely bringing God to bear in every facet of our lives, if we're walking with him, the result of this should be a straight path in life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the word straight that's used here, again, this is well translated.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good word.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means.
SPEAKER_00: It means straight or level sometimes or right, or it can even mean smooth.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as a general principle, I think that this is true.
SPEAKER_00: It applies to us, right?
SPEAKER_00: If if you are trusting in the Lord, you're not leaning on your own understanding, you're bringing God to bear, you're knowing Him in all aspects of your lives.
SPEAKER_00: I do think that life, generally speaking, often goes better.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's true as a principle.
SPEAKER_00: It's very comparable to this.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know in the law, the Ten Commandments, you have the law for children to obey their parents.
SPEAKER_00: Now, who is that law for?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's for God, right?
SPEAKER_00: God wants children to obey their parents.
SPEAKER_00: It's for parents, right?
SPEAKER_00: And that's good news too, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because if children didn't have to obey parents, life would be a little chaotic.
SPEAKER_00: Children are supposed to obey their parents, so it's good for parents, it's good for God.
SPEAKER_00: Primarily, it's good for kids.
SPEAKER_00: That's why in the promise it says, or in the command, it says, that you your life may be long.
SPEAKER_00: You may dwell in the land.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point, is that kids who are rebellious and never listen to their parents, they tend to make decisions that aren't good for them.
SPEAKER_00: And it usually shortens their lifespan.
SPEAKER_00: So that command is for kids' sake to follow their parents' instruction because that leads to flourishing.
SPEAKER_00: Now, God is our father, and he's given us instructions about life.
SPEAKER_00: And when we rebel against the way that God designed the world, we often make decisions that are poor for us and it doesn't go well for us.
SPEAKER_00: But when we obey God, generally speaking, many facets of life go better.
SPEAKER_00: Stuff often goes well.
SPEAKER_00: This is true in a general sense.
SPEAKER_00: But remember, Proverbs never gives absolute guaranteed outcomes.
SPEAKER_00: It's a principle.
SPEAKER_00: And so if we can, let's take this even deeper.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I don't think that ultimately the point here is that God is going to take away everything bad from your path.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's the case.
SPEAKER_00: The truth is we live in a broken world.
SPEAKER_00: When you travel down paths, you should expect to see thorns and thistles.
SPEAKER_00: That's part of the world we're in.
SPEAKER_00: It's a world marked by sin, just part of life.
SPEAKER_00: So the point is there are people today who are trusting the Lord and they still lose their job.
SPEAKER_00: There are people today who are trusting the Lord and they still make really poor financial decisions.
SPEAKER_00: There are people who are trusting the Lord and they still get diagnosed with cancer.
SPEAKER_00: This is not like a guarantee.
SPEAKER_00: God's not a genie that we just do things the right way and we're guaranteed a certain result.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work that way.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Ecclesiastes teaches us as well.
SPEAKER_00: So God is not making a promise that the road ahead of us will always be painless, but he is instructing us here that if we sincerely trust in him and we make the intentional decision to walk with him, whatever path we find ourselves on, I believe will be rightly directed.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's the point here.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I open this message by talking about my experience as a kid, walking through the trails, trying to find which path to go.
SPEAKER_00: And there were times where there was a fork in the road and I didn't know which decision to make.
SPEAKER_00: And I struggled being lost and feeling directionless.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that happened to me a couple times in a literal sense, but throughout my life, that's happened to me numerous times in other ways.
SPEAKER_00: To be a little bit honest, there was a point in my life about 20 years ago where I had my future mapped out.
SPEAKER_00: I knew exactly what I was going to do.
SPEAKER_00: I was ambitious, I was zealous, I had put together well-laid plans, everything was lined up for my future.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: God totally closed the door on me.
SPEAKER_00: And in that season of life, when the door was closed, I felt at first a little bit lost.
SPEAKER_00: I felt like I had no direction, but I look back on that day and I realized it wasn't that I had no direction.
SPEAKER_00: It was just that God was redirecting me.
SPEAKER_00: God was closing the door because he wanted me to go in a different direction.
SPEAKER_00: And in that moment, it didn't feel like my path was very smooth, but ultimately it was straight because God knew exactly where he was taking me.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the way that God operates.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are in a situation right now.
SPEAKER_00: You're looking to make decisions.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God guides you by opening doors.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he guides you by shutting those doors.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he guides you in seasons of clarity and you're like, oh, this feels like the right decision.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes he guides you through seasons of confusion where you just trust him and make the best decision you can.
SPEAKER_00: The point here is if we're trusting him, not leaning on our own understanding, not placing the weight on our own understanding of things, but we're acknowledging him, knowing him in all our ways.
SPEAKER_00: We can be confident that ultimately we're not going to be wandering aimlessly.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be led.
SPEAKER_00: Because the point here is this: the God who knows the end from the beginning, he is directing our path.
SPEAKER_00: So the big idea, very simple this morning, is trust the one who knows the way.
SPEAKER_00: There are some of you who are at a crossroads, you're trying to make decisions, you're trying to figure things out, figure out what God's will is, where you need to go next.
SPEAKER_00: My best instruction I can give to you today is trust the one who knows the way.
SPEAKER_00: Trust him for whatever path you're on.
SPEAKER_00: Trust him wherever you find yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You're not always going to know what's going to come around the corner.
SPEAKER_00: I won't know either.
SPEAKER_00: But Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 tells us that our confidence is not found in knowing everything around the other side of the road, every turn in the road.
SPEAKER_00: Our confidence is found in knowing the one who does know those things.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to see the whole path to take the next step.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to know what tomorrow holds.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to have every answer.
SPEAKER_00: You simply need to trust in the God who does.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe you should commit to memory this verse.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: God, we want to thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: We want to thank you for the opportunity that we have to be here today and hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: That we can listen to your voice as we engage in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, you give us some really clear instruction here.
SPEAKER_00: This is a general principle that is good for us.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that we would live like this, and Lord, that we'd experience some blessings, the blessings of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, at the same time, there may be people who are in the midst of a crossroads and they may make decisions, and maybe some of those decisions might lead them to further difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that they wouldn't turn back and say that you're not true.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that they would understand that God, you know our whole destination.
SPEAKER_00: You know our ultimate destination.
SPEAKER_00: You know our whole path.
SPEAKER_00: You know the journey.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you take us through times of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: I think about Psalm 23, where it says, even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, there are times we walk through difficult valleys.
SPEAKER_00: We're not exempt from that.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, there are times you lead us according to your will and your purposes through difficult seasons.
SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, Lord, I thank you that we can trust you.
SPEAKER_00: We know that the most difficult path ever taken was the one taken by your son Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He went through the valley of the shadow of death, and the full weight of death he embraced on our behalf.
SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, through your great power, you raised him from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, that gives us hope.
SPEAKER_00: Hope that even in the midst of difficult seasons, that the path ahead is straight because we're connected to your son Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So help us, Lord, to trust you.
SPEAKER_00: Trust you with all our heart, not to lean on our own knowledge of things, not to put the weight of our life on things that we are insufficient for, but Lord, ultimately to trust you.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all our heart, lean not on understanding, in all our ways, know you, acknowledge you, and believe that you're going to direct our path.
SPEAKER_00: So I just pray for that, Lord, today.
SPEAKER_00: I pray for the person in the room who's struggling with decisions.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you give them the confidence to trust in you, even when they don't know what's ahead.
SPEAKER_00: So we thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We love you.
SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.