Fear, Trust, and Acknowledge! - July 13th, 2011

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding; 
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.  

Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and depart from evil.

Proverbs 3:5-7

History and Context:

Proverbs is believed to be written by King Solomon, the son of King David. Solomon had a dream in which God told him to ask for anything and Solomon asked for Wisdom. As a result the Bible says that he became the wisest man who ever lived. Proverbs is the culmination of his wisdom written down. Throughout the book Solomon adresses his son, but it is not necessarily directed to any of his actual sons. He is probably just using it in the sense that an older man addresses a younger man 'son'.

The Text:

The first two verses are some of the most popular verses in the Bible. We must trust in the Lord and not in our own thinking or what we think we 'understand'. If we recognize the fact that He is always with us, the nHe will direct us and guide us in the way that we should go. But then we have verse seven. "Do not be wise in your own eyes..." Again we should not trust what we think we understand, what we think is wise, "because the foolishness of God is wiser than men..." (1 Corinthians 1:25). But then he tells that we should "fear the Lord". What does it mean to fear the Lord? Should we be afraid of Him? In the Hebrew there are two words for fear: pachad and yirah. Pachad means to be terrified, but yirah means to be in awe of,or to revere. This commandment uses the word yirah. He is saying be in awe of the Lord, revere Him, recognize how great He is! Part of doing this is to "depart from evil".

The Challenge:

Today we have a three part challenge. Each of us are in different places in our walk with God, and we therefore may need to focus on a different part of todays challenge. But in the end we should take on each part together because they are related. So here is the challenge:

1. Fear the Lord - Acknowledge how great He is. Sometimes we focus so much on the aspect of God that He is our father, our friend, that we forget how great He truly is. acknowledge His greatness today.
2. Trust in the Lord - Truly trust in Him. We always say we trust Him but when it comes down to it, we trust more in our jobs, our friends and family, or our own ability. What if God told you to quit your job and move somewhere where you don't know anyone? Would you trust in Him enough to do that? If not, don't feel guilty (most of us would have a difficult time with that), but it shows us that we still need to build more trust in Him.  
3. Acknowledge the Lord - This sounds like the easiest ofthe challenges, but when we look at the text it is not. The text says "In ALL your ways acknowledge Him". This means in everything you are doing throughout the day, acknowledge His presence. Recognize that He is there with you at work, when your with your friends, when you're at home, when you're at the grocery store, when you're at the gym, when you're at school, etc. Everywhere you go and everything you do, do it with the awareness of His presence. When you do this, the Bible says, He will begin to direct your path.

The Prayer:

Lord, you are awesome, you are amazing, you are truly great. Your creation is wonderfully made and I am in awe at the works of your hands. I am in awe at who you are and how great you are, the creator of the heavens and the earth. It is amazing that you, being so great, care about me being so little in your sight. I trust you Lord! I trust you with my finances, with my family, with my friends, with all that is around me. I trust you to direct my path and I acknowledge your presence everywhere I go. Thank you that you are truly always with me, and always directing me. In Jesus' name, Amen!