Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV
We read passages in the Bible that speak about God coming into the human heart, so He can do a work in it. We read where He stands at the door and knocks, asking that anyone who hears his voice should open the door and let Him in. This tells me that my heart is fundamental to the work that God wants to do in my life, and the heart is the seat of the battle for control. If my life will flow out with God's nature of mercy and truth, God's Word that is full of mercy, grace and truth has to find pride of place in my heart. A man cannot give what he does not have. You cannot place a demand on an account into which you have made no deposit. Credit cards don't work in this context.
The world celebrates what it can see, feel, taste or touch. This is why it is easy to deceive people who live by what they can see, feel, taste of touch. My senses were given to improve the human experience, not to replace my experience of who God is. The senses are limited to the human experience, and have not much value when it comes to my spiritual walk. No physical eye has seen God, yet there is no doubt that He exists. If I will then enjoy all that God intends, I cannot fully rely on what the senses tell me. That is why today's extract starts off with that hidden, private part, before it seeks to manifest publicly. My public life is a reflection of my private investment.
That's why today's extract starts by asking me to trust in the Lord with all my heart. Before I can make a case for public impact, my heart has to be totally sold out to God. If there is even a slight chance that the devil may have some small foothold in my heart, trouble is ahead. It has to be ALL my heart; not a part of it. Does God hold all or a part of my heart? And you see, nature abhors a vacuum. At no time can a heart be empty. You are either full of God or full of something/someone else. It then matters who is fully in charge. Your control point will always reflect in your life choices. If it is not the Lord in charge, it must be someone else.
The AND that connects the two earlier parts of today's extract shows that you cannot do one and leave out the other. I cannot claim that I trust God, and then seek to do things my own way. I have to acknowledge God in ALL my ways, not just in some convenient times. The way ahead is unsure; there are no indices that man can find to accurately predict what will happen in the next few minutes. We make plans; we read the weather; we plan ahead for holidays, but we also know that in an instant, things can change. That tells me that I can only be safe in the knowledge that God is in control of the universe and nothing happens without His permission. If I am in Him, I am in the safest place possible. Even when storms rise and winds blow, He can direct me even through the path of the storm, and no evil can befall me. It doesn't matter where His path leads through; as long as He commanded it, it will always end well.
The question then remains to be asked: who is in charge in there? It is not what you tell people that matters, but what flows out from and through you. Does God hold and own all of you, or can self, sin and the devil still find some room in you? Remember, eternity is at stake here. We will not always be down here; we are preparing for eternal dwellings. Today is the season of preparation. Please be sure that God is fully in charge. His time of favour is here.
No comments:
Post a Comment