A Midweek Musing on Proverbs 3:5-6 (1-11-2023)

A Midweek Musing on Proverbs 3:5-6 (1-11-2023)

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.

Proverb 3:5-6

One of the hardest things to do as a Christian is to fully trust in God.

Often we say we are handing our lives or problems over to the Lord but really we only give part of them to God. We struggle to fully give things over to God and trust the Lord with all of our hearts.

We often struggle to step out in faith even when we know we should trust what we are being instructed to do.

We even struggle to do what we know we should do because it is best for our hearts, minds, souls, and even physical bodies.

When my kids were little we would go to Disney World. And now that they are older we still do!

Anyway, both of our girls have a stubborn streak in them. (They get that from their mother.)

Now when they learned to walk, they did not want to be held or put in the stroller, at least until they were completely exhausted. Instead, they would fight us on being put in or carried by arching their backs and wiggling and screaming and such. Often, we would give in (I know bad parenting) but there were times when they had to be buckled in or carried for their safety like in parking lots or in large crowds or getting on and off certain rides.

Even when I tried to explain in logical ways how it was safer for Daddy to carry them, pointing out logical safety concerns I would hear “no daddy I do it!”

Sometimes I would of course have to impose my will and make them ride or carry them with folks who did not have children looking at me like I was evil. Those who had been through this age with kids looked at me sympathetically but also with a wry smile of amusement since they had been there and done that.

God however does not do that with us. We are not forced to follow or listen.

We are offered assistance and support and grace, but we get the choice to accept it or not. This is what theologically is known as free will.

Free will simply defined in a theological context, is the belief that individuals have the ability to make choices that are not predetermined or controlled by divine will, fate, or other external forces. It is often associated with the idea that individuals have moral responsibility for their actions, and that they are able to choose between right and wrong, good and evil. But it is also the choices we make in everyday life big and small and whether or not we will seek God’s will to be done or not.

Of course, often these choices are tough, and they involve faith in God. They involve trusting God and wholeheartedly turning ourselves and our burdens over to God. It means not relying on our own understanding but submitting to God and seeking that path for our lives.

It is not easy, and I often fail at it. In fact, I get it wrong more often than I get it right but, in those moments, when we do it is amazing what God can do through us -stuff that we never even imagined.

The late Oscar Johnson told of a time when he was a small boy and went into the backyard to pick up wood for their fireplace. As he gathered the wood, it was so heavy for him to carry that he began to stagger under the weight. His father, seeing the boy’s problem, came out and picked him up, wood and all, and carried them into the house.

That is how God the Father wants to treat us as we carry life’s burdens. God desires to lift us, burdens and all, until we are safe in our Father’s house.

May we each seek to have such trust in God with all our hearts and in all our actions.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Alleluia Amen.

Clay