“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).
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:6-9).
As we go through our sermon series in Daniel and talk a lot about facing trials and difficulties, I thought it would be a great time to think a bit about these two passages. And, I think these are very important passages for the lives of believers because they remind us that we don’t have to deal with adversity, we don’t have to live at all, in our own strength. Too many of us feel that, when we come upon difficult times in our lives or in our church, that it is our job to fix it; that we have to solve the problem and pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, so to speak. We feel that it’s up to us, and we have to do whatever is necessary to deal, and overcome the difficulty. But, what these passages show us is that it is not up to us to solve every problem or deal with every difficulty; these passages remind us that we should lean on God and trust Him to get us through…the One who is infinitely capable to deal with all things!
When we look at the first passage from Proverbs, we see that God is telling us to trust in Him, to not lean on our limited human ability and understanding. What this means is that we should put our human understanding aside, we should not depend upon it, but depend totally on God and His perfect power and understanding. Then, God tells us to submit to Him in all ways. This means to invite Him into our daily lives, to submit to His will and His authority in every aspect of our lives, public and private; to do even the most mundane tasks of our day-to-day existence in His presence and for His glory. Then, we are told that if we do that, if we lean on God and submit to Him in all our ways, He will make our paths straight. This means that God will guide us to where He would have us go; therefore, we can move forward with our lives in confidence and in peace knowing that He is leading us forward.
Then, in the second passage from Philippians, Paul encourages us not to be anxious about anything because we have the ability to bring all our requests to God in prayer. And, if we do present our requests to God in prayer, we have been promised that, through Jesus, we will have the peace of God; a peace that is greater than anything we could possibly begin to imagine or understand. But, Paul continues and tells us that if we dwell on what is true, what is noble, what is right, what is pure, what is lovely, what is admirable, what is excellent, what is praiseworthy, if we dwell on these things instead of upon the troubles of this world, and if we put into practice what we have been taught in God’s Word, God and His peace will be with us. What that means is, if we get to where we are feeling anxious, worried, or afraid of the troubles of life…financial struggles, disease, death, warfare, natural disasters, or anything else…if/when those feelings begin to creep up into our minds, if we shift our focus from those things and instead focus upon God and all of the wonderful things of His Kingdom, we will find a respite from the anxiety and worry; we will find peace in remembering, and dwelling upon, the things of God.
These two passages serve as a great source of encouragement for me in my life, and I hope they do for you as well. They are an excellent reminder of the fact that we have not been left alone to deal with all of the craziness and difficulty that this world throws at us; that the God of the universe, in His perfect power and wisdom and understanding is right beside us offering us a peace that surpasses all understanding even, or especially, in the face of struggle and turmoil. My prayer for each one of you is that you will claim the promises of Proverbs and Philippians…that you will lean on God, submit to Him in all ways, bring your requests to Him in prayer, dwell upon the things of God, put into practice what His Word teaches, and thus experience the true peace that He has promised. Don’t get caught up in the difficulties and struggles of this life, immerse yourself in the Word, immerse yourself in God, and be at peace!
May the blessings of the Father and the peace of the Son be with you all!
Pastor Keith
