THE GOOD LIFE – DANGER of the FAMILIAR
Proverbs 3:5-8
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.
This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
There is a slight danger with passages of Scripture that have become very familiar to us. The danger is that in their familiarity to us we forget what they really say. We can quote them forwards and backwards and we say them without thinking, but we often just ignore the words. This familiar passage centers on the theme of trust. It tells us who we can trust (God) and who we can’t (self). I know you have memorized this passage, but don’t miss the message.
Trust will be the most important investment you will make in your life. It is through the investment of trust that we decide who we will marry, who we will work for or with, who we will worship with, and ultimately who will be the principal influencers in our lives. All have been searched out and only one has been found to be fully trustworthy He is Jesus, the Christ. You can’t trust men, they will fail you. You can’t trust systems or governments, they will let you down. You can’t trust knowledge, it is ever changing. But the Lord, He is the faithful one. He is the one in whom there is no danger of Him ever changing. He is the only one who will never turn on you. The only one worthy of all your trust is Christ!
Among those I mentioned who cannot be trusted is one who I believe is your chief enemy. Surprisingly it is not Lucifer. Your chief enemy is that person who has feelings that will lie to you, deceive you, mislead you, and bring destruction into your life. That person has the ability to convince you, even though you know better, that somehow the path they are leading you down is the path you should take. That person who will tell you “its ok to steal because you won’t get caught and you deserve it anyway”. That person who will say “it is ok to tell a little lie because everyone else does.”
That person who will say “go ahead, marry the wrong person, you’ll make it work, they will change for you, it will be ok”.
Figured out who it is yet? The chief enemy in your life who cannot be trusted is that person that you will see staring at you everyday in the mirror. That’s right, it is you. Don’t be wise in your eyes or depend on your own understanding. Accept and acknowledge that you don’t know it all. Recognize that you don’t always see the whole picture so you can’t have it all figured out. Rather put all your trust in the Lord and refuse to even lean toward what you think you know or understand. Then, and only then, He has promised to direct your paths to healthy and nourishing places.
