GOD—Sees Us; Hears Us; Loves Us!
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
(The Proverbs 3: 5 NASB)
And do not lean on your own understanding.”
Normally, we stop reading at the end of this verse, totally absorbing the truth King Solomon wants us to intake—
- Trust God with our all.
- Don’t trust in our head knowledge.
Two simple truths, that when wrapped up together, give us our marching orders as we walk through life.
Today, however, I want us to read on, seeing more of what it is we are to gain from the Spirit-inspired writing of Solomon, the man who prayed for wisdom above all else.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
(The Proverbs 3: 5-6 NASB)
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.”
Again, I wonder: Did we catch this important truth?
- Trust God with our all.
- Don’t trust in our head knowledge.
- Realize that it is GOD HIMSELF who controls everything.
- It is GOD HIMSELF who will lay out our life path—one without any crooks & one that will lead us straight to GOD’S PRESENCE in our eternity.
I love the Bible; maybe you do too. Within the sixty-six books, I find an especially kindred-heart to The Acts of the Apostles because in this particular Scripture, we find the history of the founding of the church. This fact alone blows me away if I really stop to ponder it for very long. In just a little bit, I will attend my chosen house of worship, one that began with the faithful apostles of Jesus Christ who were given The Great Commission.
To better understand how much we (the created human beings) are loved by Almighty God, let us read more of Solomon’s writing, seeing exactly from whom our wisdom comes.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
(The Proverbs 3: 5-8 NASB)
And do not lean 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 turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.
To truly follow Jesus & to be led by His Holy Spirit, we must absorb into our being these important truths!
- Trust God with our all.
- Don’t trust in our head knowledge.
- Realize that it is GOD HIMSELF who controls everything.
- It is GOD HIMSELF who will lay out our life path—one without any crooks & one that will lead us straight to GOD’S PRESENCE in our eternity.
- Wisdom comes from God & not from us.
- Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, & it is THAT FEAR which will keep us from walking toward that which is evil in this sinful world.
- The LORD GOD will apply His goodness, His healing, His refreshing peace to our bodies as we turn ourselves more & more toward Him and less & less from our own selves.
As I wrote earlier, I really love studying The Acts of the Apostles because I find it so fascinating to read about the founding, the beginning, & the birth of the church, the body of Christ. If we pause for a moment to see the comparison to our bodies, we will notice that in Genesis, God created us to become ‘spiritual beings’ when He breathed life into the first man. Then in The Acts of the Apostles we read of Jesus’ promise—the coming of God’s Holy Spirit they would receive from the Father. It was a “baptism” that the first church experienced, one that comes to all believers still today.
“Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem,
(The Acts of the Apostles 1: 4-5 NASB)
but to wait for what the Father had promised,
“Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;
for John baptized with water,
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The remainder of this incredible history of the earliest church, given by the Holy Spirit to Dr. Luke to compose entails how our Savior—the Lord Jesus Christ—was at work through the chosen apostles who were commissioned to take the Gospel message to the ends of the earth.
There is something odd about this particular book found in God’s Word—It is not finished!
The reason is simply because The Acts of the Apostles is a continuous narrative, one that is on-going still today.
We are to be witnesses of—Jesus Christ—the One Who is the Center Attraction of the Total Story of Humanity!
Where are we to testify? Well, Dr. Luke leads us to see the WHERE & the HOW in Acts 1: 8.
- “in Jerusalem,” We are to witness within our hometown, with family members, & even with the strangers we meet in our day-to-day.
- “and in all Judea” We are to witness within our community, with our neighbors, with our colleagues, with our extended family members, & with those who may live in a different place, miles from us.
- “and Samaria,” We are to witness to those individuals who we normally do not associate with (those who live on the other side of the tracks). It is our responsibility to share the Word of God with people, whether they are in our social circle or not.
- “and even to the remotest [uttermost] part of the earth.” We are to never forget that it was God’s intent from the very beginning of time to SAVE ALL PEOPLE. Therefore, we are to witness, to testify about the goodness, the salvation, and the mercy & grace found in Jesus—WHEREVER WE GO ACROSS THE FACE OF THE EARTH.
We cannot pass off the Lord’s Great Commission!
He has told us that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. It’s a personal commitment. That means it is mine to keep and yours as well if you are a Christian.
Thus, we are reminded by Solomon’s Proverbs HOW we are to complete this work the Lord has given us to do.
“Honor the LORD from your wealth
(The Proverbs 3: 9-12 NASB)
And from the first of all your produce;
So your barns will be filled with plenty
And your vats will overflow with new wine.
My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD
Or loathe His reproof,
For whom the LORD loves He reproves,
Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.”
Therefore, we are reminded HOW we are to truly follow Jesus, to be led by His Holy Spirit, & how to absorb into our being these important truths!
- We are to give a portion of our wealth to the LORD in our tithe to the local church.
- We are to give the FIRST part of our paycheck to our Father.
- As we do, it is GOD HIMSELF who will produce the overflow.
- If we do not obey God in this truth, then we are reminded of how much God truly loves us because as our Father, He will correct us.
HOW DO WE KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE?
- It is because GOD—Sees Us; Hears Us; & Loves Us!
- It is also because one day soon—Jesus will return!
IT IS A PROMISE OF GOD!
“In that day His feet [JESUS’ FEET]
(The Book of Zechariah 14: 4 NASB)
will stand on the Mount of Olives,
which is in front of Jerusalem on the east;
and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley,
so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other toward the south.”