5-25-2017

Good Morning All,

             Proverbs 3: 5-6; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

    “It is always so hard!”  This was a comment made by a woman we were visiting with a few days ago.  It seemed, once again, she was facing some difficulties.  She had struggled with some relational problems.  She seemed to always pick the “wrong one” to be her friend.  She had struggles in her marriage; she had been estranged from her parents for a while and was struggling getting along with her son.  She said, “Everything is a test; isn’t it?”  I had to agree with her; life is one big test.  It is a test in how we respond or react; where we look for help.

     A couple of us were discussing the word “doubt” and its use in the Bible.  I found it interesting that it has a connotation of hesitancy; like when you are walking down a path and you come to a fork in that path.  Sometimes, you pause and wonder which path to take.  In essence, you “doubt” your path.  In our journey of life, everything we experience brings us to a fork in the path.  This is true of good events or bad events.  We look at the event and we must choose to rely on faith, to trust God or we look for a different god.  Everything truly is a test.

    All the events of our life, all the experiences are used by God to draw us closer to him.  Everything is designed to lead us to see that our hope rests entirely in God’s loving hands.  In each event we have a choice; do we trust God or do we find our own way?  God invites us to trust him.  God invites us to place our future, our hope in his hands.  He has redeemed us from the condemnation we deserve out of his fatherly love.  He is our hope and our salvation. 

    So in each crossroad, God wants us to rely on him.  God desires that we trust in his loving way.  We may not always see the way he is leading us but He calls upon us to trust him and his loving hand as our guide.  Yet at each crossroad, we will be tempted to pause and trust our own skills, our own decisions, our own wisdom.  And tempted we are, to go a different path than to trust God’s mercy.

    Our sinful nature wants to lean on its own thoughts, desires and direction.  Yet our experiences reflect the emptiness of our path and the failures of our choices and decisions.  God’s way works and our way fails.  God offers us hope; he offers us the peace that only He can give to us.  Trust in his grace and peace to guard you and to guide you on your journey.

Father of all love and mercy, strengthen us in our faith towards you.  Teach us to trust only in your steadfast love.  Lead us to cling to you for all our needs.  Show us your grace and lead us in the paths of your righteousness.  Be with those who are struggling today.  Strengthen them with your Spirit and guard their hearts and minds from the fears and worries of the devil.  Deliver them we pray.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret