-Yogi Berra (former New York Yankee and Hall of Fame catcher)
Every choice, every decision is, in essence, a fork in the path...if we choose one way, our path veers in one direction; if we choose another way, our path veers in that direction. Evidence of God's love for us is given by the fact that He allows us to make choices and decisions knowing that these choices and decisions always lead somewhere. Often times, however, we make a choice that sets the trajectory of a path that ends in a lesser than desirable destination. We make a decision about our marriage, that has damaging consequences...we make a decision regarding our finances, that lead to further stress and anxiety...we make a decision on a situation at our workplace, that instead of making the situation better it actually makes it worse. When we realize that we have made a mistake, the wise will try to do an about-face and ask God for forgiveness.
...But what if there was a way to live life in such a way that instead of having to constantly retrace our steps and having to constantly keep coming back to God and ask for His forgiveness, we live life making headway and, with solid traction, actually blaze new trails realizing that righteousness is a choice-by-choice choice. Too many Christ-followers do not live with this realization and that is way they feel caught in a cycle of repeating the same mistakes over and over again, that is why they feel like spiritual failures, and that is why they always live reactionary instead of the revolutionary lives that Jesus offers (John 10:10).
The key to this realization, the key to this type of living is Proverbs 3:5-6:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."
Immediately, we can see the choice of every choice:
- I can choose to "trust in the Lord with all [my] heart"...
- I can choose to "lean on [my] own understanding"...
What makes "leaning on my own understanding" so appealing is that it gives me some feeling of independence and allows me to take credit for the results. For example, if I "lean on my own understanding" to make financial decisions, then when I become filthy rich I can look back over my choices with an "I did it" type of attitude. The problem with my "leaning on my own understanding" is that I have an incredibly finite view and perspective of time...I only know what I know about the past (which in incredibly limited), I only know what I know about about the present (which is incredibly limited), and I only know what I know about the future (which is absolutely zero). God, on the other hand, has an infinite view and perspective of time...He knows everything about the past, He knows everything about the present, and He knows everything about the future. From a financial perspective, God is the ultimate "inside-trader"...He knows everything that happens before it ever becomes our history. On a common-sense level, if "my own understanding" is so great and spectacular, why is it then that I find myself always coming back to God and asking for His forgiveness and guidance in the end anyway? That's a rhetorical question!
The second facet about this key is when Solomon writes, "...in all your ways acknowledge Him..." he is not talking about kneeling down and pointing up when scoring a touchdown, or singing along with the radio "thanking the keeper of the stars," or even thanking God for your Grammy (award, not grandmother)...instead "acknowledge Him" is referring to the choice behind every choice...in others words, there is a motivation behind every decision that we make:
- Understand that my choices matter to God...He has a plan for me and therefore every decision has repercussions on that plan coming to reality in and through my life
- Understand that my God matters in in my choices...at the end of the day, what speaks most loudly and clear about our view of God is what decisions and choices we made, how we went about making those decisions and choices, and why we made those particular decisions and choices (in other words, was there any "acknowledgment" God in our decisions?).
Solomon ends this life-altering passage with some of the most freeing words ever spoken or written, "...and He shall direct your paths." Did you pick up the freedom of that statement? It is not up to you to determine where you are going...that's God's job! Most of us lose countless hours popping countless Tums worrying about countless scenarios when, in the end, God wants to bring about His plan for your life and He will make sure you will get there. Think about it, do you think for an instant that when Moses is on the backside of the middle of nowhere tending sheep, that he makes his "bucket list" and it reads, "I, Moses, before I die want to return to Egypt where I killed a man and lead over 2,000,000 Israelites out of the world's most powerful empire to the banks of the Red Sea where I will lift up my stick and make the water part and the ground dry so we can go to a place that I will call the 'Promise Land'? Do you think Paul, while on surveillance on a hunting expedition for Christians, really sat down to re-evaluate his life goals and concluded that it was time for a career change...instead of hunting down and killing Christians, he would become the greatest Christ-following missionary this world has ever known? Certainly not...we would say that these were ordinary men that God used in extraordinary ways...and we would be correct! The point is, stop living life as if it were up to you! The question then is, "If it is God's job to get me where I am supposed to be, around the people that I am supposed to be around, doing what I am supposed to be doing, on the scale that I supposed to be doing it; then what is my job?" The answer to that question is one word: "surrender." Going back to the example of Moses, take some time this week to read through the Book of Exodus and note how many times you run across a phrase like this, "...and God said to Moses..." The significance of that phrase cannot be overstated...Moses did not have a clue what he was doing or where he was going...that is why over and over we see phrases like, "...and God said to Moses..." No one studying the Bible would ever say that Moses was a clueless leader, though...just the opposite, we can look at the life of Moses and see a man that was used mightily by God to accomplish massive God-size things...but never think that Moses was great because of Moses, Moses was great because his surrender to his God was great. The same principle applies to us...if our surrender to God is weak, then we will live as if life depends on us and our inadequacies are so great that, at best, we simply exist...exist within a failure-ridden, reactionary cycle. However, if our surrender to God is pervasive in all areas of our lives, then we will live in the freedom of knowing that God is directing our paths by opening and closing doors, the peace of knowing that God is in control where His power is on full display in and through us...we will find that life happens, but the way in which we live is not dictated by what happens to us, but rather where our God is taking us and what our God is transforming us into...and that is truly revolutionary!
So, turn over the keys, turn over control...intentionally chose to intentionally surrender...God will not let you down, ever!
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