Day 3 of 5 — Pioneering Faith. About 3 minutes.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island and pointed a single-engine monoplane toward Paris. To carry enough fuel, the main tank sat directly in front of the cockpit, right where the windshield would normally have been. Lindbergh could not see straight ahead. He had a small periscope on his left and a side window he could use when he turned the plane. He even left the radio behind to save weight. Before the flight, he had drawn his course on a chart and divided it into one-hundred-mile segments, marking the compass heading he needed to hold for each one. Thirty-three and a half hours later, he landed at Le Bourget outside Paris, more than 3,600 miles from where he started. He could not see the whole journey ahead. He simply knew the next heading, and he held it. On Sunday, we saw Abram leave Haran with something very similar. He did not have the whole map. He had a word from God.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Notice the order Solomon gives. Trust comes first, and it is with all thine heart, not just the part of you that has run out of other options. Then comes, “lean not unto thine own understanding.” When you lean on something, you put your weight on it. You depend on it to hold you up. But our own understanding was never meant to carry the full weight of our lives. Then Solomon says, “In all thy ways acknowledge him.” All of them. The job, the money, the calendar, the family decision, the conversation you have been putting off. Not only the parts of life that feel spiritual. Only after that comes the promise, “he shall direct thy paths.”
Notice what God does not promise. He does not promise to explain thy paths. He promises to direct them. Hebrews 11:8 says of Abraham, “he obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” He obeyed without knowing everything. Most of what is on your mind this morning probably is not a question of right or wrong. It is a decision. Do I take the orders? Do I say yes to teaching that class? Do I finally have that conversation? Sometimes we say we are waiting on God when we are really waiting on more information. But God often gives enough direction for the next faithful decision. There is mercy in that. If He showed us the whole map, we might start trusting the map instead of trusting Him. So take that one decision to the Lord today, open your Bible, pray over it, and do the first thing He has made plain. You do not need to see Paris from the runway. You just need to trust God enough to follow the next heading.
Growth principle: God has not promised to explain the path before we walk it, only to direct it.
Take it with you: Take the one decision you are carrying to God today with your Bible open, and obey the first thing He makes clear.
Pause and pray: Lord, I have been asking You to explain when I should have been asking You to lead. I lay my own reasoning down today. Show me the next faithful step, and I will take it. Amen.
From Sunday’s message: Faith That Leaves Comfort Behind (Genesis 12:1-4)
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