Take-Away From Today's Reading:
"No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the LORD. The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD." -Proverbs 21:30-31
Short Version: Correlates to Proverbs 3:-5&6, when we are told not to lean on our own understanding, but instead to trust Him with all we've got (mind, body, plans, etc...). In the end it is God who will have the victory and if we trust Him fully, His plan will come together and we will see it and rejoice together at last!!
LONG Version: Tagging onto what Tony Nolan (NGU's "Ignite" speaker the past three days who also spoke at Winter Jam 2015 for those that went...) has been talking about Proverbs 3:5&6 and how there are three things mentioned in these verses that can be categorized as "powerful-problem-solving-procedures" to have Assurance in your Life. These include: 1) Adhering to the Lord, 2) Avoid your own Logic, and 3) Acknowledging the Lord. (notice the "A" & "L" thing...) One topic that stuck out to me today was the way he applied this to the story of David & Goliath. The way that David was able to trust God enough to choose to stand up to Goliath's slanderous challenges (1), not following typical battle-logic of how the bigger-and-better-trained person 99.9% of the time wins a fight (2), and being humble enough to direct the glory of his abilities to the Lord (3) all point to how these three steps added up to the confidence David had in facing Goliath. We can have that confidence in our faith too. God loves us and wants the best for everyone of His creations. God is himself love. If we really believe in Him and search for His knowledge, understanding, and plan for our lives, in sincerity, we will eventually and submissively humble ourselves to follow Him. After grasping onto His truth and submitting/humbling ourselves before Him, we grow in a relationship with Him and start to understand more of God. If we truly are laying aside our will for God's, then we (by default) are doing the will of God. (Like Tony said (paraphrased): You can't have one foot on the worldly-dock of the "not-so-merry-go-round" where we keep doing what we've been doing, and doing what we've been doing, and doing what we've been doing, and doing what we've been doing, and the other foot on the "Ship of Christianity" 'cause when that ship sets sail, it's gonna HURT!) If we look at The Bible, the will of God is our sanctification and for us to love others. (And, yes, make disciples of all nations, but if you love someone, wouldn't you want the best for them?? grin emoticon ). Now, that doesn't mean "Oh, okay, I do not agree with what you are doing, but I'm supposed to love you and so I'm just going to sit here, while you keep doing your thing, and we'll stay in our separate corners and we won't have any confrontation about this issue because sometimes people get hurt in disagreements..." NO!! That is not love! Love is caring for a person, even in their sin. NOT loving their sin, but loving them as God loves them. Like he loved you and me in our most sinful and darkest moments enough to send HIS OWN SON to DIE for us. Gosh, loving others as Christ did, is SO SO hard to do in real life. However, I ABSOLUTELY know, if every Christian believer tried to love everyone else for who God saw them to be, through the strength that comes when we submit our lives to God and let Him sit completely in the driver's seat of our life, this world would turn upside-down!!
So, I hate to sound all gloom&doom, but this world is VERY corrupt. It has always been. (True, there were better times than others, but sin is everywhere human-kind is.) God has a plan for everything. Whether if from a human perspective we see our work as a win OR as a loss, if we have trusted God and exchanged His will for ours, then His victory will ALWAYS prevail no matter what. Even if it takes 20 generations down the road of life, God's plan for your life will be used for His victory. So trust in God, lean not on your own logic, and do everything for the Glory of God, because (though we may never see it) His plan for you, is victory. (even though you may not see it or experience it here in this life, but one glorious day all the pieces of God's plan will finally be revealed to us together like a puzzle and it's completion WILL BRING GOD GLORY!!! (I'm so excited!! heart emoticon ) So hold on to God, because that day is coming soon!! grin emoticon
