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BRAVER THAN LIONS
Sam Stringer
Aug 17, 2024
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:6
Proverbs 3:5 and 3:6 are often stated together and for good reason. Trusting God with all your
heart is very similar to the act of also acknowledging Him in all your ways. Both verses carry an
idea of totality within being guided by and trusting the Lord. The difference with both is the
second half of the verses, if broken up. “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.” So we need to identify two paths here: one path comes from being led by our own
understanding, and one path comes from being led by God.
Pride keeps us from trusting God, and yet pride also prompts us to trust in ourselves. There is
no such thing as faith versus reason when it comes to following God or following ourselves. A
sinner reckons to himself or herself that they’re the highest authority on validating what is to be
trusted or not trusted, don’t you think? It’s so easy to spot it when looking at other people that
they are trusting broken logic, emotions and so forth, and yet so hard to see it in ourselves.
There are two paths: trusting God or trusting yourself. In His mercy and grace, God leads us to
places where we must relinquish trusting in ourselves, areas that our self-confidence will never
let us pass because the only thing that going to move us forward is faith in God.
Today, you need to trust God. That’s hard to do if you’re not acknowledging Him. Every time
He’s absent from our thinking, we run the risk of trusting ourselves towards our own defeated
ends. We tend to be very confused sometimes about the point of life, don’t we? We exist for the
glory of God. The things that we’re going through are aimed not only to transform us but also to
amplify our trust in Him. The point is not the answered prayer as much as it’s the growing
reliance one has in their walk with Christ.
He will direct your paths, if you acknowledge Him, if you trust Him, if you follow Him. The paths
may not always make sense to you in the moment, and the resources may not seem to be
present at times when you feel like you really need them. Faith reminds us that we do have
what we need for the moment because the circumstances are governed by God. We have God
as our Father. He hasn’t forgotten us, He’s fully aware of where we’re at and what we need and
where we’re headed. He’s testing us, refining us, and preparing us for glorious ends if we’re His
children. Many things may get broken off along the way, countless tears cried, screams of
frustration, valleys of doubt and confusion, but all of it makes up the story that is going to
become a song of praise one day: your song coming from your story. Your story coming from
the sovereign God who loves you dearly. Lift your head, acknowledge Him, humble yourself
before Him and trust Him once again today. He will direct your paths.
Sam Stringer
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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