Trusting God, Pt. 2

It is oftentimes hard for intellectual, strong willed people to enter heaven. Their God-given abilities can hinder them in trusting God for salvation.

Trusting God, Pt. 2

"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."

(Proverbs 3:5-6)

Have you ever moved ahead with a task or adventure and not relied on the Lord? Perhaps you simply failed to acknowledge the Lord or seek His guidance and wisdom. All of us (if we are honest) would say, yes, we have done this very thing. We get confident and basically tell God that we do not need Him; we've got this one. How does that turn out for us? Not good at all!

The opposite of trusting God with all our hearts is leaning on our own understanding. Our understanding, however, is very myopic and limited, whereas God's wisdom and understanding are limitless. He is omniscient, or as one of my pastor friends likes to say, "God is just smarter than we are."

I have been listening to Jordan Peterson's podcast and have enjoyed the episodes I have heard. Peterson, like Joe Rogan, is a very talented and inquisitive individual. But as far as I can discern, both men have yet to trust in Jesus for salvation. They are leaning fully on their understanding. They have not taken the leap of faith to trust Jesus and surrender to Him in total. Dr. Frank Harber, a Christian attorney who specializes in helping churches and businesses with litigation issues, says trusting in God is not a step into the darkness but a leap into the light. Jesus said it is hard for a rich man to go to heaven. He put it this way, "And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

It is oftentimes hard for intellectual, strong willed people to enter heaven as well. Their God-given abilities can hinder them in trusting God for salvation. I find this pretty ironic. The God who blessed them with their brains and talent is the God they do not trust or enter into relationship with. There is a good chance that you know someone like this. He or she is gifted by God, and things come easier to them than most. Over time, they develop a system of figuring and computation for their lives and end up totally leaning on their own understanding. It never ends well for folks like this, either in this life or in the next.

Followers of Jesus often commit this sin as well. We do not pray or seek God and proceed stubbornly determined to figure it all out on our own and do what we want to do. And it does not end up well for us either. We get ourselves into much trouble and confusion, because we did not trust God and obey Him.

Are you trusting in the LORD, or are you leaning on your own understanding? You cannot have it both ways. Let me encourage you to fully trust God, and He will inform your understanding. He will guide you to precisely where He wants you to go. Trust Him. He has an awesome record of helping. His ways are best every single time!