Bruce Collins, Evangelist

Proverbs 3:5-6
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.

Recently a friend of mine and I were trying to find a particular address in a large city. He has lived in the area a long time, but he still decided to use his new global positioning system to find the address. He punched in the address and saw a map of where we were going to go. In his mind, he thought he understood the map, and so he didn’t listen to the voice on the GPS system that was giving him instructions. He had asked for the quickest route and the machine was able to observe traffic patterns from its position in space. It knew things we didn’t. So its instructions did not follow the original map, but changed so that we would not get involved in a traffic jam. However, my friend thought he knew the way and tended to ignore the machine. Every time he missed a turn that he was told to make, the voice on the system would patiently redirect him from where he was, rather than from where he should have been. I have to admit, I was impressed with that little piece of equipment and the patient voice that my friend kept ignoring.

Our relationship with the Lord is often a lot like my friend’s relationship with his new gadget. If there is one thing that is sure in life, it is that what we think is right is wrong. That is, if we make logical decisions in the way that we think should be right, we will not be making spiritual decisions in the way that God says is right (Isaiah 55:8). That is why the Bible says we must repent to believe. We must have our mind changed on most things that God tells us in order for us to accept His instructions. Salvation by grace through faith in Christ, does not make sense naturally. But it is the only way to be saved, and we need to accept that if we are going to trust in God’s plan. It doesn’t make sense that Christ has risen from the dead; even though, at Easter time, most people pretend to believe in the resurrection story. But God did raise Christ from the dead, whether that makes sense or not.

Often, after we are saved, we tend to tell God how our lives should work out rather than listening to Him so that we can acknowledge and submit to His plan. When we fail to listen, God just continues to patiently instructs us from where we are. Sometimes our own actions that have seemed right have taken us far off the path that the Lord has intended for us (Proverbs 16:25), and we need to be reminded that God has given us instructions as to how to be saved and as to how to worship Him. He has also given us instructions as to how to live. But most of us don’t listen because we think we know the way that will please God. Often that is the way that pleases us. We are like the fellow who said, “Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is already made up!”

Wouldn’t life be a lot simpler if we could just learn to listen to the Lord? We need to acknowledge the fact that the Lord knows what is right and what is best so that we can have our paths directed by Him. I am sure I would save myself a lot of stubbed toes if I could just get this lesson learned.

Bruce Collins