“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

At first glance, this verse is so beautiful that most Christians seem to know it by heart. But I am honest enough to tell you that it’s not so easy to not lean-to human understanding.

It’s tempting to let my accumulated experiences of yesterday determine the decisions I must make today. While I am to retain the lessons of the past as general knowledge, I make decisions today at my peril if they are not made through prayer that says, “Lord, You I can trust – me, I dare not trust.”

If I will acknowledge Jesus as Lord of all my ways, He assumes the directorship of all my paths. (v 6) Then my lesser decisions will seldom be wrong, and my greater decisions will seldom blow up in my face.

I have traveled the world preaching the gospel. When doors opened – and remained open – I took it as my Father’s will to speak of His Son.

Usually, that turned out to be the case. However, an invitation came to reach out to Kurds in Iraq, who wee then living under air cover supplied by the U.S. Air Force, in the ongoing monitoring of Saddam Hussein.

I confess that the sheer thrill and adventure of being slipped into Iraq pressed my “go button” and it was tempting to just take off. Yet deep in my spirit, I sensed uneasiness and a warning to wait before the Lord. I cried, “Lord, I throw away my human reasoning and understanding. Open my mind only to Your counsel. I acknowledge and trust You alone.” Sweet peace came – as did a quiet insistent order from the Holy spirit: “Don’t go!” This was confirmed by others who knowhow to listen to the voice of God. A short time later, evidence came tot us that I was walking into a trap.

What a lesson I learned on never to take God’s will for granted by substituting my understanding for his!

My prayer: “Lord Jesus, I know that to trust You will all my heart is to love You with all my heart. Teach me to practice Your presence until I am more aware of You than I am of me.”

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1)
The ST. PAUL SCHOOL, with Frank Eiklor, Eileen Young and Cecilia Contreras