"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE ABOUT THE WISDOM OF GOD IN THE LIFE OF A BELIEVER"
Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
Pro 16:2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the spirits.
Pro 16:3 Commit your works to the LORD, And your thoughts will be established.
Some explanatory thoughts/application/questions, and a prayer:
Proverbs is of course, God's Book of Wisdom for us. The 31 Chapters in Proverbs cover just about every aspect of life that needs covering. God is so generous in explaining to us how things work in life, and how our life will work best, that is, by following His wisdom, and not our own. And, thus today's devo taken from Pro 16:1-3 gives us 3 very specific and wonderful truths from God about how to live our lives.
1. Remember, we do our part, but God is ultimately in charge of what happens. So, we can rest in the Lord.
Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
What does this mean?
(1) We prepare our hearts.
Or, We can gather our thoughts,
In other words, we have the responsibility to go about our daily lives, using our brains, to think, and to accomplish, and do what we think we should do. We make our plans as it were.
(2) God ultimately is in charge of what happens.
But the LORD gives the right answer.
Or, to say this another way, after we have gone about our business, doing what we need to do, we can rest in the fact that God is in control of all things, and He will bring His will to pass. The answer will come from the Lord.
He is guiding His family, and all things in the world.
We do our best, but commit the rest to the Lord.
2. We may have one opinion of ourselves, but God can see right down into our heart where we cannot.
Pro 16:2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the spirits.
Or, as people, we may be pure in our own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. Again, this is very comforting, to know that God knows best, and he truly knows all things. We think we know something, but God can see deeper and right into the heart of the matter, whereas we cannot. We may think our hearts and motives are pure, but God can see what they truly are. Thus, we can ask Him to search our hearts, and to reveal where we really are at, and to lead us in the right way. He will do it.
3. The way to have your thoughts established by God is to commit your works to the Lord.
Pro 16:3 Commit your works to the LORD, And your thoughts will be established.
And here is another comforting truth from God. It tells us how we can succeed in what we are seeking to do.
The first thing is that we must commit our work to the Lord. That is, we are to surrender our wills, and our desires to Him, and to truly want His will in all that we do.
We are assured here, that if we will take the hand of God and let Him lead us, that it is then that our plans will succeed. If we try to live our lives without God we do not have this promise.
But, we can as those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ, actually, day by day, seek God to guide us, we can surrender our wills gladly to Him day by day, and then just sit back and see what He is going to do .
He is faithful to accomplish and fulfill each and every one of His promise.
Some questions:
1. Do you find it refreshing to remember that God is in control of your life?
2. Do you find it hard to let go of your life and to let God lead your life?
3. Have you found that God's ways are surprisingly more wonderful than you had expected?
4. Isn't it comforting to know that God knows what we cannot know. He knows the depths and motives of our hearts.
5. Do you want to succeed in what you are doing?
6. Are you learning to commit your works to the Lord?
7. Are you confident He will establish You in His will. He will do it. For He has promised to do it.
A prayer:
Father, how we love the Proverbs and the Psalms. They are no doubt two of the books of Bible that most Christians have come to love so deeply. Thank You for giving them to us. They teach us so much about You, and about ourselves. They bring us comfort and they call us to humility and to trust in You. They tell us of Your wonderful oversight of our lives, and that You are always on duty as it were, taking care of Your children.
Even when it may seem like Your not, You actually are. We just can't see it. We want to offer our heartfelt praises to You Lord. In Jesus name, amen
Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia.
