THE TRUE HEART OF HIS WORD
Psalm 118:8
It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man.
We were guiding elk hunters on a ranch in NW Colorado. The weather was warm and the elk were bedded early each morning. My brother and I decided to hunt across the timbered side hill of a long canyon and get into bedding areas of the elk. We planned to meet on the far west end at the head of the canyon.
I took the higher route and was in an area I had never walked. About half way through I came to a side canyon that I hadn't known was there. I came to a place where I wasn't sure what direction to go? My brother had told me what to do, but now I was at a loss. After considering his exact directions, I cut across the side canyon and worked my way to the place we were to meet.
Like that place of question on that mountain, how often in our lives have we wondered what God's will is for our lives? I know over the years, when I was younger, I have not only thought this but I have asked godly people how I find it.
What I have figured out is simple; to live a life centered on Him. God's will for my life is to seek Him first and foremost. When I do this I am living within His will and He will direct my day to day life.
We can look for His will all we want, but if our life isn't centered on Him we won't find it. God wants our relationship with Him to be an intimate one. As I wrote yesterday, He wants us to be able to call Him, "Abba, Father".
Proverbs 3:5-6 makes this clear...
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Verse six doesn't say, in some of your ways, or once in a while. It says, "in all your ways". It's then that He will reveal His will... How? In the King James translation the last part of the verse say, "He will direct your path". Now that's living in God's will, when He directs your path, He is revealing His will.
Over the last 30 years I have guided well over 1,000 hunters and fisherman. Through all those years and all of those clients I have only had a few that wouldn't listen to me. It seemed if I told them to do this, they would do that... If I said "stand in front of that tree, I'll call an elk up to you," they would move to another tree.
These hunters and fisherman can not be, will not be successful, if they refuse to listen to their guide. They may be looking for success and even have a sincere desire for success, but it won't happen if they don't give up of their own ideas and trust in the one guiding them. This is much more the case when looking to God for His guidance.
Recently I read that the verse in the very center of the Bible is Psalm 118:8
The next time you are wondering what God's will is for your life, go to the very center of His word, to the heart of the Bible.
Psalm 118:8
"It is better to trust in the Lord
Than to put confidence in man."
Add that verse to Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path".
Look to your guide, trust His guidance and go to the very heart of His Word...
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