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1 Samuel 30. This is not the primary passage we'll be studying, but I'd like you to have this passage before you in case you're not familiar with it. 1 Samuel 30. When David and his men returned from Ziklag, returned to Ziklag, they were greatly dismayed by what their eyes met with there. The Amalekites had raided the city. They burned it with fire. They carried off the wives and the children of David and the other men who were with him, taking them away as captives. Men, I'd like you to think for a moment what it would be like if you'd gone away on a trip and you returned home. And you come back to the town where you live and you discover that an enemy army has invaded that town and carried away all the wives and children from that town, including your wife and your children. How upset would you be? How distressed would you be? I mean, we don't even want to think about it. It's such an unpleasant thought. Very upsetting. Well, here's David and his wife and children have been carried off, all the wives and children taken away. And the inspired narrative tells us that David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept, and it's no wonder. They were greatly upset and distressed. If you listen carefully, you can hear their gut-wrenching cries. Can you hear them? Their family has been taken away. And it says in the text that they had cried so much that eventually they couldn't cry anymore. Have you ever cried so much that you couldn't cry anymore? Have you ever cried so much? I mean, the emotional pressure is still there. The emotion is still there. It wants to come out. It wants to express itself. But you don't have the physical strength left to cry anymore. Do you know what that's like? Well, David and his men were miserable. They're grieved. Their city is destroyed. Their families are gone. They're in shock. They've been violated. They're angry. They're broken-hearted. They feel helpless. That was bad enough, but there was more. If you look at verse 6, in verse 6 we read these words, Moreover, David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters." It's often the case, isn't it, that when trouble comes to a group, trouble comes to a marriage, trouble comes to a family, or maybe a business, or a church, or a town, or a nation, someone is blamed for the mess. Someone has to be the scapegoat. David, on this occasion, is the scapegoat. The people were blaming him as though this was all his fault, like he was responsible for it. He really wasn't responsible for the situation. People might have thought that he was. He had gone and provoked the Amalekites sometime before this. And maybe it wasn't wise of him to have left Ziklag unguarded. But what had happened wasn't really David's fault. And sometimes people who should know better blame people. They forget that God is in control of all things, and they put the blame on people. Painful, disappointing, troubling things come. Things that are evil. And people forget that God is in control. And sometimes people who should know better blame other people. They feel the need to take out their anger and their frustration on someone else, even though they know that person isn't to blame. Well, right now in this situation, David was the man to blame. But we haven't come to the end of the verse yet. Verse 6. There's one more statement at the end of the verse. We read in verse 6 that David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. So here's the picture. David is numb with shock. His wives and his children have been carried off. The people were so angry at him, they were about to pick up stones to stone him to death. And what did David do? The Word of God tells us that David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. And brothers and sisters, this is what we need to do at various times. When we're distressed, when we're disappointed, when we're puzzled, when we're shocked, when we're confused, by the things that happen in our lives, when we're tempted to get angry and assign blame, when we forget that God is in control of all things, when we forget that God is working everything according to the counsel of His will, when we forget that God is working everything for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, That's the time when we need to stop blaming others, and instead of blaming others and targeting them with our anger and our frustration, we need to remember that God is in control. And we need to do what David does here. We need to strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God. Let's attempt to do that this morning. Strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God. And the text that we're going to try to do that from this morning is found in Proverbs chapter 20. And this is the text. This is the primary text we'll be studying this morning. Proverbs 20 and verse 24. Proverbs 20, verse 24. And it reads like this. Man's steps are ordained by the Lord. How then can man understand his way? Man's steps are ordained by the Lord. And then the question, how then can man understand his way? This is a fascinating text. I think it's fascinating. At first glance, it may not appear to yield much in the way of comfort or relief or encouragement. It's a text that most of us have likely read dozens and dozens of times, and yet it's equally likely that relatively few of us have really stopped and taken much time to think about what this verse really means. And that's what we want to do this morning. We're going to park on this verse this morning, take it apart, think about what it means, and attempt to apply it to our lives. If you look at verse 24, it divides in half, divides into two parts very naturally. First of all, there's an assertion, and secondly, there's a question. Let's look at both of these items. First of all, a profound assertion. In the first part of verse 24, there's a profound assertion. Man's steps are ordained by the Lord. I'm reading from the New American Standard. The Hebrew is actually very simple here. It literally reads, a man's steps are of the Lord, or a man's steps are from the Lord. It's a very simple statement. But it's also a very profound statement. There's a profound biblical truth contained in these words. It's a truth that many of us are familiar with. One that we almost take for granted we're so familiar with it. It's the biblical truth of the sovereignty of God. Our steps are of the Lord. They are ordained by the Lord. And this teaches us about the sovereignty of God. When we say that God is sovereign, what are we talking about? Well, very simply, we mean that God is in control of everything. God is in control of absolutely everything, including the course of our lives. God is in control of every detail, every aspect, right down to the very steps we take. God is in control of every detail of our lives. Everything is ordered by the supreme will of God. And to that will, to that will of God, everything, every power, every influence in creation, everything is entirely subordinate and subservient to the will of God. When we say that God is sovereign, we're saying that human purposes and actions, every single one of them, are all overruled by God's wise and powerful providence to accomplish His counsel and His good pleasure. Now, of course, that doesn't mean that human beings are entirely passive in the process. It doesn't mean that we're robots. or machines, entirely passive in the process of planning and decision making. Quite the opposite. We are very active in these things. We plan. We decide what we intend to do. We do the things that we want to do. At no point are people forced to do things against their will. At no point are they coerced into things that run counter to their desires. No, they choose what they desire. They make their decisions, they make their choices, and they plan, and they do the things that they want to do. And yet, astonishingly, their choices have all been preordained by God. Isn't that amazing? After all of our planning and purposes, after all the things that we go through to arrive at certain choices and make decisions, when it's all said and done, our steps have been ordered by God. It's all been preordained by God. Not only does God ordain the choice, he even ordains the freedom of the choice. It's all preordained by God. We could express it this way. It all comes to this. God is working out fixed, predetermined purposes through free, responsible, moral agents. God is working out fixed, predetermined purposes through free, responsible, moral agents. People choose what they desire. They are responsible for the choices that they make. And yet at the same time, the particulars of the circumstances in which they make these choices, and the consequences of those particulars, all those things lie beyond our power. God is in control of all those things. And after all of our planning and choosing and acting, we have only done what God has already planned to do and determined to do. One writer puts it this way. Every one of our steps is a link in a chain, neither the beginning nor the end of which we can see. God's knowledge, on the other hand, comprehends the beginning, middle and the end. The wisdom and power of God ruling in the sphere of history makes all human activity subservient to his world plan. God has a world plan and God is active in history and he's ordering everything in history according to his world plan. So in view of this, how should we live? I know this truth is so familiar to us. It's like breathing air. We just assume this. We know this. But how should we live in the light of this great reality that our steps are ordered by God? Well, the humble Christian will then live his life in a spirit of dependence. He'll make his choices and his plans. She'll make her choices and plans, but doing so in a spirit of dependence, living life in a spirit of dependence upon God. Even though we recognize we are powerless to obey God as we ought to, nevertheless, we make the effort to obey. We seek to be diligent to obey God. And right in the very act of obedience, we trust that God will meet us in the way and give us the strength and the power to obey Him. In the light of this truth, we live in a dependent mindset without being passive. We are diligent without being presumptive because we recognize all of our steps are ordered by God. They're all from Him. And of course, this is not an isolated truth. It's found in many other places in the Bible. Psalm 37, 23, the steps of a man are established by the Lord. Proverbs 16, verse 9, the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Jeremiah 10, 23, I know, O Lord, that a man's way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. I know that most of us here this morning believe this truth, we believe it with all of our heart, but maybe there's someone here who doesn't believe this. What a thought this is. Everything you've ever done in your life, every decision you've ever made, every word you've ever spoken, every action you've ever carried out is all been preordained by God. God already knew about it before you did, and he's the one who ordered it. It came from him. There are many examples of this. We have explicit statements like the text I just read, but there's also many examples of this found in the Bible. The builders of the Tower of Babel, they erected that tower to prevent their dispersion. That tower became the very means of their dispersion. You remember, Rebekah came to the well just at the right moment. Abraham had sent a servant to get a wife for his son. Rebekah comes to the well at just the right moment when Abraham's servant was there. You remember how Joseph was sent out to look for his brothers. And when Joseph went out to look for his brothers, little did he know that he wouldn't see his father again for over another 20 years. Pharaoh's harsh treatment of the Hebrews. The Hebrews were multiplying in the land of Egypt. And so Pharaoh said, well, we need to bear down on them to keep them in control. He did this to preserve his kingdom. And that became the very means of the destruction of his kingdom. And then Pharaoh's daughter, she went down to the Nile at just the right moment to find Moses in the bulrushes. And from there, history progressed. Israel's journey to Canaan. Israel didn't take their journey to the Promised Land, they didn't take the shortest distance between two points. They were all over the place. But it was the right way. Every bit of it was the right way. And then there was David. David fled to Abimelech. And Doeg was there. And Doeg saw David right at that moment. And Doeg reported all this to Saul. And then the priests were slain. Everything working according to God's plan. Ahab, who disguised himself in battle to avoid detection, is mortally wounded by a random arrow and he died just as the prophet said that he would. The gallows that Haman constructed for himself became the very instrument of Haman's destruction. You know, we plan our way, but the Lord directs our steps. Our steps are all from the Lord. And again and again, we see this truth. You know that popular saying, man proposes, God disposes. And we see this from cover to cover in the Bible. And we need to see it in our lives as well. We're so familiar with this truth, we hardly even think about it anymore. Man's steps are of the Lord. So that's the profound assertion. Man's steps are of the Lord. And in view of that truth, then Solomon poses a question. And that's what we have in the second part of verse 24. We have a profound assertion, and then secondly, we have a thought-provoking question. The latter part of verse 24 says, How then can man understand his way? How then can man understand his way? Since our Lord is the one who ultimately directs our steps and not us, since He is the one who ordains these things in our lives and He is the one who is ultimately in control of these things in our lives, how can we carry forward our plans with any assurance of success? How can we be certain That when we planned and prepared and done all the things that we intend to do, that our plans will actually be realized, that the goals and the things that we intend will actually come to pass. How can we be sure of this? How can we understand our way? And the answer is, you know what the answer is? We can't. That's the answer. This is a rhetorical question and it demands an answer in the negative. We can't understand our way. Not absolutely. And we shouldn't take this absolutely. That we absolutely can't understand our way. There's nothing that we can understand about our lives. No lessons we can learn. Solomon isn't saying that. But he is saying that we can't completely or exhaustively understand our lives. There will be many things about the way that we take that we won't be able to explain. There will be many questions. Many things about the course of our lives that will be puzzling, baffling, beyond explanation. Job's a clear example of this. Satan came and God allowed Satan to touch Job's estate, Job's family, and Job's body. And in a very short space of time. I mean, it was unbelievable. His head must have been spinning. In a relatively brief period of time, Job's life was completely changed around. He probably never would have imagined that he would have been in the condition that he was in. We have the benefit of the first two chapters of Job, so we can understand God's dealings with Job. We have those two chapters to explain to us those things, and so what happened to Job makes perfect sense to us, but I doubt that it did to Job. We can view those things against the backdrop of heaven and against the backdrop of God's counsels and what was going on in heaven. Job didn't have that benefit. He had to walk by faith and not by sight. And because our steps are ordained by the Lord, ordered by Him for the fulfillment of His purposes, we're not going to be able to fully understand all the events that occur in our lives. Now, some people would tell us that we can. And I'm sure that you, as I have, have met different Christians, professing Christians who would tell us that we can understand our lives. We can make sense of pretty much everything that happens in our lives. There will be a few things we can't, but for the most part, our life will make sense to us. That for the most part, our life will follow some discernible pattern. Most of it will be capable of reasonable explanation. And most Christians, I think, assume this. They may not admit it, but most of us, we assume this to some degree. You know what a character arc is? Are there any literature people, literary people here? Character arc course. If you're going to write stories, you have to know what a character arc is. You know, that's where you have the main character in the story, and you learn about the character, and you start to like the character, and you start to understand the character, and everything's going along and something happens. And in some stories, you'll have more than one of these dips. And some would say in really good stories, if the character arc goes off in a completely unexpected way, then that's a better story. Well, we read books and we go to movies all the time that are built on this character arc, and we start to assume that's what my life is going to be like. It's going to be like a book or a movie. It's going to follow this character arc. It's going to be predictable to some sense. We assume that we will have access to enough information, enough facts, to come up with an explanation for what's occurring in our lives at any given point. Sometimes you hear Christians reminiscing about their past. And they speak about certain events, and they say, oh yeah, that happened in my life, and I know why God did that. God wanted me to teach this or that thing. Have you heard people talk like this? They say, oh, I know why God did that. Well, God was teaching me... Maybe He was. Probably He was. But do you know everything about why God did that? That thing? Do you understand everything about why God did this or that in your life? And many times it's assumed that we can, for the most part, make sense out of our lives. It's assumed that we will embark on life's journey and expect to end up at some intended destination. It's all going to work out. It's going to be great. It's assumed that if we serve God faithfully, God will bless us in certain ways. And yes, we can expect that if we obey God, we would expect God to prosper us and to bless us in different ways. But we assume that if we do this thing or that thing, if we do it this way or that way, that this or that thing will necessarily follow. Things will just keep getting better and better. And we'll arrive at our intended goal, our intended destination. And even in those rare instances where this doesn't happen, it's assumed that eventually, before we die, we'll get enough information about the situation to be able to make some kind of sense out of the disappointing, painful twists and turns that we've encountered in the road of life. We'll be able to explain our situation and everything will all make sense. But this text says no. It tells us, no, that's not true. Things aren't always going to make sense. This isn't necessarily the case. In fact, things rarely turn out as you had hoped or planned, don't they? How many of us can say, well, when I was in my twenties, I embarked on this plan, I had this goal for my life, and pretty much everything has happened just the way I'd planned. You know, this cuts two ways. Sometimes we end up in a much better place, far beyond what we would have ever imagined. But other times things, they go in the negative direction. But how many of us can say, everything's worked out according to plan? Perhaps we would say, more of us would say, things rarely work out according to plan. I have ended up in a different place than what I intended. A very different place. We're in a place that we never would have imagined we would be. You know, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, would you have ever imagined that we would be where we are? Where you would be, where you are in your life. And as I said, it might be better than you expected, but it might not be. Might be worse than you expected. Maybe you thought you would have been a lot better off than you are now. Who hasn't experienced this to some degree? We make our plans. We set our goals. We begin to move forward toward our desired destination and then something happens. Something enters into the mix. Some factor comes into play and we're forced to change our plans. Maybe even give up our plans altogether. Might be a school that we wanted to attend. We thought, well, I think that's a school that I want to go to. Didn't work out. Might be a certain career path we've chosen. I think I would like to do this or that with my life. I'd like to pursue this or that vocation. Doesn't work out. It might be a relationship with a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Somebody maybe that you thought you would marry and it didn't work out. Might be the place you thought you would live. You thought, I'm going to live here. You end up living somewhere else. Might be the church you thought you would attend. You end up attending some other church. It might be the way we trained our children and the way that we hoped that they would turn out or thought that they would turn out. And it didn't happen that way. Could be any number of things. Whatever it is, whatever the situation is, one day we wake up and we realize there are many, many things that haven't turned out the way I thought that they would. Things don't turn out as we expected. And we're confronted with the reality of this text right here and many other texts in the Bible, that our steps are of the Lord. Our steps are ordained by the Lord. He's the one who has ordained our way, and we simply don't understand our way. Someone has spoken of the illusion of control in our lives. You think you're in control of your life? We're not in control of our lives. We need to be responsible. We need to take our Bible and prayerfully seek to live in obedience to God. But we're not in control of our lives. It's an illusion. The fact is we don't understand everything about our way. If we can't understand our ways, How much less can we understand God's? We're confronted with the truth of Isaiah 55, 8 and 9. How often have we been made to feel this truth? My thoughts are not your thoughts. Your ways are not my ways, declares the Lord. For my thoughts are much higher than your thoughts. My ways much higher than your ways. We look over our lives. We look back over the events of our lives. We try to make sense out of these things. We look back and we wonder, well, why did that happen? Boy, that happened just in that way and that affected that thing. Why did this or that happen? Why was it this way and not some other way? And we look back and we analyze it to death. And we rehearse it in our minds over and over again. Finally, we throw up our hands and say, I don't understand. I don't get it. The older I get, the more I find myself saying, I don't understand. I don't know what God is doing. I look at this situation and I don't know what God is doing. But this much I know there's some things we can know. I know that God has a plan and he's working it out. He's got a plan to save a people. And he sent his son Jesus as a vital part of this plan to save his people. And he's working that plan out. I know that. I know that as God works out this plan, there's not a single renegade molecule or atom in the universe that operates outside that plan. Not a single one. I know that. I also know that the judge of all the earth will do right. I also know that He does all things well. God does everything well. And I know that He is committed to glorify Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. I also know He's not dealt with me according to my sins. He's not rewarded me according to my iniquities. And there's another thing I know. I know that I'm looking for a better city. Whatever I'm looking for is not here. It's somewhere else. I don't have to understand it all. I don't have to have it all figured out. But I do have to trust and obey. That much is clear. So we've got this profound assertion. We've got a thought-provoking question. Let's draw some practical lessons out of all this for ourselves. Four lessons. And they're simple lessons. Very simple. You already know all these things. But hopefully these things will convict you, edify you, help you. The first thing, embrace what God has done and continue to worship him. Embrace what God is doing, not only what he has done, what he's doing right now, what he will do. Embrace it all and continue to worship him. That's what Job did. Job 1, verse 21, he said, naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of God. He just keeps worshipping. And he recognizes God gave, God take away, God has taken away. But that doesn't change his purpose to keep worshipping God. Then there was this fellow there in Job named Eliphaz, who had a different perspective on things. And in Job four and verse eight, this is what he said to Job. According to what I have seen, according to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it. I mean, what a thing to say to this hurting man. Would you comfort would you comfort your Christian friend with those words? They're not words of comfort. One of the main points of the book of Job is to show that Eliphaz was wrong. No matter what happens, we must worship God. And this raises another issue, the issue of idolatry. This is one reason why our trials and difficulties are so painful, because God is touching idols in our lives. Idolatry comes in so many forms. And idolatry undermines gratitude. It undermines contentment. Our struggles reveal idols that have been with us for a long time, but they've probably been under the surface. They've probably been hidden away. And God brings troubles and trials into our lives. He uses these things in our lives, and He brings these idols to the surface. They bubble up to the surface. And this is why we hurt sometimes. Because there are idols that need to be smashed at our feet. Paul Tripp, in a really excellent book called Lost in the Middle, he says, he says, many of us, I was just struck with this two statements I'll read. It just hit me between the eyes. Many of us need to confess that we have not been functionally trusting God at all. What a statement. Many of us tend to lack an appreciation for the grace of Christ, because at the level of our daily functioning, we simply don't think we need it. Over the years of your Christian pilgrimage, how many times have you talked about trusting God? How many times have you talked about needing the grace of Christ in your life? And yet, Mr. Tripp here says that at the functional level, at the practical level, we're not trusting God at all, many of us. Or we don't really think we need the grace of God. That's a mind-blowing statement. God's ways are so much better than ours. Can you say, aren't you glad that God is the one who's making the decisions about your life and not you? Aren't you glad it's up to God and not ultimately up to you? He's running the universe in His ways and not yours. So this is the first thing. Embrace what God has done and then continue to worship Him. Here's a second lesson. Aim to be grateful. By God's grace, aim to be grateful and contented with what God is doing. Gratitude and contentment. There are many things that undermine gratitude and contentment. Many things. I'm going to mention two. There are so many things. We could have a whole series of sermons about this. Here's two. One is when we are focused more upon what we've lost than what we have. You want to be ungrateful? You want to be discontented? Then just think about what you've lost and focus on that. And just think about what you've lost instead of thinking about what you have and what God's blessed you with. And that's a sure recipe for ingratitude and discontentment. And then there's a second thing. Focus more on what other people have than what you have. You want to be discontented? Just focus more upon what other people have or what it looks like they have. Oftentimes, that's an illusion. It's so easy to look at other people and think, oh, boy, they're so blessed. Oh, look at that. Wouldn't it be great to... And you don't know what burdens they're carrying. If you knew some of the burdens other people are carrying, there's no way you'd want to be in their shoes. These two perspectives feed ingratitude and discontentment. We need to cry to God for greater measures of gratitude, thankfulness, and contentment, and joy. And then a third lesson. Do what you know to be the will of God and leave the results with Him. Do what you know to be the will of God and leave the results with Him. Satan is a ruthless enemy. Satan hates God. He hates Jesus and he hates God's people. He is a ruthless, merciless enemy. And you know this, don't you? He will come and he will cast a shadow over your mind. He will come and He will cause the winds of hell to howl around your head. And He will come and He will inject these vile thoughts, black thoughts. Some of it comes from us, but I don't think all of it comes from us. Because he hates God and he hates his people. He wants to oppose God's purposes and oppose God's people. But you know, in spite of his opposition to God's purposes, Satan is actually God's hardest working servant to fulfill his purposes. The more his venom and anger and opposition and resistance to God, the more heightened and focused it becomes, the more he's fulfilling God's purposes. And we need to remember that because sometimes we can play into Satan's hands. He brings opposition. He brings black thoughts. He injects ideas into our mind that are not right. He comes and he brings clouds of discouragement. Sometimes, unwittingly, we play right into his hands. We indulge hard thoughts of God, unbelieving thoughts of God. We indulge angry, bitter attitudes toward God or other people, like David's companions. We indulge these thoughts. Instead, we ought to aim to do what we know is the will of God and leave the results with Him. God doesn't usually give us enough light to see five years down the road, but He gives us enough light to take the next step. We can't be sure of anything beyond that, but He gives us enough light to take that step, and then He gives light to take the next one. Whatever God gives you to do at the time, whatever you know is the will of God, do that. There's joy in that. And then when you do that, leave the results with Him. And then here's the fourth and final lesson we can draw from this. Learn to trust God. Simple. Learn to trust God. We don't have to be able to explain everything in our lives. It's OK. If there's things you don't understand, if there's things you can't explain, that's OK. You don't have to understand it all. You don't have to be able to explain it. God's mercy isn't contingent upon our ability to understand our lives. God's faithfulness, God's love, His grace, those things are contingent on our ability to understand our lives. And there will be many things about our lives that we won't understand. Something I heard at the conference this weekend. Imagine that you have a son and he moves away. And he goes to work and makes lots of money. Changes his name. He marries an unbelieving wife. Maybe you know where I'm going with this. He marries an unbelieving wife. He has two children and they never go to church. Would you want that kind of family? Do you know who I just described? Joseph. Joseph. How much did Joseph understand? We know at least by Genesis 50, he understood some things because he said, well, you guys, you meant all this for evil. God meant it for good. He understood something. But as Joseph went through all those things over those decades, decades, we're not talking about five minutes, ten minutes of his life. You know, sometimes we pray. We pray for a couple of days. Lord, please change this or Lord, do that. We pray for a couple of days and expect God to do something. Here's Joseph over a lifetime, half of his life. All these things are happening to him. How much did he understand? He understood some things, but he didn't understand everything. And that was the situation. He had an unbelieving wife, daughter of a priest of own. Two kids, they never went to church. Not an ideal situation. We don't have to understand and explain everything about our lives. It's OK if we can't. But what should we do? What should our disposition be when we encounter things that are puzzling, things we can't understand? We respond not with mistrust, not with anxiety, but with trust and confidence. Charles Bridges puts it this way. He says, what should those cross ways or dark ways teach us? Not constant trembling anxiety, but daily dependence. And he says, often do I look back amazed at the strangeness of my course, so different, so contrary to my way. But it is enough for me that all is in your hands, that my steps are ordered by you. I dare trust your wisdom, your goodness, your tenderness, your faithful care. You will guide me with your counsel and afterwards receive me to glory." One of the things that God says in the Bible again and again to his people, he says, don't be afraid. Right? There are some things we should fear, but there are other times God doesn't want us to be fearful. How many times did Jesus say to his disciples, don't be afraid, be of good cheer? Don't be afraid. We should listen to what God tells us. But if we're honest, we have to admit how difficult it is, how difficult it has been for us to bring our hearts to anything like cheerful acceptance of some of God's dispensations. So difficult. God has come along and he's thwarted our will, blasted some of our dreams and some of our hopes. And it's so difficult for us to embrace these things, even if somehow we manage to squeak out a not my will, but your will be done. Even if we manage that, it's still with a heavily burdened heart. And it's here in the eye. And we wonder, why has God blocked up my way? Why hasn't He given me my way? Why has He appointed His way? Why has He appointed something that isn't really so agreeable to me? Why has He done that? And many of those questions we'll never be able to answer. Well, maybe some day we will. But in this life, many things we won't be able to answer. We need to walk by faith and not by sight. We need to remember how much better is God's way than our way. If we had eyes to see, if we had God's eyes, we would see that in every case without exception, God's way is best. We would see it. We would embrace it. There'd be no argument. If we had God's eyes, we would see in every situation His way is best. And in the end, this will be made apparent to us. In that day when Christ returns to be glorified in the saints, when he comes to be marveled at among all who believe, we will look to our God with admiring astonishment at what he did and how he did it. And we will say, God has done all things well. Learn to trust God. A lifetime of trusting God begins with that first act of trust. You want to live a life trusting God? It starts with that first act of trust, that first act of trusting Jesus Christ to save you from your sins. If you hope to live a life of trusting God, you will never be able to do so until you take that first step of trusting the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from your sins. Coming to the place of recognizing that Jesus is all that I need. I can't save myself. I'm not good enough for God. I'm not good enough for heaven. My sin is too great. This morning, Pastor Ron talked about when he was a younger man. He said, I don't have that many sins. I did the same thing. Not anymore. Not doing that anymore. But you know, it's true. There are lots of people, if they had to make a list of their sins, they'd have to think hard. And they'd only come up with a very short list. And maybe you're like that this morning. Maybe you don't really see yourself as being a sinful man or a sinful woman. Pray that God will show you. Pray that God will show you how far short you fall. And bring you to the place where you recognize, I can't save myself. I need someone else to save me. I need the Lord Jesus Christ to save me. And trust in Him. Don't trust in yourself. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the first step, the first act of trust. And from then on, you'll live a life trusting God. A man's steps are ordered by the Lord. Do you believe that? Do you believe that every event in your life, every step you've taken has been ordered by God? Let me ask you, if you believe that, if you really believe that, then what kind of a return have you made to God for His goodness in your life? You know, things can turn out negative, but things can turn out very positive as well. Some of us, we can say, I am much, much better off than I ever thought I would be. God has blessed me. God has been merciful to me. Who do you attribute that to? All the good things in your life, your family, your possessions, all these good things, your health, who do you attribute that to? Is that by your own wisdom? Your own knowledge? Your own ability? You manage to engineer things and that's why things are so good in your life? Doesn't God get any credit? The Word of God tells us a man's steps are ordained by the Lord. What kind of a return are you making to Him right now for the good things in your life? Do you live to glorify Him? Do you live to honor Him? Or are you the one that gets the credit? If you're the one that gets the credit, there will come a day when you will leave this life. There will come a day when God won't give you another breath. Your steps are ordered by Him. So is your breath. So is your heartbeat. Your heart has stopped beating, you won't breathe anymore. It's going to happen to us. Every one of us, right? Our heart's going to stop beating, we're going to stop breathing. And we're going to have to go and face God in judgment. And who will you glorify then? If you spent your life glorifying yourself, and not giving God any return for His goodness to you, how do you hope to stand before God in that day and give a good account? Look to Jesus Christ. Trust in Jesus Christ. Look to His cross. Look to that bloody cross where Jesus died. Therein is your hope. Without the blood of Christ, your sins can't be blotted out. There's nothing you can do to cleanse away your sins and blot out your sins. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. And He promises that all who will look to Him, all who come to Him, He will not cast them out. Think about this. All the sins you've committed, all the times you've heard the gospel preached and you've not believed in Jesus, all the times you've turned away from Him indifferent, and yet He says, if you truly come to Me, I will not cast you out. It is never too late. As long as your heart's beating and you're still breathing, you can still repent. You can still believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. May God help you to do so. God help you to do so. Let's pray. No, let's not pray. Let's sing a hymn. Number 37 in the supplement, 34 rather in the supplemental. Let's stand together and sing number 34. Our Father, how good it is for us to be able to cast all of our cares upon you, knowing that you are the God who cares for us. Father, we thank you that we can entrust ourselves to your wisdom and your providence. We thank you that you are the God who orders our steps, that every step we take comes from you and you order our lives in wisdom. Father, we thank you that every detail of our lives is being engineered by you for our spiritual good and for your own glory. Father, we thank you that we can say these things because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely, Father, you did not withhold your Son, but delivered him up for us all. And how will you not also with him freely give us all things? Father, we thank you that nothing will ever be able to separate us from your love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Father, please help us, your people. when we find ourselves disappointed, when we find ourselves distressed, when we find ourselves distracted, pained and troubled by the things that come into our lives. Father, we pray that you'll help us to trust you. Help us, Lord, to do what we know to be your will and then to leave the results with you. Father, grant to us hearts of submission, hearts that will gladly embrace your will for our lives. Father, might we be able to say with our Lord Jesus Christ, not my will, but Your will be done. And Father, we pray that no matter what it may take, no matter what it may cost us, that You will glorify Yourself. Glorify Yourself in our lives and through our lives. Father, be pleased to come and take the truth of Your Word. Might it be a comfort and a help and encouragement. to the hearts of your people by your blessing. We pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Welcome Relief for Wounded Souls
系列 Christian Life
讲道编号 | 6714155913 |
期间 | 52:44 |
日期 | |
类别 | 周日 - 上午 |
圣经文本 | 所羅們之俗語 20:24 |
语言 | 英语 |