Trusting God: Wisdom Beyond Our Understanding
Summary
### Summary
Today, we explored the profound wisdom found in Proverbs 3:5-6, which teaches us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. This passage is a cornerstone for making wise decisions in life. We began by acknowledging the importance of the church community and the leadership that guides us. I shared a personal story about a hiking trip with my wife, where my gut feeling led us astray, illustrating how our own understanding can often be flawed. This set the stage for discussing how to make wise decisions by relying on God's wisdom rather than our own.
We revisited the teachings from the past few weeks, emphasizing the importance of seeking God's will and listening to wise counsel. Solomon, the author of Proverbs, was granted wisdom by God because he recognized his own limitations. Despite his vast knowledge, Solomon advised us to trust in the Lord, lean not on our own understanding, and submit to God in all our ways. This submission, rather than mere information, leads to divine direction.
We delved into practical ways to apply this wisdom in our lives. First, we must immerse ourselves in God's Word, allowing it to guide our decisions. Second, we should trust God's direction over our own intentions, recognizing that our feelings and gut instincts can often mislead us. Lastly, we should use our imagination to envision the outcomes of our decisions, paying attention to whether they draw us closer to God.
In conclusion, we acknowledged that even Solomon, with all his wisdom, failed when he relied on his own understanding. This serves as a cautionary tale that underscores the importance of submission to God. We ended with an invitation for those who have not yet trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior to take that crucial step of faith.
### Key Takeaways
1. Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart: Trusting God means fully relying on Him, even when our own understanding seems logical. This trust is akin to getting into a wheelbarrow that Jesus is pushing across a tightrope, fully surrendering control to Him. This level of trust requires us to let go of our own plans and allow God to guide us. [15:08]
2. Lean Not on Your Own Understanding: Our own wisdom and understanding are limited and often flawed. Solomon, despite his vast knowledge, emphasized the importance of leaning on God's wisdom. When our experiences and common sense conflict with God's Word, we must choose to follow God. [16:06]
3. Submit to God in All Your Ways: Submission to God means acknowledging Him in every aspect of our lives—finances, relationships, career, and more. This comprehensive submission ensures that we are aligned with God's will, leading to a clear and straight path. [17:15]
4. Divine Direction Comes Through Submission, Not Information: Having all the information in the world does not guarantee wise decisions. True divine direction comes from submitting to God's will. This submission allows God to remove obstacles and make our paths straight, leading us to His intended destination. [18:23]
5. Practical Steps to Trusting God: To practice trusting God, we must immerse ourselves in His Word, trust His direction over our intentions, and use our imagination to envision the outcomes of our decisions. These steps help us align our lives with God's will, ensuring that we are on the right path. [24:44]
### YouTube Chapters
[0:00] - Welcome
[00:52] - Honoring Church Leadership
[01:45] - Turning Adversity into Good
[02:14] - Personal Story: Hiking Misadventure
[03:37] - The Fork in the Road
[04:43] - Importance of Wise Decisions
[05:41] - Lessons from Rehoboam and the Ethiopian Eunuch
[06:30] - Making Good Decisions
[08:18] - The Limitations of Information
[09:31] - Introduction to Proverbs
[10:00] - The Authority of Scripture
[12:16] - Solomon's Request for Wisdom
[13:11] - Trust in the Lord
[15:08] - Illustration: Trusting the Tightrope Walker
[16:06] - Lean Not on Your Own Understanding
[17:15] - Submit to God in All Your Ways
[18:23] - Divine Direction Through Submission
[24:44] - Practical Steps to Trusting God
[33:21] - God's Desire for Relationship
[37:08] - Invitation to Trust Jesus
[40:19] - Public Confession of Faith
[41:46] - Worship and Prayer Time
Study Guide
### Bible Study Discussion Guide
#### Bible Reading
- Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV): "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
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#### Observation Questions
1. What does Proverbs 3:5-6 instruct us to do with our hearts and understanding?
2. According to the sermon, what was the significance of the pastor's hiking story with his wife? [02:14]
3. How did Solomon's request for wisdom demonstrate his understanding of his own limitations? [12:16]
4. What practical steps were suggested in the sermon for trusting God in our daily lives? [24:44]
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#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why is it important to trust in the Lord with all our hearts rather than relying on our own understanding? [13:11]
2. How does the concept of submitting to God in all our ways differ from merely having information about God's will? [18:23]
3. What does the illustration of the tightrope walker and the wheelbarrow teach us about the nature of trust in God? [15:08]
4. How can envisioning the outcomes of our decisions help us determine if they align with God's will? [29:35]
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#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a recent decision you made. Did you rely more on your own understanding or did you seek God's guidance? How did that decision turn out? [04:43]
2. In what areas of your life do you find it hardest to submit to God? What steps can you take to begin submitting those areas to Him? [17:15]
3. Think about a time when your gut feeling led you astray. How might the outcome have been different if you had trusted in God's direction instead? [03:37]
4. How can you immerse yourself more in God's Word to ensure it guides your decisions? What specific actions will you take this week to do so? [24:44]
5. Identify a decision you are currently facing. How can you use your imagination to envision the outcomes and determine which path draws you closer to God? [29:35]
6. Discuss a situation where you had to choose between your common sense and God's Word. What did you choose and what was the result? [16:06]
7. How can you practice submitting to God in your daily routines, such as your finances, relationships, and career choices? [17:15]
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This guide is designed to help your small group delve deeper into the themes of trust, submission, and divine direction as discussed in the sermon. Use the questions to foster meaningful discussion and personal reflection.
Devotional
Day 1: Trusting Beyond Logic
Description: Trusting in the Lord with all your heart means fully relying on Him, even when our own understanding seems logical. This trust is akin to getting into a wheelbarrow that Jesus is pushing across a tightrope, fully surrendering control to Him. This level of trust requires us to let go of our own plans and allow God to guide us. Our own wisdom and understanding are limited and often flawed. Solomon, despite his vast knowledge, emphasized the importance of leaning on God's wisdom. When our experiences and common sense conflict with God's Word, we must choose to follow God. [15:08]
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (ESV): "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
Reflection: Think of a recent decision where you relied on your own understanding. How might the outcome have been different if you had fully trusted in God's guidance instead?
Day 2: Recognizing Our Limitations
Description: Leaning not on your own understanding means acknowledging that our wisdom and understanding are limited and often flawed. Solomon, despite his vast knowledge, emphasized the importance of leaning on God's wisdom. When our experiences and common sense conflict with God's Word, we must choose to follow God. This requires humility and a recognition of our own limitations, just as Solomon did when he asked God for wisdom. [16:06]
Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV): "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Reflection: Identify an area in your life where you have been relying on your own understanding. How can you begin to seek God's wisdom in this area today?
Day 3: Comprehensive Submission
Description: Submitting to God in all your ways means acknowledging Him in every aspect of our lives—finances, relationships, career, and more. This comprehensive submission ensures that we are aligned with God's will, leading to a clear and straight path. Submission to God is not just about seeking His guidance in major decisions but also in the everyday choices we make. This level of submission requires us to trust that God's plans are better than our own. [17:15]
Proverbs 16:3 (ESV): "Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established."
Reflection: What is one specific area of your life where you have not fully submitted to God? What steps can you take today to begin submitting this area to Him?
Day 4: Divine Direction Through Submission
Description: Divine direction comes through submission, not information. Having all the information in the world does not guarantee wise decisions. True divine direction comes from submitting to God's will. This submission allows God to remove obstacles and make our paths straight, leading us to His intended destination. It is through this act of submission that we can experience God's guidance and direction in our lives. [18:23]
Psalm 32:8 (ESV): "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you."
Reflection: Reflect on a time when you had all the information but still made a poor decision. How might submitting to God's will have changed the outcome?
Day 5: Practical Steps to Trusting God
Description: To practice trusting God, we must immerse ourselves in His Word, trust His direction over our intentions, and use our imagination to envision the outcomes of our decisions. These steps help us align our lives with God's will, ensuring that we are on the right path. Immersing ourselves in God's Word provides the foundation for making wise decisions, while trusting His direction helps us to follow His guidance even when it conflicts with our own intentions. [24:44]
Psalm 119:105 (ESV): "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
Reflection: What is one practical step you can take today to immerse yourself more in God's Word? How can this help you trust His direction over your own intentions?
Quotes
1. "You took what the enemy made for evil, and you turned it into good with Ian, and lives are being changed. People are being transformed. The poor will be lifted up, and the gospel is going out, and people are coming to know Jesus, and that's because of you, the church. So it is an honor to be here. Yeah. Amen. Clap. Give God glory for it. It's His. It's His work." [01:45] (23 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "Well, in life, you all have decisions every day, some small, some life-altering. We all come to forks in the road. How do we know which way to go? Over the past few weeks, you guys have been doing a great series called Guidance, Making Wise Decisions. We've learned that God has a will for your life, and we need to follow his will." [04:43] (23 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him and he will make your paths straight. Solomon's the one guy in the whole world who could have just said, when I've got a decision to make, when there's steps in front of me, when there's that fork in the road, I just rely. I just rely on all the information in my giant, big, fat head." [13:11] (29 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "When it comes to a decision, he says, trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge God in all your ways and he will make your paths straight. So let's just break that down a bit. Trust in the Lord. What's that mean? What's it mean to actually trust in the Lord? What's that look like?" [13:45] (19 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "Here's what trust in the Lord is. Jesus is holding the handles of the wheelbarrow and he looks at you and he says, if you trust me, get in the wheelbarrow and let me drive you wherever I want you to go. That's what you're supposed to go in your life. That's trust. That's trust. You know you're trusting God when you're allowing him to make decisions in your life." [15:08] (19 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6. "Solomon says, don't lean on just the information you've acquired. Information's good, but don't just make that it, your own understanding. Lean in on God. Prop yourself up on the Lord. When your information, your experience, your common sense conflicts with the Lord and his wisdom and his scripture, Solomon says, then go with the Lord. Don't go with your common sense, information, or experience, but when it's the Lord and his word speaking to you, go with the Lord." [16:06] (28 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7. "Trust God. Don't prop yourself up on your own information, your own understanding. Submit all your ways to Him, and the right path will get clear. The fog will lift. The promise is we'll get divine direction if we submit to Him. Divine direction comes through unconditional submission, not information. Let me just say that again. Divine direction comes through unconditional submission, not information." [18:23] (27 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8. "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways. He'll make your path straight. Don't prop yourself up against your own wisdom. Solomon says, I'm the wisest guy who ever lived. I have all this vast knowledge that's been downloaded into me by God, but I've learned the secret of a path that leads to the good and godly destination, and it's this. Lean not on your own understanding." [19:02] (27 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
9. "Trust God by leaning on his word. Start there. If you're going to learn somewhere to submit, submit to his word. Get this thing in you. I know through your small groups that you do, journaling, you study the word. If you don't know, you don't know where to start, you know, if you don't know something, go to Proverbs. Again, it's a chapter a day, you know, 31 of them. Read a chapter. Take the wisdom there. Submit to it." [25:01] (23 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
10. "Trust God by leaning on his direction, not your intention. Let me just say it again. Trust God by leaning on his direction, not your intention. I started with the story where Christie and I are hiking. I didn't lean on the sign that pointed in the right direction. I leaned on my own gut, my own feeling. And I had every intention of taking a shortcut, but it wasn't shorter, was it? Didn't matter what my intention was. I was pointed in the wrong direction." [26:34] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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