Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser
Leaning on the Lord simply means we relying on Him and we trusting in Him. He answers our prayer, He directs our paths, and we keep leaning on Him. We should live every day trusting God, depending on Him and acknowledging Him. “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” (Pro. 3:5-6).
By saying ‘Lord, I’m trusting you for today’, what you’re saying is I’m leaning on you to give me wisdom, guidance and direction for my life. That reminds me of what the bible says in the 37th psalm: “Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity”. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass”. “Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret – it only causes harm” (Psalm 37:1, 7, 8).
Three times the psalmist says: ‘do not fret’, ‘do not fret’, ‘do not fret’. As believers we have the Spirit of Christ living in us and as we lean on Him or rely on Him, we trust Him so that’s what God wants us to do. He wants us to lean upon Him, He wants us to rely upon Him. He wants us to trust in Him. He wants us to come to Him acknowledging that we are dependent upon Him because He wants to be everything for us that we need in our lives.
God intended to direct our lives. “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jer. 10:23). If you read Jeremiah 10: 23 in context, Jeremiah was lamenting the fact that the Israelites were going into bondage and captivity. He was talking about total destruction of Jerusalem because they had rejected God. Therefore, the nations were going to conquer them and send them to captivity.
He was talking about terrible judgment and right in the middle of the prophesy, Jeremiah asked a question; How could this happen? How could the people who were the apple of God’s eyes, and who were once favoured than nobody else on the planet and so blessed by God ever come to a position where they were to be put into slavery in Babylon? And he answered his own question in Jer. 10:23 and said “Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps”.
The reason we get into trouble is because we don’t lean on God, we do things our way. Nearly every problem that we have comes because we do things our way, we don’t listen to the voice of God, we don’t seek His direction, we lean on our own understanding. The only exception is persecution. “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). You can be persecuted when you are leaning on God and doing everything God’s way. So, you could have some problems and some troubles and persecution but most of our troubles come from the fact that we are not leaning on God and hearing His voice and following His leadership.
Our feet need direction, else we would not know our way or how to walk in this dark world. And this is how tragedy comes. It’s because God did not create us to be self-directed. He wants us to lean on Him so He can direct our paths. God gave us that choice, He doesn’t force us; we are not robots. But God never created us to function independent of Him. And there are so many scriptures to support this: 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” (Pro. 3:5-6).
" The reason we get into trouble is because we don’t lean on God, we do things our way. "
If we don’t lean on our own understanding but personally appropriate God’s word and practically use it by acknowledging Him in our daily routines, He will direct our paths and we shall surely light up our cities and communities. Hundreds of other scriptures show that God intended that we depend upon Him, to seek His guidance, to be led by Him and to be directed by Him. This is the way that God created us to be. And nearly all our problems come from being self-motivated and doing things our own way.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). The word is our lamp and light. We must never turn away from it. By leaning on His word and meditating on it day and night, we will always walk in the light of His word, and by so doing, we will be led to wise decisions to bring glory to God. Let’s allow the light to lead us to shine, prosper and have good success. Our best light is like darkness without the word of God. Our ways without it will lead to disastrous consequences.
You can go all the way back to the garden of Eden where God gave Adam and Eve instructions about the way He wanted them to live. He said I do not want you to eat of the tree of knowledge and evil. They chose to do the very opposite, they thought they knew better than God. They thought that if they ate the fruit of knowledge and evil, they would be better off and so they did it their way and went against what God spoke to them and ushered the whole human race into all the problems that we have. The root of all the problems that we have is that we do things in our own way, we don’t follow God’s directions.
“My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; 2 For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you” (Pro. 3:1-2). If we heed to the word of God, we will have long life, we will have a pleasant life, God will direct our steps. One step at a time, He will surely lead us to light up the world if we allow Him. He will keep us from trouble, we will have blessings in our lives and be a blessing to others. This is repeated so many times in scripture that if we will follow God’s directions, we will be led to abundant lives.
Jesus said in John 10:10; “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”. And so, Jesus came to give us abundant lives. “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And the Lord told us not to let our hearts be troubled. “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3). There’s an abundant life. You will have joy, peace and fulfilment by leaning on God and following Him.
In our campaign to spread the gospel, there’s almost always a troubled path that we have to walk, but His steadfast light never ceases to shine to accomplish His work. He gives abundant light to our paths throughout our campaign. He directs us to where the gospel is needed and subsequently directs the sinner to the narrow path that leads to eternal life, the heavenly home where special mansions have been prepared for us by our saviour, Christ Jesus. “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear” (Mat. 13:43).
Please join me to declare His loving kindness to the dying world. He is mighty to save but He does so through the gospel spoken by you and me. Let’s lean on God and do as commanded.
