“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths…..” Proverbs 3:5
The other day, Patty and I spent a beautiful afternoon taking a walk at the beach. I always find walking at the beach a great way to relax and enjoy all of God’s creation. The sound of the crashing waves, the gentle breeze, the clean air. All in all, a lovely day. However, with less than a few days away from the day (2-20-13) when I will begin my chemotherapy treatment, my thoughts are rather quickly directed to an old nemisis, doubt. Considering all the good reports I have been getting from my doctors, you’d figure I would be just overflowing with optimism , concentrating on just trusting God and rebuking the doubt!
However, I humbly confess that my thoughts were not focused on the victory God has promised me. I found myself swirling in a sea of questions assaulting my mind. What if, I end up getting extremely nauseated ? What if, I get tired ALL the time? What if, what if, what if! It seems that if there is any way to avoid over-thinking for me, it just isn’t possible for Marty! BUT GOD! By His Spirit, He brings me today’s passage. You can always tell when God is moving in with answers for the rescue, He helps you, through His Word to see the contrasts in the place where your thoughts are sinking. He presented to me, my current condition, doubt, and then gave me the contrast of which is trust.
What’s really great about God is that He’s always so ready and willing to bail you out of anywhere your direction may have gone. By His Spirit living in you, He already knows what you need! The Bible actually says that the Spirit of God in you already discerns your thoughts and can even make a prayer of help by a sigh or a groan! This means that God’s help is always on the way!
And so my help had arrived. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths….” Proverbs 3:5
The wonderful thing about God’s help is that it’s not only good for today’s doubt, it will be even better for tomorrow and the next day. God is always ready to help. “Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem?” Isaiah 50:2. “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear” Isaiah 59:1
As mere humans we will struggle with issues in this life. But, if those issues take our hearts off the hope we have in God, that He is able to redeem, and save us from anything, we need to resist the temptation of doubt. One of my most favorite prayers of Jesus was actually a command. He taught, “ Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit is truly ready, but the flesh is weak.” Mark 14:38
The battle is epic when trusting in God which requires the strength of the spirit is pitted against the flesh which wants to fight against the spirit and uses its weapon of doubt. “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, ‘Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’ Genesis 3:1 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” 2 Corinthians 11:3.
Which brings us back to today’s verse: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths…..” Proverbs 3:5
Keep it simple, don’t over-think things, don’t read into things, don’t assume because something happens to someone else it’s going to happen to you. Everything that will and is going to happen in your life is first filtered through God’s hands first. Relax, and trust God, acknowledge Him; let him know you are cool with it. And then, walk in the path He has directed you to walk today.
It may not be the path you would choose, but then that would be you walking where you want to walk and you thinking you really know where you’re walking to….. hmm..
All this said, I have to tell you that with one day to go before I begin chemotherapy treatment, I have struggled with all the above. If I only would take God at His Word all the time.
‘Marty, stop trying to figure everything out, Marty stop over-analyzing everything; keep things simple, trust in God’s way. Quit picking up all those “What If” rocks along the way. “What if I have side-effects” What if this, what if that”. Today, I choose to trust God, with all I have, and not let my mind stray. ‘If my mind is stayed upon Him, and trust in Him, I will have perfect peace” Isaiah 26:3
What a wonderful exchange, I give God all my doubts, He takes care of everything!
Please keep me in prayer, tomorrow morning , 2/20/12 @ 9:30 a.m. when this part of the journey begins. Thank Him for the victories already and the victory to come!
Thank you John, Gwen, Gloria, Amanda, Ken, Tom, and my fellow survivor Peggy for all your encouraging comments to these posts. Special thanks to Patty, my wife for being a daily encouragement and helper. Thank You utmost Jesus, without whom I would be hopeless, but because of You, I can say I have a future and a hope!
Maybe you might want to take a listen to this video, it says it all….. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BtaCeJYqZA
“Little children, love one another”
Marty
Walking the Berean Road 
Awww.. Thank you for this post Marty! MAN! God is GOOD! Proverbs 3:5-6 is my life verse and every time I come to a trial, test or storm I tend to also first and foremost, doubt. Doubt that God is on my side; doubt that God even cares and doubt that any encouraging verses or direct revelations I’m getting from Him are, well, from Him! Trusting the Lord with all of our hearts is defintiely NOT easy, but yes, it is possible because God is so faithful. Even though I’m not going through the same exact storm as you….I do find myself at a point in my life where I too must trust Him to work it all out…trust Him to fulfill His promises, by choosing to stand solely on His Word. Defineitly easier said than done =/ I want to encourage you today with this though, you’re not alone…you’re never alone! God has your name written in the palm of His hands and is using you in such a powerful way! To encourage me and others struggling with doubt! =] You and Patty are defineintly in my prayers! Hang in there brother knowing that one day this too, shall pass.
Hi Amanda,
Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. Yes, the more real we are before men, and as they see Jesus in the center, touching, moulding, reshaping, the more real He becomes to others who need to see Him. I believe He uses people who admit their human shortcomings in humbleness, that there would be a distinct contrast from the way the world solves its issues. We need God. He desires to help us. What an amazing thing! Remember, when we begin doubting, begin trusting!
“Little children, love one another”
aww thank you! =] God bless you! =]
My beloved, trusting… yes that is the hardest thing for us to do… for me… it trusting that God is holding you in His Arms, trusting that this is from Him to work out all these things in us. It has not been hard for me either, but I know that He is the one who will be your ultimate love, help and support. He just has me here to be His assistant… to be physical hands.. to hold you and love you… physical feet to help you go where you need to… I love you my husband… The Lord will see us through this.
You are the extension of everything He is, as you love, care, and encourage me. Most of all you are my beloved.