ISAIAH 50:10 – “Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.”

THEME OF THE DAY: TRUST GOD’S GUIDANCE SYSTEM.  All Christians struggle in three areas.  Oh, we struggle in many more than three, but only three are being addressed in today’s nugget.  Some may not have great difficulty in these, but all will have difficulty in all.  It is because of sin. It is because of what happened in the Garden of Eden with our first parents Adam and Eve.   These areas are . . .

• Desire to control our circumstances, situations, and people.
• Attempts to change difficult circumstances, situations, and people.
• Relying upon our own reasoning and understanding in difficult circumstances, situations, and people.

Basically, we are tempted to say by our actions that “We reign” instead of remembering that it is the “The Lord who reigns.”  He is sovereign, not us. That is a lesson alone but for another time.

The Bible repeatedly tells us not to lean on our own understanding.  The familiar text is found in the Proverb of Solomon . . .

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil” (Proverbs 3:5-7).

This is not an easy battle and especially when we encounter those spiritual seasons described in today’s scripture – spiritual darkness when our hearts don’t sense God’s Presence and the path ahead seems confused and unclear.  Don’t despair and try to figure things out. God is at work teaching us to walk by faith in His Name and Person, not our feelings, emotions, and circumstances.  It is like the following story . . .

A man was flying with his friend who was piloting the aircraft. The flight was enjoyable until a thick cloud bank engulfed the plane.  Visibility was zero.  The man began to be concerned.  He asked, “What now?”  The response was a calm, “We trust the plane’s guidance systems.”  Sure enough, the flight continued without incident and was able to land despite the visibility issue.

Stephen Yuille commented on this story in his devotional book The Heart Taken Up: 90 Days with the Puritans as follows:

“When we are in the cloud, that is, when we are facing difficult seasons in life – we often decide to navigate by our feelings. The result is often unhelpful, if not downright detrimental. We must instead learn to trust God’s guidance system: His precepts and promises. Here is one such promise that we must always keep in view: “The Lord shall preserve you from evil; He will shall preserve your soul” (Psalm 121:7).”

We will always be safe when we heed God’s Word, not ours.  Will it be difficult? For sure.  Our wills submitting to His is never easy, and waiting on the Lord instead of acting on our own understanding is intense warfare.

But remember, God’s guidance system never fails. Rest in Him. Wait on Him, and do not lean on our own understanding.  And as He unfolds His will, we will rejoice we didn’t follow our own way in life.

PRAYER: Father, help me to lean not on my own understanding but on the always reliable guide of Your Word.

REFLECTION:  To trust oneself and one’s own feelings is called foolish in the Word of God.