Proverbs 3:5-6, “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.”
This verse has been the cry of my heart lately. It is what I cling to when the doubts and fears set in. It is what I declare when my human perspective and weaknesses cloud my vision. It is what I choose to fill my heart with and it saves me from what the enemy (and myself at times) wants me to believe about myself. That I’m not good enough. That I’ll never make it. That I should be scared. That God has forsaken me. But, when the words of these two verses cover me, like a blanket of pure peace, everything falls back into place. Not because the answers are suddenly all there, but because He is with me and I am aware of His presence in that very moment.
You see, if you’re anything like me, you may also be learning that the unknown is not a very fun place to be. It’s difficult. It’s uncomfortable. It lasts forever. It seems as if there are traps of anxiety and fear around every corner. But you know what, it doesn’t have to be fun to be purposeful. I think a lot of times, the enemy tries to isolate us in unknown seasons where we feel lost, so that we buy into the lie that this time doesn’t matter. He likes to tell us that there’s no purpose here. No reason to wake up in the morning. That we don’t seem to know where we’re headed so we might as well sit back until we have it all figured out.
AND LET ME REMIND YOU THAT THIS IS NOT FROM THE LORD!
We have to learn to open our eyes and our ears to His activity around us. He is working and moving even when our circumstances seem to be at a standstill. And this is the beautiful lesson that I am walking through right now and praise God for it. My relationship with Him will never be the same, because I have chosen to open my eyes to the evidence of His hand all around me. I search for it. I seek for it as you would a hidden treasure. And I have found Him. You see, He wants to reveal Himself. He wants His will for our lives more than we do! But, His will comes in His timing and in His ways – read that again. This is where we tend to struggle, right?! I am slowly learning that I wouldn’t want it any other way, and because I am so tapped into His presence, the unknown actually becomes a place of joy rather than dread.
So, you may be asking, “How do I open my eyes and my ears to God’s activity? How do I discern His voice?” Here are a few practical steps that I have gained through reading Priscilla Shirer’s book, Discerning the Voice of God – which has changed my life!
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- After praying, resist the urge to get up and move on with your day. Give the Lord time to speak into your situation or your need. We pray and pray, but we fail to open up spaces for Him to reveal Himself to us. This is difficult and it takes practice, patience, and prayer.
- Look for patterns of repetition! God speaks through His Word, people, and situations. There are small miracles built into every day, but we just fail to see them!
Let me share with you how I have seen the Lord at work in my life in this specific area. Last week, I wrote down verses on my mirror (highly recommend doing this) after struggling a lot with self-doubt. One of the verses was Proverbs 3:5-6 which says, “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.” Then a couple days later, I listened to a podcast on my run that dealt directly with self-doubt, and it focused on the story of Peter walking on water. Fast forward a few days, and guess what the service at church was about?! Trust and faith! The pastor broke down every part of Proverbs 3:5-6 and told the story of Peter walking on water. I was trying so hard not to look like a crazy person as I cried through the entire service. God wants to speak to us! I wake up with so much joy and excitement at the thought of finding God in every moment of every day! He is just so amazing.
The last story I’ll tell (for now:)… happened one morning last week. I took nearly 30 minutes to write down my honest thoughts and feelings about where I felt that I was in the midst of the unknown. I will share an entry from my journal with you in hopes that it reaches a heart that feels the same way:
“You are teaching me patience. You are revealing to me that there is purpose and intentionality in the days that seem anything but that. You are urging me to use this time to pour into people and to seek You. What a gift.”
Anyways, after writing my thoughts down, I started my reading for the morning. In my quiet time with the Lord, I have just recently prayed for the Spirit to show me my Father’s thoughts rather than showing up just to check it off my list, but never truly experiencing God. I’ve been reading through Exodus, the building of the tabernacle, and all the things that don’t seem too exciting… right!! But on that morning, I told the Lord that I believed that He could speak to me even through a passage that seemed to have little importance in my mind. I know that sounds bad, but that was my honest thinking at the moment. I read through Exodus 36-38 and then I turned on my podcast that goes with my reading each day. At the end of the podcast she said, “I see God here, with us, even on the days when there’s nothing flashy about it. Even in the spaces that feel routine. He’s in the ritual. He’s in the ordinary. I bet there were days that these priests didn’t feel any closer to God than they did before then. Was it really even doing anything? But they kept at it. Trusting beyond their own understanding, that doing these things over and over really did serve some kind of purpose even when they couldn’t see it. Drawing near to God, bit by bit, will always be worth the slow days.” Once again, tears streaming down my face. God wants to speak! In fact, He is waiting to speak to us. The question becomes, will we listen?
Do not buy into the lie that the days spent in the unknown do not matter. The truth is, they matter immensely and God is moving on your behalf! Search for Him in the midst of your questions, confusion, and fear. He is truly where the joy is and He is for you and with you even as you read this now!!! It is time that you begin to notice the miracles that surround you every single day. Just open your eyes.