Am I Acknowledging God?

Ever feel like God's timing isn't right? Ever think, "If (fill in the blank) happened right now, everything would be fixed!" or "This (whatever this might be) has to be the solution, I just know it!" Have you ever prayed something like "God, please let me get this job" or "Father, heal my friend". Before you get mad at me, I don't think praying for healing or a job or countless other things is wrong, but I do think our attitude or heart behind our prayers can be incorrect.

Let me be super clear. God is never late. God never makes a mistake. If God has said no to healing, jobs, moves, or anything else, that is what is best. Even when we can't imagine how it could possibly be best. It is. We have to trust Him. When we approach life with that kind of trust, there is SO much peace. Proverbs 3:5-6 says "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." There is so much goodness in those two verses. I am going to try and speak to a few.

First, look at the first word. Trust. Dictionary.com (I know....but still) gives the definition of trust as "reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc. of a person or thing; confidence". Do we really live our lives in such a way to have full and complete trust in God? Do we truly believe His will is best regardless of our own wants/desires? Do we trust Him in the big picture things as well as the minute day to day things? I know I struggle here. Even recently, we felt led as a family to make a big change and as we have worked through making that change happen, there have been stumbling blocks and bumps in the way and I am so quick to call out to God "Why?!?" instead of rather "Show me what to do and how I can become more like Jesus in this moment". The verse tells us how much we should trust God. With all our heart. Not some, not when He agrees with our wants or feelings, not when it's convenient.....With.All.Our.Heart.

Second, God reminds us here to not lean on our own understanding. We cannot see everything the way God can. We don't know what's down the road 20 minutes from now, let alone a year or two. God sees. God is working for the good of those who love Him and are His. This is where the peace comes in. When we trust God with all our heart and realize we don't know it all (in case you didn't know that already, you don't know everything) :) we let the worry and the anxiety go regarding the things we can't control. How that person who is supposed to be your friend treated you, how you got passed up for the promotion again, how the scan showed the cancer is back. Any and everything. We let it go and trust God to work, while we control what we can. Ourselves. Our decisions. How we treat people. As a society we tend to put too much emphasis on what others think of us and too little concern on what God thinks of us. I know I do. Focus on walking in a manner worthy of your high calling (Ephesians 4:1).

The last point I want to draw your attention to (there is more than this blog can cover for sure) is that the verse tells us to acknowledge God. In all our ways to acknowledge God to be exact. What does that mean? It could be a simple prayer in your head for guidance and gracious words when your husband is unkind. It could be asking to have time to pray over an important decision and then actually taking the time to pray. It could be waking up each day and during your quiet time committing that day to the Lord to use as He wills. There are many examples. The point is you acknowledge God. You pause whether for a moment or however long it takes, to bring it before the thrown so God has the chance to make straight your paths. If we jump into decisions, respond quickly to insult, etc. we have a much higher chance of erring and straying from God's will for us. Pause. Acknowledge God. And listen to His direction.

I don't know about you, but I have heard and known these verses for many years, but I have never really made the acknowledging God connection in my day to day life. I probably used to think "well duh I think God is God". Anyone else? I left it there. I didn't dig deeper to acknowledge Him moment by moment. It is something I am working on. It's a process for sure. I hope you will look a little deeper into how you acknowledge God and trust Him in your everyday life. I hope God's peace covers each of you in whatever situation you find yourself in, knowing full well God is in control and is so completely trustworthy. Trust Him and allow His peace to protect you as only He can. I love you all. Till next time.