In all your ways acknowledge Him by Aije Barnes, August 4 issue 3 Vol 4

The following verses from the bible are one of my favourites:

 

'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 ‭3‬:‭5-6‬ KJV)'.

 

It all starts with trust - trust in The Lord. Trusting God is the key to our perfect peace as shown the the following verse:

 

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. (Isaiah‬ ‭26‬:‭3‬ KJV).

My focus today is on the second part of the opening verse - 'In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.'

 

This is so important because sometimes even though we have committed things into God's hands and are trusting him for an answer, we don't always know what to do next. 

 

Sometimes so many ideas come into our minds. Some may look attractive while others might seem more risky and we feel we need to do something but are not sure what. 

 

We may even be faced an attractive business preposition and feel tempted by this thinking it is God's answer to our prayers. We should however not be too hasty in making a decision. 

 

The Lord taught me this lesson when  I was listening to a Christian teaching on Abram and his nephew Lot. 

 

In a snap shot, Abram was a man of God who had the good habit of calling on the name of Lord at key stages of his life. You will note that Abram built an alter and called  on the name of The Lord before going down into Egypt due to a great famine in the land he was living.  In Egypt, he found himself in a situation that made him fearful of his life which made him take decisions that subsequently nearly made him loose Sarai his wife. Because of Abram's fears for his life he asked Sarai to tell the Egyptians that she was his sister (she was his half sister) and not to reveal that she was actually his wife. Despite Abram's actions, The Lord in His mercy and grace not only blessed him and Sarai with great wealth in this awkward situation, He also spared his life and returned Sarai to him and allowed him to retain all the gifts he was given by the Egyptians.  They then both left Egypt and Abram went back to the place where he had previously build an alter to God and again called upon the name of The Lord.  

 

Now after that Abram who was very rich together with is nephew Lot, faced another issue between his and Lot's herdsmen over land which arose due to the great wealth they had between them. 

 

Abram decided to give Lot first choice over the land God had promised him. There is nothing in the scriptures that tells us that Lot called upon the name of The Lord or even acknowledged Him before he made his choice. As the story goes, Lot choose the nicest and most fertile part of the land for himself. The bible described the parts he choose as 'like the garden of the Lord'. These parts were in the regions of Sodom and Gomorrah.  The scripture is clear on the troubles that befell Lot and his family on more than one occasion; one of which he subsequently sadly lost his wife. After Lot's choice, things in his life went from bad to worse. 

 

On the other hand, Abram who cultivated the habit of acknowledging God in all he did by often calling on the name of The Lord, his life kept getting better and better though he had a few trials along his way.  You can see how in Abram's life The Lord faithfully honoured His word despite the challenges and tests he went through during his walk with The Lord.  

 

Abram, whom The Lord later renamed Abraham, demonstrated through the examples in his life that when we acknowledge God in all that we do, we are still fallible and do not always make the right decisions but God is always faithful to His word and the fact that we have taken the most important steps to not only trust Him but also acknowledge Him in all our ways He will surely fulfil His promises concerning you.  You don't have to understand how God will fulfil His promises, or allow your personal failures to stop you from returning to The Lord and calling on Him again (thereby acknowledging Him). You just have to continue to trust that He will surely direct your paths as long as you acknowledge Him in all your ways. 

 

Grace and God's peace (shalom) to you as you trust and acknowledge Him in all your ways.