Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
This passage of scripture teaches us the importance of acknowledging God in all of our ways, and when the scripture says all, it means all. It means that Jesus is to be invited into all of our daily activities, from shopping at the grocery or mall, to the various situations that come across our pathway which call for decisions. A common mistake that is made by very many Christians is that we acknowledge God only after the fact, when we have already made our moves and gotten into trouble. Another prevalent practice that is indulged is that of planning for ourselves and then asking The Lord to sign off on what we intend to do anyway, whether or not He agrees with it. Yet another error that often occurs is the tendency to give God a set of our own options, and then asking Him to pick the one that He sees best.
All of these and other variant methods of acknowledging God fall far short of His ideal, and are productive of evils and difficulties that can otherwise be avoided. Acknowledging God in the right manner involves bringing Him into the equation at the front end, before any decision or choices are made, for by so doing we allow Him to take the lead in thought, and then whatever He decides, we humbly and gladly accede to, knowing that He does only what is for our best temporal and eternal good. But to bring certain options to the table, and thereby ask God to pick one of the above, puts us in the driver's seat as afar as ideas are concerned, and thus we literally exalt ourselves above His vastly superior knowledge, intelligence, and His singular ability to read the future accurately, thereby being able to successfully avoid any pitfalls or snares that finite minds cannot see.
As humans, we like to have a long detailed plan of action, stretching way into the future for many, many years, but this is not how God generally works with us, for His leadership style is on a day to day basis, and for good reason, for we are not promised tomorrow, therefore grace for today is all that we need. This truth is embodied in several verses of scripture which teach us that God gives us grace and strength just for today. Let's read:
Deuteronomy 33:25 Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. 26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. 27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" .....
Let us therefore not worry ourselves out of God's hands by trying to solve tomorrow's issues and problems today, for if we acknowledge God in all our ways, everything that is important to us will fall in its rightful place in the fulness of time. A great accomplishment in the Christian's life is the ability to take our concerns to God and leave them there, without allowing them to eat out our very existence, in futile efforts to solve problems that we have not a clue how to resolve. After a hard day's labor of toil and care, let us then rest in the loving arms of our merciful heavenly Father, who sees and knows all, for the rest that God grants to us is not only for over the hours of the Sabbath, but for every day of the week.
We therefore end with a passage of scripture which teaches us the necessity of acknowledging God in all of our ways, and let's always remember that He who gave His life to save us, will by no means allow us to become the sport of circumstances, if we seek His counsel and direction in all the affairs of life. Let's read:
Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
May The Lord add His blessing to the study and practice of His every word. God bless!