Loud or Soft?

This wont be long (although i wish i had the time and energy right now to make it more indepth) but just a thought from something i heard in chapel recently.

Letting Go

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Youve all heard it and all memorized it as a child. You probably all mouthed it with me as I said it. But what do these verses mean in our lives today?
 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. The word heart in Hebrew is labethe center of everything. Trust God with everything. To trust him with all your heart means to trust him with everything. Easier said than done, I know, but it should be a desired lifestyle. When you trust in Him, you DEPEND on Him. Put your hope in God, and do it with your whole heart, your whole being. and it means

Lean not on your own understanding...human wisdomwhen we rely on what we think we know things get all outta wack, because we know pretty much nothing! There are many times when I think I know what I need and want, but I end up finding out that Gods knowledge was greater than mine and He planned everything in a much more exciting way. There is a song by a band that I greatly admire, Tree63 and it says Where I end, thats where you begin. Where our knowledge ends, thats where Gods knowledge begins.

In all your ways acknowledge Him.....all our ways? In this passage all our ways is from the Hebrew word that I cant really pronounce but looks like Derek (and I hope it is pronounced Derek because that would be freaking cool). Derek means a course of life so this is saying On this journey of life, be aware of Him, be continually conscious of Him. What would it be like to live a life where you are aware of Him in every aspect of your journey?

And he shall direct your paths. I love this because its not he might direct your paths, but he WILL. Walk with your head held high, because HE will direct your paths. Direct literally means to make plain he will show you where to go. Good stuff.

Something is keeping us from trusting him. Oh wait. thats us.

We tend to be the biggest barrier between God and ourselves. To quote my friend Gene Lewis, Only you can prevent forest fires.and only you can start them! We can tear down the barriers between God and us, but we often times ARE that barrier. There are things in our lives that are hindering us from trusting God. We need to let them go.
 

What do you need to let go of?
 

Why are we so afraid to let go? It means giving up control. We hold tight to something because were afraid that if we give it up, we wont get it back. We want to be in control. Trusting God is a huge struggle that many, many people have. All of us struggle with something, whether big or small, that our hands are clenched tightly around.

Letting go is the single hardest thing Ive ever encountered. It isnt easy, cause if it was I would have done it a long time ago. Ive let go of things many times, but it isnt as easy as just saying it.

Letting go is a process. When I was going through a rough time in my life, a friend of mine told me, It doesnt mean you wont still struggle with it and it doesnt mean the pain will stop. It means that you continually give them to God when those pains or temptations come. It isnt like a cool ninja that can just disappear; it takes time, little by little, falling and having Jesus pick you back up again, the hope that you will arrive at that place of peace someday. But I promise that it will get easier as you go along.

One of the reasons I think it is so hard to let go is because we cant see anything beyond what is in front of us.

There is an analogy that I love to use to describe this. Okay, image you are handed a puzzle piece that belongs to a 1 million piece puzzle, so its pretty small. You look at it and notice the weird shape and bumps and curves in the piece, you see that there are many colors on the piece. You also notice the fact that you have NO idea how that piece fits anywhere in the puzzle. Now think about this. God has the box that shows the picture of what the puzzle is going to look like when its complete. Holy Moses thats cool.God will put the pieces together if you trust him with the one you have your hand clenched around. Although I cant see right now how some pieces fit together, God does, and thats where the trust comes in. It also goes with the passage we opened with he shall direct your paths

In order to trust him, we need to surrender the things we hold onto.

There is an amazing, amazing little girl that I babysit and have had the privelidge to do so since she was a baby. Her name is Kelsey Lee. Shes justgreatI see God in her so muchanyway, she loved her pacifier when she was littleshe called it her phifer. When she was about 3 years old it was time for her to give up her pacifier and move on. Her parents prepped her and let her know that she would need to give it up soon, and finally one day it was time to say goodbye to phifer. They tied it on a string and attached it to a helium filled balloon. Kelsey took the balloon in her hands and all by herself, unclenched her hand and let the balloon go. She surrendered phifer.

     Reflection Questions:

1. Why is it hard to trust God with our lives?

2. What would it be like to live a life where you are aware of Him in every aspect of your journey?

3. What keeps you from living life this way?

4. What kinds of things do you hold onto?

5. Did the analogy of the puzzle piece help you understand something new about God? Why or why not?

6. How long do you think the process of letting go should take?

7. Have you ever had a time when you were afraid to give something to God because you were afraid you wouldnt get it back? When? What happened?