Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Trust and Action


I want to trust in the LORD with all my heart and not lean on my own understanding.  But what does that look like?  Does that mean that I am just waiting for the LORD to act, just sitting around?  Does it mean that I'm only doing things that I feel like I have specific direction for God about?  What's my part?  God obviously made us to be active human beings.  Our bodies are designed for movement and action.  It functions better when we lead an active lifestyle.  So I don't think sitting around waiting on Him is what he intended.

Paul was a man of action.  He was also a man who listened to the LORD and headed his warnings. He also warned those around him.  In Acts 27 Paul is on a boat bound for Rome.  He was a prisoner and he had appealed his case to Caesar.  Paul knew that God wanted him to preach the Gospel in Rome.  I'd be willing to bet that he didn't think God would bring him to Rome as a prisoner.  The trip to Rome was rough.  The ship encountered bad weather.  The crew wanted to kill the all prisoners at one point in case the ship wrecked so the prisoners couldn't escape.  But God had told Paul in a dream that they would all survive.

What did Paul do with this information? He shared it.  He advised the crew members how to proceed.  That's bold.  Have you, as a student, ever tried to tell a teacher what to do?   Most teachers don't react well.  I know I haven't always reacted well to a student telling me what to do.  As a matter of fact, I may have said to a class "One of us is the tech specialist and one of us is y'all.  I know what I'm doing."  when a class tried to advise me on fixing a projector.  So I can imagine how the sailors felt when a prisoner tried to tell them how to save their ship.

Paul trusted the LORD with his life and ministry.  Paul also took action to minister to people.

So the questions remains...when do we hang tight and trust the LORD and when do we take action to change a situation?  Can we do both at the same time?

Maybe it's not such a hard thing after all.

My friend Kelley gives the best advice that works in all situations: do the next right thing.

We don't have to know exactly what God is doing.  We just have to do the next right thing.  We don't have to know the next 25 right things to do.  Just the next one.

We do, however, have to stay plugged in to God.  If we are not in His word and communicating with him through prayer, it's very difficult to know the next right thing.  We tend to come up with the next easiest thing which is not at all the same as the next right thing.

For a planner and plotter, this is not an easy thing to learn or practice.  But, I'm trying to be obedient to the LORD.  Just do the next thing He's asking me to do.  Everyday He's asking me to trust Him.  To rely on His goodness, His love for me, His plan.  To put aside my plan.

That's really the rub.  I have a plan for my life and so does God.  But one of us is God and one of us is me.  His plan trumps my plan.  Oh how hard it is to even type that.  I have a great plan.  Why can't it be His plan? Because my plan is only temporarily great. God's plan is in it for the long haul.

LORD, help me trust you all the time.  Let me know when to take action.  Let that action be aligned with Your plan for me.



Join me tomorrow as we talk about waiting and obedience.  You can click the button with the envelope to subscribe and get my posts in your inbox!

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