Bill Johnson - God Is Making Your Path Straight
I pray that every one of us this next week would discover some of the wonderful ways that God has set us up to experience Him, to know what You’re like, Father, and then to see You straighten our paths, which used to be so twisted and curvy. Well, hey there, welcome once again! I’m glad that you’re able to join us. I mentioned last week that I wanted to cover one of the most important portions of scripture in my life—there are several, of course, for all of us—but this passage in Proverbs 3:5 and 6 I think I memorized just because I heard my grandma say it a lot. I don’t think I ever memorized it as a child; I just think I heard it a lot from her. She was someone who would memorize great portions of scripture and quote them, and I would sit there and check her as she would quote these scriptures. But here is the verse that I want us to take a look at today: «Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.» Another translation says, «He will make your paths straight.» In other words, He will take the course of your life and make it not only doable, but also smooth and successful. You will accomplish what He has assigned you to do with ease.
So look at the verse again: «Trust in the Lord with all your heart.» Trust is a heart issue. Trust is a heart issue. Trust in the Lord. What I’ve been learning to do lately, even in my older years, is to say out loud, «I trust You.» I find myself in a situation where I don’t know what to do; there’s pressure, maybe many options, and I’m clueless. It could be any number of things where there’s a problem I don’t know how to fix. I stop in the middle and just say it out loud. I have found a certain sense of relief, if you will, to hear my own mouth confess what I need to confess: «Father, I trust You.» I don’t know what to do, but I trust You. It’s a heart issue. Never resist an opportunity to surrender. Surrender is the place of life for all of us; that’s where He is able to do what He is designed to do in our lives. So here it is again: «Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding.» This doesn’t mean the mind isn’t important; it just means sometimes we lean on our understanding that is in opposition to His. The mind of Christ is not to be fought against; it’s to be surrendered to. So lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Here’s what I wanted to point out in this passage before we read just a couple more verses. In verse 6, it says, «In all your ways acknowledge Him.» First of all, how many ways do you have in your life? This is what this looks like for me. I’m a husband, so there’s a certain way in my life that is loving and caring for my wife and my children. I’m a dad, I’m a grandfather, I’m a pastor, I’m a neighbor, I’m an author. I have a lot of different roles in life; these are the ways of life. This says, «In each of those ways acknowledge Him.»
Now, here’s what I found that I didn’t know until just a couple of years ago: when it says to acknowledge Him, it doesn’t mean, you know, that you’re in this role as a dad and you go, «Hey Lord, I acknowledge You; I recognize You; You’re a Father.» It’s more than that. This word to acknowledge is the same basic word used to describe Adam knowing Eve, and she conceived and bore a son. Fascinating—Adam knew Eve. So there’s intimacy, there’s relationship, there’s a knowing on a much deeper level. So when it says to acknowledge Him, it means that in that aspect of your life, it’s not just recognizing that He exists, or that He’s smarter than you, or that He has the answer and you don’t. It’s bigger than that; it’s coming to know Him experientially.
Alright, I’m a dad. I don’t know what to do in this situation, but You’re my Father, and You come into a place where you acknowledge and recognize Him and you experience His love in your own heart as a Father for you. In that relationship, you get to discover, «Okay, I’m an author.» So you’re an author. You write. You’re the author and the finisher of my faith. So I come to recognize Him, but I also come to experience Him in that area. What happens is, from the encounter with the Lord and that experience of His grace and kindness to me in that area of my life, things begin to sort themselves out—the path gets made straight. Somehow, I am capable of doing what I couldn’t do earlier. Some of the things I’ve learned to do as a dad, for my own kids and now my grandchildren, I actually learned because of the way He treats me.
I think, «Oh, I need to do that.» Many people know I buy gifts for my children or my grandchildren on my birthday, and my driving point is that I only have one lifetime to illustrate what He’s like. He’s a very kind and generous Father, so I want to ensure that my children and my grandchildren grow up with an understanding of what He’s like. That’s one of the ways that I choose to do it, but the point is that I come to know Him in all my ways. Whenever I do, things work out better than they ever used to before—He will make your path straight. Does that make sense? Come to know Him in each of the areas of life.
In Ephesians 3, it says to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. To know what is beyond knowledge—that’s a paradoxical verse until you understand the original language. It basically means this: you can know by experience what is beyond comprehension. You can know by experience what is beyond comprehension. Your heart can fit in places your head can’t. Your heart can experience the love of God in ways that you could never possibly wrap your head around, but it will mark you for life. That’s the invitation of scripture: trust Him. Because as you come to know Him in each of the areas of responsibility and assignments you have in life, you have a grace to function outside your norm, and that really is the outcome of this particular passage.
I want to read just one more verse, two more verses for you: verses 9 and 10. «Honor the Lord with your possessions, the first fruits of your increase, so that your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.» Let me just say this: I know that the subject of prosperity has been so messed up by so many people, but it’s still in the book; it’s still in the Bible. Prosperity is supposed to have a divine purpose; it’s not for building personal empires, but to resource me with the capacity to affect and change people’s lives. That’s the blessing of the Lord. This wisdom positions me to acknowledge Him in all my ways to the point where I give Him the first and the best out of everything that comes into my life. That really is the life of wisdom.
So I pray that for you. I pray that every one of us this next week would discover some of the wonderful ways that God has set us up to experience Him, to know what You’re like, Father, and then to see You straighten the paths that used to be so twisted and curvy. And I pray that You’d be exalted by our success and our breakthroughs. I pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. Next week, we’re going to look at chapter 4, and actually a verse that is probably one of the top two or three key verses of my life. We’ll open that up next week. Bless you!