5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Easier said than done. When things go wrong, the first thing we do is to look at our circumstances, and then our understanding of what we see automatically kicks in. But God said, “Do not lean on your own understanding.” Far too often we evaluate our coming and going by what we see.
Today, I took my car in to have it serviced for a factory recall, and they will have to keep it overnight. They gave me a shuttle ride home and said that they would come back tomorrow to pick me up so that I could get my car. We only have one car. When I got home, my wife reminded me that our daughter had to get her packages to the Post Office before 5 pm today. I had totally forgotten that it was absolutely vital that the packages be sent out today before the Post Office closes at 5:30 pm.
We had no way of getting them there unless we took an Uber or something. Then the LORD—it would have to be the LORD—put it in my spirit to get everything ready and ask the postperson to please take it for us since we had a label, and the packages were all packed and ready to go. The problem was that one had to go to FedEx as well, something that never usually happens.
But as the LORD’s fate would have it, a FedEx van drove by at the very same time and stopped two doors down. I ran out and asked the driver if he would please take it since it was packaged with a label and ready to go. He said, “No problem at all.” We gave him the package, along with some water, some chips, and a frozen fruit bar to show our gratitude. Now for the Post Office. We didn’t know whether or not they had come and gone as yet.
About ten minutes later, the postperson drove by, and I asked her the same thing if she would take the package, and she said, “Yes, no problem.” Long story short, everyone was super stressed out because both packages had to be out today, and according to our understanding, there was no way they would be able to go. But the LORD provided what seemed impossible, and within 20 minutes, everything was done. The stress was gone. The joy of the LORD was back, and everyone was happy again.
And to top it all off, about 3 hours later, the service department called and somehow, they worked it out that not only did they start working on my car right away but told me it would be ready in about another two hours. Way enough time for them to come, pick me up, and take me back for me to pick up my car and still have plenty of time to make it to the Post Office if the need was still there.
What am I saying? God not only solved our impossible problem, but He gave us not one but two ways of getting the impossible done. Lean not on your own understanding, but rather, trust the LORD and acknowledge Him and everything you give Him, He will work it out for you.
Father, thank You that You are a good, good Father. Thank You that we can trust You and know with full confidence that You will work the impossible out for us. Teach us how not to be shaken by what we see or to be stressed by what we understand our circumstances to be. For You are a God that does the impossible, deals with the difficult, and brings hope to the hopeless. Thank You, Father, in Jesus’ mighty name, amen.