Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 HCSB
I quote this Scripture passage often. I try to live it out in my daily life, but I have to admit I sometimes fail to do so. There are times when I formulate what I think is a great plan and hope God will join me in the execution of my plan. Oftentimes, I fail when I do that.
The Baptist Missionary J. Hudson Taylor described three ways we handle situations. Many times, we simply make the best plan we can and hope that it all works out. Or we may make what we think is a really good plan and pray that God blesses it. This is where we devise a plan and ask God to tag along. The third way we can handle events in our lives is to pray to God and ask Him what we should do and follow His instructions.
God may not verbally speak to you and tell you what to do, but if you rely on Him through prayer and Bible study, He will reveal through His Word what you should do.
In the Old Testament, God gave some of His people some crazy battle plans. He told Joshua and his men to simply march around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and on the seventh day, shout, and the walls would come down. He told Jehoshaphat to have his men suit up with the choir going first and go to the battlefield and watch what God was going to do.
These men stepped out in faith. Even though these plans seemed absurd, they trusted God, and God gave them victory over their enemies. If you do likewise, God will do the same for you.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. You’ve got to have faith to spend seven days marching around a fortified city and expect the walls to fall when you shout (Joshua 6). You’ve got to have faith to send your choir out praising the LORD in front of your armed forces (2 Chronicles 20:21).
We must remember to do things His way. We must always remember that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). Doing things God’s way brings glory to God and victory to us.
Nations stood in fear of the Israelite army when they heard the things they were doing. Why? Because these nations knew that the one true God was fighting for them. They knew that man could not simply shout and knock down walls so thick that houses were built into them (Joshua 2:15). They knew this was the one true God.
When we face the spiritual battles of life, we must decide if we will formulate our own plan and hope that God will join in with us or tag along. Or we can trust in Him. We can acknowledge Him and trust Him to guide us on the right path.
If we decide to trust in God, we must obey Him even when His plan is much different than what we might have formulated on our own. I’ve faced battles all three ways. I have made my own plan and hoped for the best. I have made my own plan and prayed for God to tag along, and I have surrendered to Him and done it His way. I can assure you the first two are iffy at best. But when I trusted in Him, He always worked it out for my good, no matter how bad or impossible the situation seemed.
If you have a problem, God has a plan. Trust in Him. Pray to Him and study your Bible, and He will reveal His plan to you. And then comes the hardest part, obeying and following His instructions. But I can tell you from personal experience that His way will bring the best results.
Have a great day!