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PROVERBS 3:4-6

"KNOWING GOD'S WILL"

I. DESIRE OF ALL THOSE WHO TRULY KNOW GOD.
        A. Very aware of my own limitations.
                1. I have been wrong so many times.
                        a. I have been deceived, cheated, defrauded, even by those I though
                           were my most loyal friends.
                2. I don't know what the future holds.
                        a. I may be building directly over the fault of the next major
                           earthquake.
                        b. Jesus spoke of the successful farmer.
                           "Thou fool, this night thy soul..."
                                1. How many times as He watches us plan our own ambitions
                                   building programs, "thou fool."
                3. I don't like laboring in vain.
                        a. I don't like watching years of planning and hard labor going down
                           the tube.
        B. Aware of God's true nature.
                1. He loves me.
                        a. He is for my best interests.
                                1. As a child, I do not always know what is best.
                                2. What I think is best is often bad.
                        b. His dealing with me are always motivated by love.
                2. He knows the end from the beginning.
                        a. He doesn't make mistakes.
                        b. The labor He directs is never in vain.
        C. With this dual awareness, the wisest thing I can do is to seek His will for my life.

II. HOW CAN I KNOW GOD'S WILL?  THREE STEPS.
        A. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart."
                1. This is total commitment.
                        a. Much more than "try God."
                        b. Many people trying God for a week. It took me 35 years to make this
                           mess of my life. I give God one week to try to untangle it.
                        c. Complete abandonment to God.
                                1. Not, get on my side God, don't let me go down.
                                2. I'm in it with you God, if You go down, we're going down
                                   together.
        B. "Lean not to your understanding."
                1. "I am not going to always understand God's ways.
                        a. Tragedies will come into my life.
                        b. I may experience suffering.
                2. I must remember the limitations of my understanding.
                        a. God and I dwell in separate dimensions.
                                1. Mine is bounded by time.
                                2. His is eternal.
        C. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him."
                1. This is usually the area of greatest failure.
                        a. Our lives become routine.
                2. We so seldom ask God's guidance.
                        a. It's usually when we are in the center of the bridge when it starts
                           to crumble that we ask, "O God, should I try to cross on this
                           bridge?" 
                3. It's blasphemy to say, "I want God's will for my life, and not seek His
                   guidance on a daily basis.

III. "AND HE SHALL DIRECT THY PATHS."
        A. I can walk with assurance.