"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones." Proverbs 3:5-8
We are going to attempt to take these verses apart so that we might glean the full benefit of these instructions and the promises that goes with them. Beginning with verse one we need to ask ourselves what do we put our trust in? Take some time to search deeply for an honest answer. When we are sick what is the first source of help we reach out to? Do we pray for guidance and healing from the Lord, or do we lean to our own understanding and do what everyone else does? Very few of us stop long enough to actually place our trust in the Lord and His Word, and seek His wisdom and guidance. It is a natural instinct to do what we think is right in our own eyes.
He promises to make our paths in life straight. When I run a straight path I can see where I am going with no guessing, and I am prepared for what lies ahead before I get there.
In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus is discussing proof of the kingdom life He has called His own to. He tells them:
"Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Obviously you cannot go with the flow of this world, and do what the majority are doing if you want to live for the kingdom not of this world. We are told in the sixth verse of Proverbs to acknowledge Him in all our ways. If only we would discipline ourselves to do so, we would not lose our way so often on the conflicting paths of life. We would allow Him to make our paths straight and precise, without losing our way from confusion leading to bad choices concerning which way to go. He will direct our paths if we will consult Him.
We are instructed not to be wise in our own eyes, but to fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Our pride is a constant enemy of the kingdom life. We usually want to be right more than we want the truth. Our reverence for God has to be greater than the temptations of our flesh. We all need a healthy fear of the wrath of God that will be poured out in upcoming days as prophesied in the New and Old Testament on all unbelievers who have chosen to live for themselves doing what is right in their own eyes. Their pride and arrogance doesn’t allow them to receive corrections. Their hearts become hardened and they are blinded to the Light. There is no room in their hearts for repentance. There is a lack of conviction from the Holy Spirit, because they are being led by a different spirit. Please know this is true as much in many churches as in corporate America. I think the deception and hypocrisy there is even more detrimental to the will of God for the true followers of Christ.
Jesus tells us those who love Him, obeys His commandments. (John 14:15)
We can’t obey what we don’t know, or acknowledge in our lives.
Now let’s pay careful attention to the promise in Proverbs after these verses. If we do as the Proverbs teach, we are told it will bring health to our bodies and healing to our bones. Participating in a mud run several years back I broke my tibia in my right leg which is the second largest bone in our bodies. I also super hyper- extended my knee on the same leg while sprinting downhill and attempting to leap over a creek at the bottom. It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but the area had received 11 inches of rain the night before so when my front leg landed it immediately sunk up to the knee and there was an abrupt halt to the leap due to the front leg being cemented in thick mud. I pulled my leg out of the mud and attempted to run again, but immediately went back down in the mud. That’s when I knew it wasn’t a simple injury. I came home on crutches and sporting a leg brace being told I had a significant break in my tibia.
I did cry out to the Lord after I was told by the sports orthopedic doctor I could not think of trying to run again till October. This was early June. I had a race in August I had signed up to do with a client. It was to be her first half marathon and it was a difficult trail run. I also needed to work. That is when the Lord led me to these verses.
I was familiar with verses 5 – 7, but not verse 8. I had never noticed before the promise for healing to my body and refreshment to my bones! I had never seen the association of obedience to the previous verses pertaining to healing! I knew I was hearing from my Father directly. I memorized and meditated on these verses for weeks, and prayed for healing from my Father. I didn’t go back to the doctor but one time to make my children happy. The end result was I went back to work and got back to running, miraculously I believe, way before the time frame I had been given. I believe the doctor would have agreed considering I ran that half marathon with my client the first week in August! The injuries happened the first week in June. That is approximately eight weeks!
I have had two broken ankles since then, thankfully a year apart, but in both instances I did what these verses spoke to me, and God again enabled me to do the Mount Mitchell trail runs just weeks after the breaks both years.
I can only share what my experience has been as I applied these verses to my life, and there are plenty of eye witnesses that were there to observe what God has done in my life through the years. I do believe God’s Word brings healing to His children. I know it does. Read Psalm 107. The Psalmist declares in verses 17- 20:
"Fools, because of their rebellious way, and because of their iniquities were afflicted. Their souls abhorred all kinds of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses.
He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions."
Malachi 4:2 proclaims:
"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall."
Leaping like a calf from a stall had been a way of life trail running until the hazardous mud run. However, I did fear His wonderful name, or I reverenced it more than I magnified my injuries, and He has healed me faithfully. I long for everyone to know how good our God is, and I know He is faithful and true in all His promises if we obey His commandments. He shows no partiality. He will do the same for all, if we will only allow Him too. We must stop leaning to our own understanding, trusting in ourselves and each other as opposed to our God. He is still God. He is still on the throne. Try digesting His Word as much as we do prescriptions and medications and see for yourself what happens.
In His love.
Teresa Roberts
Masterpiece Fitness
276-237-668000
This week’s photos are from my run/hike on Monday at Stone Mountain before the cold front arrived. It was spectacular! Beautiful masterpieces of fall from the hand of our Creator, which I immersed myself in everywhere my feet did trod!
Lord, I stand amazed at the wonder of it all!!
