The Next Steps - Proverbs 3:5-8 - Part II

The Next Steps – Proverbs 3:5-8 – Part II

Self-reliance eventuates into humankind’s digression to a state of nature.  To paraphrase John Stuart Mill, we will engage in a glorified swinish bliss which we define as bourgeois culture.  Self-reliance in international affairs abets the greed and insatiable thirst for power that perpetuates terrorism and war in the Middle East and genocide in Africa.  It also esteems profit over people as Western pharmaceutical companies refuse to discount vaccines for African nations that lose tens of thousands of people to HIV/AIDS each day.  On a national level, self-reliance acquiesces the continuation of the evil conflict in Iraq and sacrifices the lives of thousands of American youth to enrich a few people.  With regard to the individual, self-reliance enables millions of people to ignore any moral obligation that they have to intervene in these social dilemmas.  As long as their needs are met, they do not care.  As long as they can satisfy the urgings of their instincts, fulfill their personal desires, and buy what they want, they blissfully proceed with their lives without allowing societal challenges to impact their thoughts, behavior or resources.

Accordingly, Solomon suggests “in all your ways acknowledge Him.”  Submitting to God liberates us from a selfish and swinish existence.  It blesses us with the joy of skipping unnecessary detours on the road of life.  Taking proverbial laps in the wilderness wastes incredible amounts of time and energy.  Daily consulting Almighty God for His guidance directly channels our talent, time, tithe and temperament toward the most constructive and worthwhile purposes.  In addition, God directs us toward activities that possess eternal value.  On practical level, sowing into the lives of people and affecting them with the unconditional love of Almighty God are two straightforward and successful activities with eternal consequences.  People who have received the bounty of God’s love usually share it with others.  The ripple effects are infinite.  I envision that we will meet countless people in heaven who came to know God because of one act of kindness that we sowed in a person’s life.  That recipient’s gratitude motivated him to share that love with many others.  The prerequisite to accomplishing anything of eternal worth is a daily consultation with the Infinite One who is eternity.

Recognizing God’s will demands that we establish the daily spiritual discipline of prayer, meditation and self-evaluation.  God chooses at seasons of our lives to divulge only the next right step, hence the title or this column.  I suspect that He rations the information relating to His will in bite sizes pieces for several reasons.  Too much information easily overwhelms us.  If God were to reveal the next ten steps, then we could easily retake control of matters and only consult Him when we needed additional details.  Not surprisingly, we will digress to a stance of self-reliance.  More significantly, God parcels information to us on “a need to know basis” because He knows that we will not communicate consistently with Him if we have more than a daily allocation of His revelation.