Seeking for the help of the Lord I direct your prayer for attention to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 3 and reading for our text verse 5. Proverbs chapter 3 And our text, verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 5.

that is trusting in the Lord Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Eternal God. This is a precept, a command, a duty, a privilege, all of these things in different contexts and it is a great blessing for the people of God to have such a God to trust in. This is one of those things that the Lord calls us to do with all our heart. You think of other passages of scripture where we are called to love the Lord with all our heart, we're called to obey Him with all our heart, we're called to believe on Him and here to trust in Him with all our heart. in the things of God is not to be half and half. Our Lord says ye cannot serve God and mammon. And when Paul is told by King Agrippa, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian, then Paul responds, I would, that thou would not almost, but altogether, such as I am, accept this chain. is vital for us to be clearly on one side or another when we think we are either a believer or an unbeliever we are either going to heaven or we're going to hell we are either one of the lord's people or not that then we should be reminded in our serving and in all that we do that that also we should do with all our heart.

We have many examples, especially with the kings of Judah, where they did not serve the Lord or follow the Lord fully. There were some things that they did right. Jehu executed all of the will of the Lord in executing vengeance on the house of Ahab, but then we are told that he did not follow the Lord fully. And there are many others, Asa began well but in the end diseased in his feet and resisting the kind, faithful admonitions of the prophets. We think of even Solomon, and wise man that he was, and yet followed after many strange women, and even made gods for them, idols for them. We can hardly believe that that was so.

We know, of course, then from those examples, which were God's people, that our servitude, and whether it is full or not, is not our title for heaven. The Lord does not require that perfect here below. He does. He seeks it. We should strive after it. But our entrance into heaven, our salvation, is not dependent upon our works either before or after conversion. And it is a great comfort to realize that, that we should never use it as an excuse for doing something half by the flesh, half by the Lord, and walking in a way that is contrary to that set before us in the Word of God.

So with our text here it is trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Like many passages in scripture where we're not just given one side it's not just half of this verse trust in the Lord but it covers the other side as well and lean not unto thine own understanding." In other words, don't trust sometimes and lean sometimes, but trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Many times through scripture we're shown the two sides, the contrast, one that serves God, one that does not serve, one that prays rightly, one that doesn't pray rightly, These examples through the Word of God should be a warning to us and to show us that we should walk carefully but at the same time not thinking that our salvation depends upon our works but upon Christ.

But of course when we come to trusting It is absolutely vital in the way of salvation that our trust is all upon the Lord. I remember R.C. Sproul once was asked, could someone who was an Arminian, one that believed in free will, Could they get to heaven? And he says, well, it depends. If they are trusting that they instigated salvation, that it was part of their works, then no. But if they were fully trusting in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, then yes. And so it is very vital in the matter of salvation that we are not saying, well, Christ has done his part on Calvary. We now must do our part upon earth. We must choose him. We must do our part. And if we are saved, we can say to others, well, the reason why you are not saved is because you did not do what we did. And part of the crown then is put upon our head and not on the head of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We want to look this evening with the Lord's helm at three points. Firstly, why? Why we should trust in the Lord. Of course, you might say, well, because He has said we are to. But it is very help to us to look at, to consider the reasons why we should. And then secondly, why we should not lean to our own understanding. And then thirdly, what we are to trust Him for and how that trust is actually evidenced. So firstly, why? Why we should trust in the Lord? Now there's many, many reasons, but I hope to bring some that will be a strength to our faith, to encourage us to do just this. Now first is this, that He is worthy of our trust. He's very character, He's gracious and loving, kind, He is God, our Creator, and right through the Scriptures, those who have trusted in Him, He has never let them down. He is worthy of our trust.

You know, if we had someone that we were being exhorted to trust in, but you could point to many instances where they let you down, they didn't turn up to appointments, they didn't pay the debt that was due to be paid. When you called upon them to help you in trouble, they let you down. They wouldn't be worthy of our trust. There was all the time the thought, well, maybe though I trust that they won't come in time, they won't help me. But our Lord is worthy of our trust.

Another reason is, we as all people are, we are part of God's plan. Our Lord has a counsel of all, that which is done before the foundation of the world. We read in one place that the foundation of the Lord stand ashore, the Lord knoweth them that are His. And when we think what the Scripture says of that, Thine they were, Thou gavest them me. When? In eternity past, that's when. Chosen in Him, chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world. And all the things that He does are based upon what was done before time.

I've loved Thee with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn Thee And the foundation is in God himself. This is why dear David could say that, though his house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure and he's looking back to that which is everlasting and paul when he writes to the churches all the time he speaks of those things that according to the counsel of his own will those things that he is determined in himself.

We think with the creation of the world and of man, let us make man in our own image. And for this reason, us as being part of that plan, and especially as being his people, That plan cannot fail. It must achieve, to the honour and glory of God, all that is determined to come to pass. And so, when we think of that plan, when we think of the nations of the earth, when we think of things that are done, things that we would be grieved at, And we know that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that there is no man on earth that is above the Lord. Who is He? That saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not. And so we are to remember this, remembering this is why We should trust in the Lord. His purposes, says the hymn writer, are ripening fast and folding every hour. And they are.

Another reason is His knowledge. His knowledge is unsearchable. You know, He knows men. He knows what is in their hearts. He knows what they're planning. he knows every event, he knows what will happen, and because he knows these things, therefore he will direct his people according to that knowledge, he will hold them back, or he'll draw them forward, because of not what is known in the short term, but what he sees and not what they see.

I often get an illustration of this on the motorway. We might get the speed limit restricted for a while, and then it's raised, and we think, why was that? We couldn't see anything ahead or anything, but those controlling could see that 10, 15 miles ahead on the Modi Way there was an accident, or someone had stalled, and they were trying to get them off the fast lane and onto the hard shoulder, and so they were holding back the cars miles back so that they didn't all bunch up and come right where the incident was, so by the time you get to the incident, the incident is not there anymore and you think there's no need to be held back. But the controllers knew why and our Lord is like that. His knowledge is over all things. He can foresee, He knows the future, He knows what is happening.

I had an illustration of this in my own employment some years ago. And I asked my employer, I wanted to reduce my hours, wanted to reduce from four days a week to three. And he said, no. He said, I don't want you to do that. He said, trust me, you just keep with your four at the moment, just trust me. Well, I did. And then I found out that the firm was being taken over. I was being made redundant. If I'd have reduced to three days a week, my redundancy would have been less than if I'd have kept to four. And my employer that was actually selling the business to someone else, he knew that. He couldn't tell me that, but he could tell me and give me the advice not to decrease the hours because He had knowledge that I did not have. And I've often thought of this concerning the Lord. He has knowledge that we do not have. And so He directs and He guides us according to that knowledge.

Not only is it knowledge that He is worthy of our trust, but also of His power. He is able to do exceeding far abundantly above all that we can ask or even think. The disciples, they were amazed. They said, what manner of man is this, when with His word He stilled the winds and stilled the waves? There was a great calm. had a power over men. He could change them from being the mad Gadarene to sitting at his feet, hearing his word. The power that the Lord had over nature, over man. And we are to realise this.

If we are to trust in someone, we need to know, do they have the knowledge? Do they have the power? Are they able to do what we are trusting in them to do? Another reason why we are to trust is that He is a sovereign God. There's no one going to influence Him. There's no one going to say, no, no, you're not going to do that. Or let me change your mind in this. He is of one mind, and who can turn him, says Job. And the Lord is sovereign. There's no higher authority.

We might have someone we're trusting in, and then we find out, well, actually, they've got a manager above them, and they disannul what they want to do for us, and they can't do it for us. But that doesn't happen with the Lord, because there is none above him. And so he doeth according to his own will. Another reason is this, that he only desires the very real, good, eternal good for his people. We are not to be suspicious of Him and to think that He desires to crush us under feet, to harm us, but He desires our real eternal good. He has our interest at heart.

You know, when we think of the types in Scripture, you think of Joseph. And even though all what his brothers had done to him, when he sees them, he knows them. And yes, he's dealing with them to bring their sin to remembrance, to test to see whether they still are the same spirit. And all that he does is out of love for them. He gives them the best part in Goshen. He says, I will nourish you and your little ones. Don't worry about your stuff in Canaan. You come. And you come and be with me. God sent me before you to preserve your lives by a great deliverance. And you know, everything that Joseph did, it showed his love to them. He cried. He had tears when he heard what they were saying. He heard their repentance. But those brothers found it so hard to trust him.

You know, when their father died, they said Joseph will now deal hardly with us. They thought he only dealt good because his father was alive. And poor Joseph, again, he wept when they told him. He had to reassure them again. Our heavenly Joseph is like that time. and all his dealings with his people. And if there are those of you this evening and the devil has been saying, well, God means to crush you underfoot. All your sins, you look at all your sins, you look at all what you've done. You're taking every opportunity to make you fool, to hurt you, to aggravate your illnesses, to take away your health, to stop the effectiveness of medicines, or what he might say to drive a wedge between. But you think of how worthy our heavenly Joseph is of our trust.

He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are but dust, and He does not delight to crush undefeat the sons of men, even those who are not His. He is good to all, His tender mercies are over all His works. He opens His hand, He satisfieth the desire of every living thing. He is. Thousands, millions do not thank Him, do not ask Him, do not look to Him, and He still feeds them. And how much more His people. And so we have these, some of these reasons why, why it is that we should trust in the Lord.

Want to look the other way then, as to why we should not. lean to our own understanding. Firstly, how limited our understanding is. You recently had the grandchildren staying and you see those little ones and they come into this world and they know so little but they learn so much and as they are learning Well, they keep learning, right up to school, then through school, through university. But we think of those of us who have perhaps reached, at some time in our lives, the pinnacle of our profession. But how little? When I was in engineering, yes, I excelled in the area that I was employed in and trained in. But how many aspects of engineering I didn't know about.

in the ministry of the Word. How often I feel how little I know. How little we really know of the unsearchable riches of Christ and the things of God. And our understanding is so small, even in a natural sense, in natural things. Why then should we lean upon our own understanding or even another man's understanding. There's been times in my life where I've been given advice from godly men that I esteemed. If I'd have taken their advice and not listened to the Lord, then we would not have our home that we have now. It would have been very, very different for us. The advice was not good advice. But so thankful never took it.

and not to lean upon our own or others, because it's just a limited understanding. Our knowledge is so small. You know, if we're going to process things, we need to have that knowledge first. We need to have all of the different parts of it. You know, if I'm going to design a machine, and I might be able to know the parameters, know how it works, I might know where it's got to fit. Many things I know about that machine, I might know all of the mechanical, electrical things, but one thing I don't know, I don't know much about metals. I do actually because I had to for my job but if I didn't and didn't know about metallurgy and metal treatments and hardening and tempering and the different types of materials and what you can do with them and how you can form them and what not to use and what to use without that knowledge I couldn't process that design I couldn't do that at all I need to have that knowledge, and our knowledge is so limited.

How can we lean to our own understanding when our knowledge, our supply of information is so small? Also our knowledge of what is happening and what is being planned by others, we do not know that. Like the example I gave with the employer where I wanted to reduce hours. I didn't know what he was planning, the Lord knew. And many times we can't read men's minds, we don't know man's plans, we do not know whether they are scheming, whether they are trying to trip us up, trying to defraud us, all the scams and things like that. We don't know those things at all. but the Lord does.

Those that we are dealing with, in this world, they are cunning, and we have ourselves a deceitful and wicked heart. Deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. Also, how easy we are influenced and deceived by others this is where we read the account there of Joshua and how that they took of their victuals they saw the facts as they saw them and they thought this is such an easy case we can deal with this we don't need to ask the Lord his counsel We can see all of the facts, everything about it, and we're going to make the decision based upon what we can see. But what they couldn't see made all the difference, whether it was a right decision or not.

It's a very important actual illustration there, because it was a joining together with Canaanites, with the ungodly. You imagine if you've got two people and they're going to join in a business agreement. One is a child of God. You might have the situation, here is a Jehoshaphat and here is an Ahab. And Jehoshaphat says, my people are thy people, thy horses, my horses. And his mind is probably thinking we're all the sons of Jacob. We're all of Israel. But as was said later on, God is not with Israel, He's not with Ephraim, He's with Judah. Just because they might be a family relative doesn't mean to say that they are one with us.

And you might look at things that can be seen, like the victuals of the Gibeonites. You think, oh, we will sign the agreement. This is all right. We're going to be in a bonded agreement here. Of course, the worst situation of that is a marriage situation. where a couple seeking to get married, one is truly one of the Lords, and the other one seems to be, and we just take it superficially, think we can make the decision on this, and then a binding contract of marriage is made, and then it is found out, well, no, that one doesn't really fear the Lord. There are aspects that we're not one with.

Well, if we're trusting to what we see, how easy we can be deceived that God sees the heart, God understands, He knows what we do not know. I often feel with the Gibeonites situation and Joshua, if something seems to be so clear cut, you don't need to go and pray about it, that of all cases, you should pray about and be most cautious about. Something that seems most easy, most straightforward, remember the Gibeonites, remember Joshua. And so these are reasons. why we should not lean to our own understanding.

And in closing on this point, I've no doubt there are those of you, certainly in my case, where we have leant to our own understanding, and we've smarted for it, we've realized our foolishness, like really the children of Israel. It's too late. It's good if the Lord sanctifies what we go through, our mistakes, and makes them work for good so that we don't repeat them. And so this word, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. And these first two points, the reason why, why we should trust in the Lord with all of our heart and why we should not lean and to our own understanding we should remember these things.

But I want to look then thirdly at what we are to trust him for and not only that but how is that trust really evidenced. I want to put this under three headings in this last point Firstly, we trust Him for the plan of salvation, the covenant. There are many that will try and fight against the Word of God as if they could change God's mind, if they could have a better plan than what God has. And yet we must remember that God has made this world. He's formed it for himself, for his own honour and glory. He's formed man upon the earth. Man had sinned, all foreknown and appointed by God, not at all exonerating man or taking away our guilt. But the salvation of the Lord is for sinners. It's for those that have fallen. For those that will sin even when they're redeemed, there's none that doeth good, no, not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Sin is mixed with all we say and all we do. But God's salvation takes that into account.

Sometimes we might make plans and we've left something out. We haven't taken that into account. But with the Lord He has in everything. And poor sinner, you might say, what has He taken into account? My hard, rebellious heart? My besetting sins? My fallen nature? Has He taken that into account? Can He save such a one like me? Yes, God's salvation takes into account all what the sinner is. It is ordered, as David said, in all things and sure.

Yes, David took into account your fall, your adultery, your murder. Took into account the time when you were going to kill everyone in Abel's household and Abigail stopped you. Took into account that he could change to give you a different spirit when Shimei was cursing. Let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. Changing David's heart. Numbering Israel. All these things, Moses, murderer, this salvation of free sovereign grace founded in Christ and on His works and not on our own. This is the salvation of the Lord that we are to trust in.

Trust in God's provision. my son God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering and they went up the hill together and God did provide and Isaac was taken off the altar that provision that trust in that through the types and the shadows right through the Old Testament and Christ did come

You know, you think of the plan of the Lord mapped out, just if you took just Matthew chapter 1, and you see 14 generations from Abraham to David, from David to the carrying away into Babylon, from the carrying away into Babylon to Christ, 14 generations. Through these 14 generations of kings, men, All of their sins and all of their devices, all ordered in God's way, not man's way. He makes order out of disorder and confusion. Jacob said, all these things are against me, but they weren't, you know, because God had ordered it right. And so, when we think of what our Lord has done, when He came to this world, His perfect life and obedience, a righteousness to give, to impute to His people, God ordered that it would be that way. That's not man's design, man's appointing, God ordered it. and that his people should be able to be redeemed, to be set free by the payment of a price?

Would you go into a court in our land and there's a person that has been subjected to the death penalty or to a long time in jail and you say, I'm a multi-millionaire, I want to bail them out, I want to redeem them, I want to pay the price, you name the price. And they say the law of the land doesn't allow that, you can't do it, they've got to serve the time. But with salvation, redemption is allowed. Redemption had to be with a near kinsman. Boaz could redeem Ruth. Our Lord, born of a woman, made under the law that He might redeem them that were under the law. He came right where His people are so that He could redeem them. And so He endured the wrath of God in our place, endure the sentence that is upon us, that which the Lord has done at Calvary to trust in His plan of salvation and what He has accomplished in that plan.

Now the Scriptures, it tells us through the prophecies and the types what that plan is. And then when our Lord comes, we find him working it out, and especially at Calvary, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. A thousand years before Christ suffered, the very words he pronounced upon the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? They are pronounced. Many, many other scriptures as well. Hundreds of years before Christ walked that path, they were foretold. The Son of Man goeth, said our Lord, as it was determined. And this is what we are to trust in His plan of salvation.

Now, if we are trusting in it, then we need to know it. We read that the angels desire to look into these things. May we desire to look into these things. How does God save his people? Reverend Kirsten, the founder of the Netherland Reform Congregations in Holland, when he was converted, his mother found him up at two o'clock in the morning one day, or one morning, early morning, And he said, but I must find out how God saves his people. And this was a burden on him to read and to find out how is it that God saves. And so we're to trust in his salvation. And if we do, we want to know about it. No wonder the apostle determined to know nothing among men saved Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If you and I are saved, it is because of God's salvation. Dear Jonah said, in the whale's belly, salvation is of the Lord.

But then there's a second part, a second major thing that we are to trust in. You might say it's alright to trust in God's salvation, but I want to know am I saved? Is my name recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life? Am I one of His people? So then there's another thing that we are to trust in. And this is not in a fatalistic way, and we'll come to our evidence in a moment, but that is in the Lord's work in calling. The same God that brought salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ When every one of His people are born into this world, He orders to parents, native place and time, all appointed were by Him, and He appoints the time that they'll be quickened and called by grace.

The Lord knows His people. He knows them that He has suffered for at Calvary. He knows those that were given by the Father to Him to redeem. He knows all about them. He knows where they are. And He will, in His time and way, quicken them into life, eternal life. And it is the Spirit's work. It is the Spirit's work. And it's not just a work of beginning. He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.

And so, there is two aspects in this trust. where the Lord has begun with us, where we have begun seeking Him, then we have this trust that He will continue. He that has made us aware of our sinnership, brought us in as guilty, He will follow that through and bring us to know and love the Saviour. Another aspect of that, and of course following on from that, bring us at last safe home to glory as well.

But another aspect is those of us that are parents or grandparents and pastors who have those that we, like Apostle Paul, he longed that they might be saved. Were we not to think, well, it all depends on me. All depends on me. years ago in Tasmania, before I was called by Grace. My father was doing contract P work and the P man that we used to call him came round one day. My father was detained in the house, he couldn't come to the door and I came to the door and this man quizzed me. He said, are you saved? I said, no, I'm not. And he says, is your mother? No. Is your sister? Is your brother? No, no. Well, when dad came to the door, he went to town on him and said, you, how can you be a Christian? How can you believe in God? And you have not made sure your wife and children are saved. And he really had to go at him as if my father had the power to quicken and to call by grace. We were brought up under the sound of the truth, instructed in the ways of the Lord, but he couldn't give us grace. He couldn't give us eternal life. But this man seemed to think you could.

But if we know that we can't, then it's a blessed thing to be trusting in the Lord. But if we are, how will that be evidenced? Train up a child in the way that he should go. When he is old, he shall not depart from it. One that is trusting in the Lord for salvation for a child or for a loved one or under their care will do all they can to bring the truth of God before them. to teach them, to instruct them, and to live a life of example, to say like Paul, be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ.

Our trust will be evidenced by action. It won't be a fatalistic trust. And if we are mindful, brought up under the sound of truth, that we yet are outside of the secret, we do not yet know the Lord, we are not saved. If someone was to tap us on the shoulder and say, are you a Christian? How would you answer? Would you say, oh, my father's a deacon, or my father's a pastor, like my son, when he was asked a question like that, he said, oh, my father's a pastor, he's a minister. And the man said to him, no, he said, you, are you a Christian? I'm not asking about your parents, what are you? And the Lord used that as one of the beginnings of concern for my son.

We need a personal faith, a personal religion. And if we are aware that we are not saved, then we are to seek that salvation. Let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him turn unto the Lord. If we are trusting in the Lord, there'll be action within. You think of the case when the children of Israel came out of Egypt and then came Amalek. It wasn't just Moses with his rod. Joshua was on the ground fighting as well. But they were linked together. As soon as Moses held down his rod, then Amalek prevailed. As soon as he lifted up his rod, then Joshua prevailed.

There's a story of two young girls and they're running, running to catch a train. One of them said, let us stop and pray that we might catch it. No, said the other one, let us keep running and pray while we're running. The two things go together.

It doesn't mean because we're using means that we're not trusting. You can. You can be just using means. How do you know the difference? It's where our heart is, where our trust is, where our prayers are. Are we joining prayer with everything?

When we go out, when we're driving in the motor car, are we solely trusting to our own skill and wisdom to keep ourselves safe? or have we a profound sense that we cannot keep ourselves, we make mistakes, other drivers make mistakes, things are out of our control, a tree could fall across the road and onto the car. The more we have a sense of the need of God to protect us and watch over us, we will pray for that. Our heart will be up unto the Lord. But we will be very diligent and careful and watchful.

A careless, prayerless walk does not evidence a real trust in the Lord. It is using the means that He has appointed It is in that way that we'll see that our trust is right. We'll be reading the Word of God, we'll be praying over it, we'll be attending the means of grace, the house of God, we'll be listening to the preached Word, and we'll be praying that the Lord would use that Word.

And in that way we're trusting in His appointment of the means. We're trusting in His promise to bless that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. And so there's the trust in actual God's arrangement. It must be evidenced in that way.

I want to look then at the last way, under this last heading, what we are to trust Him for, and how evidenced, and that is in providence. Providence and grace, God's ordering of this world. God's ordering all things. Again, evidenced in prayer, and evidenced in watching. Many things that we must make decisions for, all through a day, when we do something, when we not, what school we'll go to, what subjects we'll take, what job we'll go, where we'll go, where we'll go out, where we might stay when we go out and when we're preaching away from home, all of these things.

Now the beautiful word in Romans 8, 28, we know that all things work together for good, to them that love God, to them that love the cause according to his purpose. It may not always work together for good, health-wise, wealth-wise, in that way at all, but for our eternal good, it will always work together for good. God has a much higher end in view. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And we must know the Word. You know, if you're seeking direction, there's three things that must line up. If we wanted a job, you've got to have three things. You've got to have the job opening up and offered to you. You've got to be given that job. But then, do you take it when it's offered? Well, does it accord with the Word of God? Or to do that, is it going to mean I cannot attend the means of grace? I'm going to be working with openly profane and ungodly persons? We need to know the Word of God. Does this position cut right across my faith and the Word of God and God's direction? To use perhaps an extreme example, if you were to work in the brothels in London, or if you were to work in some gambling place, you'd say, well that's opposite, that's contrary to the word of God. Or if my job is to be presenting the LGTB community, if I'm going to have to be on a platform with them. So that my profession is so contrary to my profession in faith. You need to compare it with the Word of God.

And the third thing is, has the Lord made me willing? Or is my mind so alienated, closed to this, that I'd be forcing against my will? Thy people shall be willing. Where the Lord has brought us an opening that is according to the Word of God and made us willing, then we can see a way forward.

The Apostle Paul, when he tried to go into Bithynia, the Spirit suffered him not. He couldn't feel any liberty to do that. And he was forbidden to go into Asia. And then he had the vision to come over into Macedonia and help us.

But we need to know the Word of God. That must be a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. It must be tender that the Lord speaks through His Word and speaks through the ministry, the timeliness of the Word often is a clear indicator. When something is upon our spirit, we're praying for direction, and a specific Word is brought to our mind by the Holy Spirit or through the Word, through the ministry, then we have our answer.

And the aspect of trust in this where we have sought the Lord's help and where then we venture, we're to venture trusting, relying upon the Lord. I don't believe the Lord will ever make a person make a wrong path and wrong major decision and path where they have humbly besought the Lord for his help and guidance. and then ventured without, well, some would say they have a specific word from the Lord. Well, there's been many that have a specific word from the Lord that you'd say, well, you've got a word from the Lord, but your course of action is contrary to the scriptures. You're walking in sin. So it can't be from the Lord. Oh, they said we've got a word from the Lord. No, it can't be at all.

It's much more safe to, instead of just relying upon what we think is a word from the Lord, to actually have the word of God, the Bible, on our side and providence opening up and being made willing to walk in it. I don't believe one that walks that way will ever be left to make error and to walk in a wrong way. And even if they venture, the Lord is able to stop up the path or open it up. Sometimes it's not until we venture like Esther had to do. that we then clearly see what the Lord would have us to do.

May this word be a timely word for us this evening. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Amen.