It's good to be with you all this morning. I've not been doing this long, but I feel like every time I'm about to, I feel like I'm just going to go in that corner and just kind of curl up in a little ball and start crying. And to make it worse, this morning I pull in and we pull in and we see Kevin and Aaron and I'm like, oh yes, they double bucked. I was like, I'm going to get a sit and listen to one of them preach. But anyway, it's good to be with y'all. And everyone back home said to tell y'all hello.

Open your Bibles with me this morning to the book of Job. The title of my message this morning is Comfort for a Life of Trouble. Job chapter 14.

Most of us know the story of Job. Job experienced a lot. We're told that his substance was greatest of all that was in the East. Job had experienced wealth and enjoyment that most will never enjoy in a lifetime. And Job also endured pain and sorrow and trouble that, again, most don't ever endure in a lifetime. In just a short amount of time, Job went from having everything to losing everything. Lost his wealth, his friends turned on him, and he lost all of his children, lost his family. Job is a man that we'd say had been around the block. He'd been taught a thing or two. And when he was writing this verse here, I believe he was still being taught a thing or two.

Job chapter 14, verse 1, this is what Job says. He said, man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Man, that's mankind, men and women alike, that is born of a woman. Does that cover all of us? I'm pretty sure that covers every one of us. Man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Every one of us, just a few days and full of trouble. That's our life, that's our whole life. A few days and full of trouble.

I'm 25 years old, I'm a young man, but I can already say in my short time here that my life has been just a few days and it's been full of trouble. And I'd venture a guess that if I asked one of you older folks, has it been the same with you? You'd say the same thing, it's been a few days and it's been full of trouble.

This July is going to mark mine and Clara's seven-year wedding anniversary. And that's crazy to me. And we're expecting our first child right about the same time. And we cannot wait. But I think of these last seven years that we've been together, and it's gone by like that. I feel like I've blinked, and it's like, here we are. And we got married at 19, and we were thinking, man, we're really adults now. And now I'm 25, and I'm like, I still feel like I'm a kid. I mean, and many of you know my Meemaw. I was talking to her recently, and I'm just talking about how time has just flown. And she looked at me, and she got real serious for a second. She goes, honey, it goes by so fast. It goes by so fast.

Job said it right here, few days and full of trouble. This life, we're gonna get to the end of this life, and we're gonna look back, and it's gonna have gone by just like that, and it's not going to have been easy. It's gonna have been full of trouble, full of heartache, full of pain, and if the Lord would let us enter into this verse, it really would put everything in perspective. Man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble.

James 4 puts it this way. I read, whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? What is it? What is what is our life? It's even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. We're passing away like a vapor of water. You get a pot boiling on the stove and that that steam's just rolling off that pot and you see it and it's plain as day. It's right there. But the moment you take that that pot of water off that eye, that steam's gone. You can't even see it no more. You blink and you'll miss it. That's our life. It's going to be gone just like that.

And not only is it short and fast, but it's full of trials and troubles, and it's full of sin. This whole life is filled with nothing but sin. And in what's going to feel like just a short, just short moments, we're going to go meet a holy God. We need a good hope. I need a good hope. I need assurance. I need rest. I need the Lord Jesus Christ. I need Him. We need Him. We need to be found in Him.

Turn with me to Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3. This will serve as our text this morning. What Job said there in Job 14, I believe Job was a wise man. Again, he'd seen a thing or two. And what was written in Job is 100% true, and it's the word of God. And Proverbs 3 here is written by another man that believed to have been one of the wisest men to ever live, Solomon. And what Solomon writes here is 100% true. And just like every word in this book, it's the word of God.

So what is said here? What words of comfort and rest and assurance does the Lord have for us? What comfort do we have for these few days that we're going to live that are going to be full of trouble? Proverbs 3, look at verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.

Now these are two short and simple verses. I teach at the school and work with a lot of young kids and I could probably take the youngest kid at that school and they could probably read those two verses, simple verses. And yet they are so comforting in light of what we read in Job through this short and painful, sinful life. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. I want to know that. I want to rest in that. Don't you?

Well, just for just for a few minutes this morning, let's let's go through these two verses together. The first part of verse five says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. I wish I could do that. I wish I could." That's great instruction. How often throughout our lives have we heard the opposite? Just trust in yourself. You got this. You just need to trust what's in your heart. Just trust your gut. No, that's terrible advice. Don't do that. Don't look to yourself. Solomon writes it right here. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Trust in Him.

Well, what does that mean? What does it mean to trust the Lord, to look to Him, to cast our all upon Him? Well, I believe we have an example in Scripture of this. Turn with me to Daniel chapter 3. Daniel chapter 3. If your Bible is like mine, that's page 1108. That's a tough one to find. Daniel chapter 3. If you remember, this is when King Nebuchadnezzar had made that big image of gold. And he had told the people, whenever this music starts to play, you bow down and you worship this golden image that I've set up. And if you don't, I'm going to cast you into a burning, fiery furnace. Well, there was a few men who didn't do that, who didn't listen to King Nebuchadnezzar. And right here in Daniel, this is where the people had went to the king and said, hey, these people aren't doing what you said to do. Let's look here at verse 12. This is what they told the king. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king."

Now, you can imagine how upset King Nebuchadnezzar is right now, right? These men don't listen to me. I'm the king. They do what I say. And so he's going to talk to him. He's going to chew him out right here. Look at what he says in verse 14. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if you be ready, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, saltary, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made. Well, But if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?"

The king's upset. He gets on to these men and he said, you're going to fix this. You're going to do this from now on. And I'm going to give you a second chance here. And if you do it, it's all good. But if not, you're going in that fiery furnace. And he says, who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? If Nebuchadnezzar only knew, if we only knew, who is that God? King Nebuchadnezzar thought a whole lot of himself right here. What are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego gonna do? Are they gonna do what Nebuchadnezzar said? Are they gonna listen to the king's word here? Let's look at verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

They said, King, we don't really need time to think about this one. Our God, he's able to deliver us from this fiery furnace that you've set up. And one way or another, he's going to deliver us out of your hands. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, this is what they said. We're going to trust in the Lord. We're going to trust him. He's able. He's able. They weren't looking for a way to get out of this. They weren't relying on their own strength, their own know-how, like, man, can we bargain with him? Can we do something here to fix this? They said, no, he's able to deliver us. We're going to trust him. He's all we need. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.

Well, what happens with these three men? Well, you can imagine King Nebuchadnezzar gets a whole lot more upset than he was even the first time. And he heats that furnace up even hotter than it was before. And look at verse 23. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound into the midst of the burning, fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said unto his counselors, did not we cast three men bound in the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, true, O king. He answered and said, lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, in the form of the fourth. is like the Son of God."

The Lord was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He delivered them from this fiery furnace. Look at verse 27, and the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counselors being gathered together saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. They didn't even smell like smoke.

Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him and have changed the king's word and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any God except their own God.

What did it say there? They trusted in him. We're not looking to a religion. We're not looking to a doctrine. We're not we're not looking to Christianity. We're not looking to Calvinism. We're not looking to the painting of a man with real long hair. We're not looking to a little wooden cross or a little cartoon fish. We look to him. We look to him by his grace. We trust in him. We look to Christ. We look to his finished work. We look to him, him who was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We're looking to a person.

What did our Lord say in Isaiah 45? He said, Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Trust in him. Look to him.

Turn back to our text in Proverbs, Proverbs 3. Let's read verse 5 again. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Lean not unto thine own understanding. It's sad to say, but I'm pretty sure that's all we do. All we do is lean on our own understanding. How often do we react to something or we respond to something based on our understanding? Just shoot off at the mouth or whatever it might be.

I mean, this morning, we left the house at 7.10. Left with plenty of time. We're gonna be here 45 minutes early. We're on top of this. Get 20 minutes down the road and I'm like, my Bible and my notes are on the kitchen table. So we're turning the car around, and I'm freaking out. I'm losing my mind. And how often do we? And it couldn't have gone any other way. That's what Clara said. I was all fuzzed up. And she's like, it couldn't have gone any other way. It was supposed to happen just like this.

I'm leaning on my own understanding. That's all we do. Because here's the thing, when we lean on our own understanding, we're looking to ourselves. We're looking within ourselves for something. And when we do that, it means we're not looking to Him. We're not. Lean not unto thine own understanding. Don't rest in your wisdom. Don't rely on your works. Don't look to anything in yourself. And I'm telling myself this. Because anytime I look in myself, I'm just going to be disappointed. Because the only thing that we're going to see when we look at ourselves is our sin. That's all we are. From head to toe, we're just sin. Our heart full of sin. In Jeremiah, we're told the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? In Romans, we're told that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We're so full of sin. Why would we lean on our own understanding like knowing that? Why do we do that? Because that's all we can do by nature. That is all we can do. We can't trust the Lord and we certainly can't trust in the Lord with all our heart. The only thing we can do in our sin is lean on our own understanding. That's all that this old man within us can do. And it takes a miracle of God Almighty to not trust ourselves, to not look to ourselves. It takes God's grace to put a new man in us that looks to him.

Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2 verse 8. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that out of yourselves is the gift of God. God gives us faith. He gives his people faith to believe him, and he's the one that gives it. Paul said in Hebrews, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. It's him, it's all of him, everything. Aren't we thankful that it's all of him? that our Lord chose to save a people and to give that people faith to believe Him, to trust Him, that He puts a new man in us that can trust in the Lord, that new man that's not deceitful above all else, that's not desperately wicked. And that sinful, old, wicked man is still right there, and he is gonna be with us until the day we die. But in that day, this old man is not gonna be with us no more. We're gonna put that old man off, And we're going to truly be able to trust in the Lord with all our heart. That's going to be a good day. That's going to be a real good day.

All right, back to Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3, verse 5, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him. In everything we do, in every day, at all times, acknowledge Him. Consider Him. Declare Him. Look to Him. In all things, acknowledge His will. Right? Acknowledge his sovereignty. Acknowledge that God is sovereign, that God is who he says he is, that he's God. That he's not this old man in heaven wringing his hands, wondering what's going to happen next. That's not our God. Our God is God. He's sovereign. Everything that happens, it happens because it's his will. Everything in creation, it's his will in creation. All things were made by him and for him. It's His will in providence, everything that happens. Me forgetting my Bible this morning. It's His will. It's His will. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. We're told all things are of God, everything. And it's His will in salvation. It's His will. It's not ours. It's not a decision. It's His will. I think Jonah said it best, salvation is of the Lord, period. Nothing you can add to that, nothing you can take away from it. Salvation is of the Lord. And we often, we get too big for our britches, and we start feeling like maybe we got a free will, maybe we got a say in this. Maybe we get a new job, or we get a raise at work, or I don't know, anything is going good. And we start thinking, man, Look at what I did. I did that. I got a raise. I'm working hard. I'm doing a good job." No. No, you didn't. God gave you that job. He gave you that raise. He gave you the ability to go to work. He gave you the breath and the heartbeat to wake up and do anything. Everything that we have is a gift from God. Everything. It's all from Him.

And you know, someone else who the Lord calls to know this is a fellow that we just looked at a few minutes ago. King Nebuchadnezzar. Turn with me back to Daniel chapter 4. Let's go back to where we were a minute ago. Daniel 4.

King Nebuchadnezzar had become filled with pride and arrogance, which is something that we are all too familiar with. And this is what he said in verse 30 here of Daniel 4. We read, the king spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? I, my, and my. We say that far too much too, don't we?

Everything that Nebuchadnezzar had, the Lord was pleased to give it to him. That's the only reason that Nebuchadnezzar had it. But Nebuchadnezzar said, look at what I did. Look at all this that I've got. He didn't acknowledge the Lord. He didn't acknowledge him.

And look what happened in verse 31. While the word was in the king's mouth, while he was speaking this, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken. The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High rule in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen. And his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like bird's claws.

Nebuchadnezzar was brought low. The Lord, in his mercy, humbled Nebuchadnezzar. How often does that happen to us? We start thinking, man, we really got a handle on this thing. And then the Lord sends us a trial or something that just puts us in the dust where we belong and shows us we're nothing. We're nothing and he's everything.

The Lord showed Nebuchadnezzar, who was really on the throne, He showed Nebuchadnezzar, God is God, God is sovereign. And amazingly, after the Lord humbled Nebuchadnezzar, look at what happens in verse 34.

And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?

" Well, a lot has changed in a few verses, hasn't it? He, his, his, and him. That's a whole lot different than what Nebuchadnezzar was just saying a few verses ago. He said, I, my, and my. Not anymore.

The Lord had taught Nebuchadnezzar something. He showed Nebuchadnezzar who he was. He showed Nebuchadnezzar who Nebuchadnezzar was, and he showed Nebuchadnezzar who God was.

In all thy ways, acknowledge him. Acknowledge that he is sovereign, that he is God. Nebuchadnezzar said this, and I pray that the Lord would enable us to say this, that in all our ways and in everything, that we know this, that we're nothing, that He does His will, that none can stay His hand, that none can question Him, that He's God, that He is the King. Not us. He is. He is.

All right, back to Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3, look at verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." After all what we read, there's still more good news. He shall direct thy paths. Not he might. Not if you try your best, he'll help along the way. Just plain and simple. He shall direct thy paths. I'm not directing my path. You're not directing your path. God is.

You know, sometimes it might feel like we are, like we've got an impact on this thing. Aren't we glad that we're not? He shall direct thy paths. He's got it. He's got it taken care of. I don't got to worry about a thing. Some of these paths, they're gonna be good, and we're gonna enjoy them, and we're gonna have a blast. And the Lord sends good times to us, and we're thankful for that. And some of these paths are not. Some of these paths are gonna be like that valley of the shadow of death, and we are gonna be looking every which way, and are gonna be scared to death. But all of them, every path he puts us on, he's the one putting us on it. He directs us. And that gives me comfort, that gives me rest. He shall direct thy paths.

And I'd like to turn for, we got time, just turn to a few scriptures with me for a minute.

Turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter three. In all your seasons, and the things we think are good and the things that we think are bad, in all these seasons, he shall direct thy paths. Verse one here of Ecclesiastes 3, to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. In all these seasons, he shall direct thy paths. Turn with me to Psalm 27. Psalm 27, look at verse 5. In all your times of trouble, and there's going to be a whole lot of trouble. Remember Job said it earlier, a few days and full of trouble. In all your times of trouble, he shall direct thy paths. Verse 5 says, for in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me, he shall set me up upon a rock. You're gonna set me up on Christ. In all our times of trouble, he shall direct thy paths. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 40. Look at verse 11. In all our times of hunger, our times of need, we feel like we can't do anything. he shall direct thy paths. Isaiah 40 verse 11 says, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young. In all our times of hunger and all our times of need, he shall direct thy paths.

Turn with me one page over, Isaiah 41. Look at verse 10. in all your times of fear. I am afraid all day, every day, it seems like. We got a lot of times of fear. In all your times of fear, he shall direct thy path. Isaiah 41, verse 10 says, fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, Yet I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. In all our times of fear, he shall direct thy paths. He shall direct thy paths. In closing, I'd like to share a story with you. I was going through these last night, and I remembered a story that I'd heard a few years ago. And we read at the beginning of this what Job had said, right? Man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble.

And there was a famous hymn writer who knew this about as well as anybody. And his name was Horatio Spafford. Horatio was a successful attorney and real estate investor who lost a fortune in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. And around that same time, his beloved four-year-old son had died of scarlet fever. And Horatio, thinking that a vacation would do his family some good, he sent his wife and his four daughters on a ship to England. And he was going to plan on joining them after he finished some stuff up back home.

But while that ship carrying that family was crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was involved in a horrible, horrible collision. And that ship sank. And more than 200 people on that ship died, including all four of Horatio's daughters. His wife, Anna, she survived, and when she got to England, she sent a telegram back to Horatio, and it started with these two words, saved alone.

And Horatio immediately, he set sail for England. And at one point, during the voyage, the captain of the ship, who was aware of what had happened, he came to Horatio, and he said, we're passing over the spot where that shipwreck had happened. And as Horatio thought about his daughters, these words of comfort and hope filled his heart and his mind, and he wrote them down, and they're now a hymn that we sing today.

He wrote,

when peace like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll,
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know, it is well, it is well with my soul.

Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. Amen.