Trust The Path

Sometimes I get frustrated.

I live in a culture where sin is rampant. People are wallowing in it, even people in the church, and my flesh wants to rail against it. My flesh wants to stand up and shout and shake my fist against it. I have moments where I’m overwhelmed with anger and I ask God, “Just let me exegete, let me make my case with Scripture, let me crush this tide of unrighteousness with my pen.” But the Spirit keeps saying, “No. You will focus on My Son. You will focus on the Redeemer of unrighteousness. You will do it My way, not your way.”

It sounds bizarre to say that for me to preach against sin right now would be to indulge my flesh and to resist the leading of the Spirit. It just doesn’t make sense. As I prayed out in my barn this morning, I asked God, “Do not allow me to serve You based on my own reasoning, on what I think is needed by people or desired by You, because Your ways are so often not our ways. So often, Your ways go against our reasoning, against our well-thought out plans and our intellectual inferences.” I think of the grief Jesus must have endured during much of His ministry because many of the things He did went against others’ reasoning, even His own Apostles. There are many accounts in the Gospels where you can sense the tension of the situation among those who were surely thinking, “Jesus, what are you doing? This doesn’t make sense.”

In no way am I implying that we shouldn’t teach righteousness. What I am saying is that all things must be done only as the Spirit instructs us. And what the Spirit has been teaching me lately, is that when we focus on righteousness, as in “righteous actions”, we put the focus on us and our righteous works—what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong. We become obsessed with ourselves. But when we focus on Jesus as our righteousness, and thus describe to people His character and His ways and we share His words, we rightly put the focus upon Him. We focus less on ourselves and become entrenched in Jesus Christ as a real person. It is a subtle distinction, but it makes all the difference, because it is Jesus—the person—Who alone makes us righteous according the Father’s standard.

However, a bullet-point list of rules is much easier for us to deal with, rather than pursuing true depth of relationship with Jesus Christ. That is because depth of relationship with Jesus Christ forces us to look at our own heart, more so than our working hands. He forces us to face who we are, rather than allowing us to focus on what we do. As we grow in knowledge of Jesus Christ, He deals with our inner man, and beloved, that is inconvenient and very unpleasant indeed. But it is only this sanctified inner-knowledge of Him that will bear lasting fruit in His kingdom. Even so, it’s just so much easier for us to say, “Here are all the things you need to do,” rather than for us to say, “Let me share with you the person you need to know” based on our own personal knowledge of Him.

So, currently the Spirit has given me a choice: preach righteousness, or preach His Son. Preach what we must do, or preach Who we must know. Speak according to the leading of my own reason, or speak according the leading of His Spirit. Even. Though. It. Doesn’t. Make. Sense. Even though sometimes I feel frustrated as I hearken to His question that is ever ringing in my ears, “Do you trust Me?”

(Prov 3:5,6) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

(Psalm 32:8-10) I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding, they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but loving devotion surrounds him who trusts in the LORD.

(Jer 17:7,8) But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

(Isaiah 26:2-4) Open the gates so a righteous nation may enter—one that remains faithful. You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, because God the Lord is the Rock eternal.

(John 14:26,27) But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.

(Posted on Facebook 2/11/2021 Talitha Koum)