As far as visual representations go, that’s pretty much accurate to what happens when I try to lean on my own understanding. It never ends well, though thankfully not quite as badly as the picture above.

The verse from Proverbs says to trust in the Lord with all your heart and not to lean on your own understanding. You could just as easily say to lean on the Lord with all your heart and not to trust your own understanding. In both cases, you wind up in the same place.

The problem with my own understanding is that it’s finite and based mostly on fickle feelings. If I’m overly tired, I can put a pessimistic spin on my circumstances. If I’m hungry, I can get impatient with God’s timing.

To trust in the Lord is to trust in a 100% impeccable track record. There’s a whole Bible with 66 books that testifies to God never steering anyone wrong. I on the other hand have probably screwed up already in the first five minutes after waking up.

I always remember something I learned from a college and career retreat I participated in when I was way younger. It involved the ROTC of faith. ROTC stands for the definition of faith, which is to rely on, obey, trust in, and cling to the Lord.

So don’t end up like that guy on the stairs tangled up in his own ladder. Trust in God, not your own understanding.

“Scarcity and broken relationships aren’t about God finding out what I am made of-God knows what I am made of–it’s the other way around. In or out of friendship, in scarcity or abundance or just enough, my life is about finding out what God is made of” (Brennan Manning).

The whole idea that God won’t give me more than I can handle seems biblical, but it’s not. You can look all you want, but you won’t find it in the Bible. Paul said that God won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your ability to endure, but that’s different.

I think so much of what happens to us isn’t for us to find out how much we can handle or what we’re made of. It’s to find out how much God can handle and what He’s made of. When we’re moderately uncomfortable, God shows up and it’s no big deal (to us anyway). But when we’re at the end of our rope and God intervenes, it means something. It means a whole lot. We learn through experience what we knew in head knowledge and theoretical faith becomes real life faith.

I also remember reading that if you are not grounded in the goodness of God, you will lower your theology to match your pain. God becomes a manageable god who has no real power but is a token of your good will and best intentions.

But the real God is bigger than your pain. He’s bigger than what you can conceive. The Bible says He looks throughout the whole earth to find those whose hearts are unswervingly devoted to Him. God shows up best when we’re at our worst. God shows up mightiest when we’re at our weakest.

That’s the best place to be because that’s the best time for God to show up and do what only He can do and to be what only God can be. That’s when we find out what God is made of — and we worship.

I recently subscribed to an email list where I get a small prayer and devotional from the one and only Charles Spurgeon. Actually, since Spurgeon has been dead for 132 years, the words are his but the sender is most likely not.

Spurgeon is considered one of the greatest Baptist preachers and one of the most famous people from the 19th century. He always seemed to have a way of speaking the truth that speaks directly to my heart and doesn’t mince the truth in any way, something that is sorely lacking in this modern evangelical age.

Here’s the email I received most recently that could have been my diary:

Here’s the link if you want to subcribe:

https://spurgeonbooks.beehiiv.com

I think this one gets an “Amen” and an “Oof” from me at the same time. It’s powerful and convicting.

I do think this culture has taught us to focus on what’s wrong with our lives. So much of our advertising has been training us to compare our lives and our stuff with our neighbor’s bigger house and better car. Those are the proverbial Joneses we’ve been taught to keep up with . . . or else we’re failing at life.

But the result is that we focus on trials and blessings get minimalized or forgotten. I know I can get hyper-focused on my latest hardship enough to forget five blessings within the same week.

The cure is to give thanks as often as we are blessed. I did a thing a few years ago where I wrote down one thousand blessings. Actually, I started with a goal of 1,000 and ended up going way over. It’s easy once you get going.

The Apostle Paul basically says that the will of God is for you to pray unceasingly and to give thanks. That’s it, because once your whole life is an offering to God and your whole attitude is gratitude, then you see your world differently. You see God where you didn’t see Him before. You see Him everywhere.

So speak your blessings. Write them down. Engrave them in marble instead of sand. Let sand be for your trials, because the writing will be as transitory as your trials.

“Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
    Yes. Yes. Yes” (Matthew 6:9-13, The Message).

Recently, I subscribed to yet another email list. This one I think I’ll like. It’s daily prayers and devotionals from one Charles Spurgeon, the late great preacher and theologian from the 19th century. Here’s one that caught my attention:

May that be the prayer of your heart to remind you that God is always faithful even when we’re not. God is still a promise keeper.