Undaunted.Life: A Man's DevotionalSample

MENTAL, Day 4: Lean on ME

“Don’t worry… I’ve got this…”

“Chill out… I know what I’m doing…”

“Pump the brakes… I don’t need your advice…”

Do any of these statements sound familiar? They certainly should because most of us guys have either uttered something close to them (for some of us a lot of times) or hang around other guys who say stuff like this all the time. We like to lean on our own understanding in so many situations. Furthermore, we tend to still do this even when God is a part of our lives.

Solomon, the wisest man to ever walk the planet, is pretty clear with us on what we should trust in:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” –Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)

As Christian men, when we hear rhetoric similar to “trust in the Lord” it doesn’t really faze us. It doesn’t faze us because we KNOW we are supposed to do that. OF COURSE we should lean on the understanding and wisdom of the all-mighty, omniscience, omnipresent, omni-whatever-else God. OF COURSE we should allow him to direct our paths. OF COURSE we shouldn’t rely on our own fallible minds. However, our head knowledge and our heart understanding and follow-through rarely connect.

Think back to the first time humans went against the knowledge and direction of God. Adam and Eve were given everything they could possibly imagine to be satisfied and joyful. God’s only instruction was to not eat from a single tree. God was literally saying they could have it all with one single exception.

But that wasn’t enough for Adam or Eve, was it? They had to have more. They leaned on their own reasoning to deduce that surely God was withholding something great from them when in reality God was ultimately protecting them. Yes, the Father of Lies was in Eve’s ear influencing her while Adam was off doing who knows what, but the decision to bite into the apple was altogether her own. Then, when she handed the apple to Adam it was altogether his decision to partake as well.

You see, most of us would never admit it but we do think we’re smarter than God. Don’t believe me? Look at your actions...

We feel like God is telling us to leave the job we’re currently in to do something else, but we stay because we’re afraid of how we’re going to pay the bills. We feel like God is telling us to seek reconciliation with an estranged family member, but we don’t reach out because we’re afraid of what their reaction will be. We feel like God is telling us to come clean with our wife about an indiscretion, but we think the truth would be too painful for her to hear and we know our cover-up game is strong.

I bet you know how many of those situations work out, don’t you? It always seems to not go the way that you planned or perhaps it turns out way worse than if you had just followed God’s lead in the first place. When we lean on our own understanding, we choke out the possibility of God leading us towards Eden: a life full to the brim of satisfaction and joy.

Don’t live by the motto of “Lean on ME”… Try “Lean on HE.”

What is your “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?” What parts of your life are you keeping God out of right now? How can you change that?