Day 16: Faith is Actively Communing with the Lord and Trusting Him to Direct Our Steps
A man’s heart plans his way,
PROVERBS 16:9
But the Lord directs his steps.
David understood this proverb and probably passed this on to his son, Solomon, to write it in the book of Proverbs.
When the Lord had established David as king of Israel fulfilling His word when David was still a young boy anointed by the prophet Samuel, the Philistines made a raid on the Valley of Rephaim.
You would have thought that a might warrior like David who is now established as king of Israel by the word of the Lord would make bold and risky decisions, knowing that the Lord is with him.
Not David.
In the two instances at this point of him being king of Israel where the Philistines made their raids, David walked under the guidance of the Lord.
1 CHRONICLES 14:10-11 record what David did in the first instance of a Philistine raid where he defeated the Philistines, thereafter:
And David inquired of God, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” The Lord said to him, “Go up, for I will deliver them into your hand.” So they went up to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there. Then David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand like a breakthrough of water.”
1 CHRONICLES 14:10-11
1 CHRONICLES 14:14-16 record what David did in the second instance of a Philistine raid where the Philistines were driven back as far as Gezer, thereafter:
Therefore David again inquired of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.” So David did as God commanded him, and they drove back the army of the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer.
1 CHRONICLES 14:14-16
You see, faith is not passive. Faith is not an attitude of “Come what may. Let the Lord do whatever He wants.”
Faith is an active communion with the Lord where we trust our daily affairs with His wisdom and we go about life under His direction because He is the one who knows all, hears all and sees all, and then trust that He will never play us out or put us in situations where we never win because with Him, victory is guaranteed.
Reflection Question:
Do you know that when God speaks your future, it doesn’t come with the details all laid out? But when He does, it comes with a guarantee that it will come to pass and that when you actively communion with Him, He will always give you wisdom and directions with all the details necessary for you to win like how He directed David to come upon the enemy in front of the mulberry trees and the sound of the marching in the tops of the mulberry trees.
Radical Faith in Action:
When God speaks to you what He has in store for you, rest in His goodness to fulfill it and carry you through it.
In times when the circumstances look dire, you only have to call on Him and ask Him to show you what needs to be done. James 1:5 says “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”