Learn to Fear God

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

For this past Thanksgiving my family and I took a took a vacation together It was my it was my me and my family my brother and his family and my my mom and we all went to the beach Was really it was good to get away. It was good to kind of you know, hit the reset button It was it was really nice the best part of one of the best parts about it for me was being able to go out in the morning and and I could I could just kind of look out on the the Gulf right and we were in Galveston and so I'm looking out on The Gulf and and it was just really cool to look out and sometimes you could see especially in the morning You could see these little pockets of rain, you know talking about it's just like It's and it's so strange to see it right because you see this rain in the distance and it's like a framed picture Right. It's just it's just a square of rain happening in the way way distance

And it's just kind of odd To see rain that way got me got me thinking a little bit about rains There was that was another time I flew over rain. I was in an airplane. We flew over a rainstorm That was very strange All I could see was kind of gray clouds and every once in a while the clouds would kind of part and you could see see some different things and so it was just a The same thing is happening right that the same thing is happening in the distance I see the rain there, but it's also under the plane And those two experiences are even more different than how I normally experience rain I normally experience rain by being in it Right or being in my house, right and I see rain falling either on me or on a window or in my car or something like that I usually experience rain from a different perspective perspective shapes everything The vantage point that you have as you are experiencing something it shapes

Everything it shapes how you describe something it shapes how you experience it it shapes even how you value something your Your perspective the the perception that you have of these things Can change drastically Let's change it from rain to a co-worker. Okay the actions of a co-worker So you notice this co-worker is giving you short answers You notice this co-worker is in their office a lot and you notice that this co-worker has made it very difficult to get a meeting With them. Okay, that's just just hard and you from your perspective for your perspective that co-worker is detached and uncaring a luth Doesn't value you Doesn't value your relationship, but maybe from the perspective of their supervisor that that co-worker is hard-working

Focused right hard to hard to knock off track and maybe even from the co-worker's perspective It's different maybe from the co-worker's perspective. They are overworked. They are depressed and they are surviving same action same co-worker same series of events Three very different perspectives and when that is your perspective that changes how you respond to it It changes how you value their actions

Everybody's actions everybody's Kind of even value is shaped by their perception of something much of the Bible is devoted to the shaping of perception Much of the Bible is devoted to the shaping of perception Or perspective. Excuse me. I'm gonna I'm gonna confuse those words today. It's going to happen mark it down. Okay We'll try to go for it. Try to go for perspective. Okay When you look in Jesus's teachings, for example, he's teaching parables and those parables are adjusting people's Perspectives you see it in the church letters right to the Ephesians to the Romans. It's saying look you're going through a trial But your perspective here's what it actually is. It feels like something that's useless, but it's actually something that's useful Well, what is that but perspective? Right, the Bible is shaping perspective in the Old Testament in narrative. So stories of David and Moses

We see it we see the story as through their eyes But then we also see it through God's eyes and usually those are two drastically different perspectives Sometimes we even get a third perspective in there the book that does it the most is the book of Proverbs The book of Proverbs almost exclusively is trying to shape our perspective on something Right take for example just you can turn into Proverbs chapter 16 And it'll also be up here Proverbs 16 just the first two verses. Let's look at it. It says It says the plans of the heart belong to a man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes But the Lord weighs the Spirit Do you see the shaping of perspective there?

We notice here There's two different perspectives going on and the perspective most people have is That they believe that they can determine their own destiny right We all operate this way. We all operate like our choices have consequences and they do Jordan Peterson You know prominent thinker he describes it this way describes it actually is taking responsibility Here's an extended quote from him It says to stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life with eyes wide open It means deciding to voluntarily Transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order And I made a little bit bolder you can see it deciding. It's deciding to voluntarily transform something What is Jordan Peterson saying he's telling us? Implicitly that we have the ability to shape our own destiny. He's assuming that

Many others have said something a little bit more direct There's a motivational speaker named Brian Tracy, and he says quote he says you are the architect of your own destiny You are the master of your own fate you are behind the steering wheel of your life That is the dominant Perspective in all of humanity and it always has been This is not new what we're talking about here. It always has been look look at a couple more proverbs I'm just gonna skip around a little bit We're gonna try to stay in 16 But we're gonna be kind of fishing around a lot Proverbs 19 21 It says many are the plans in the mind of a man But it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand look at the difference in those perspectives, right? You're a guy you've got you've got things going on you've you know you got plans you got things happening But those things won't stand it's the purposes of the Lord that will stand Proverbs 16 33

This is the best I love this one. It says the lot is cast into the lap But it's every decision is from the Lord casting lots is like rolling dice Okay, so casting lots you know the the quick version is there'd be a bunch of sticks. They're called lots. They're different sizes You you put them in your hand to hide which one's the shortest one and and everybody draws a lot and whoever has the short one You ever heard of getting the short end of the stick. That's where that expression comes from okay? Drawing lots is like rolling dice, so it would be like saying

The dice is rolled on the table, but it's every decision is from the Lord okay Proverbs takes the mentality that we are the ones in control and it takes it head-on It says that God's plan Determines our destiny that God is the one that's in control and this really gives us perspective on Proverbs as a whole On really on what the book of Proverbs is about and look without without exhausting it I want to tell you three very important things about Proverbs that's gonna help you read all of Proverbs Okay, anytime you read Proverbs these three things are true. It's gonna be helpful so think about it First and we've kind of we've kind of touched on this already that Proverbs gives God's perspective Proverbs gives God's Give yeah Proverbs gives God's perspective. It's a lot of s's in a row okay a proverb in the Bible is actually it's the same it's the same word as a parable or riddle or

comparison Okay, so like Jesus's parables Proverbs these these things in here they use comparison to instruct us and God's Perspective is wisdom. That's actually a really good definition of what wisdom is. It's God's perspective on things Right. So wisdom then is is kind of the accurate Assessment of how God created life to work and that's why some Proverbs are saying look consider the ant Look at the ant watch the ant work and you're like, what are you talking about? Why are we looking at an insect move a leaf? Okay How are we finding meaning in a beetle pushing around a ball? Okay, how are we figuring this out? what he's saying is What Proverbs is telling us is there is a way that God has designed life to work and we can assess that we can draw Understanding from that and so the book of Proverbs then is a is a collection. It's an anthology of Those kinds of comparisons and it's to teach us how to assess our lives

accurately Okay, the second thing you need to know is that Proverbs provides guidance Not formulas. This is really important. Okay, this gets confusing because sometimes people love to quote Proverbs 22 6 and And I don't mind Somebody quoting scripture, okay, but it's the way it's quoted it Proverbs 22 6 says raise up a child in the way that he should go and even when he's old he will not depart from it Okay I'll tell you what that is not and then I'll tell you what that is That is not a promise that if you raise your child in church, they'll become a Christian and if they aren't it's your fault That's not what that means. It's not it's not a formula What it is is guidance. It's guidance on how children develop Right then when you start them what you start them on is where their leanings are going to be eventually Okay, I see this a lot with teenagers in particular where the parents have not

trained their kid to attend a worship service regularly where parents have not prayed together as a family where parents have not taught them the wisdom of the Bible and What Proverbs is telling you is that those kids are probably likely? They're not gonna want those things when they get older They're not gonna somehow naturally snap into it when they become adults that they're gonna become like church-going God-fearing people If you aren't training them up in that way So there is a correlation right and Proverbs is talking about that. It's saying look look there's some real consequences here But it's not meant to be taken as a formula that if you do x y and z then this will definitely happen because there Are exceptions on both sides you have great parents with rotten kids. I've met them not here At Least not that I would say I'm just kidding you also have trash parents who with with terrific children like mine

Well, they have one trash parent in both cases in both cases in all those exceptions. You simply have Sinners choosing sin over the Lord it happens We have the ability to choose that but if but if you're thinking if you're thinking that Proverbs 22 6 is a promise that You get to claim that you're like no no I have I've I brought drug my kid to church They should be doing whatever, you know Whatever I'm telling to do and then you start getting mad at God because he's not holding up his end of the bargain that you're not reading Proverbs Not really you're you're making that into some kind of promise formula and it's not that it's guidance Proverbs gives God's perspective proverbs provides guidance not formulas and last thing Proverbs are intended for meditation They're intended for meditation. Okay, this is actually much of the Old Testament much of the Old Testament the reason it is it is

Three times as long as the New Testament. Okay, so your Bible right here. Okay, this thing Three-quarters of it is Old Testament One quarter of it is New Testament part of the reason that that's true is because the way the Old Testament was written It is it is ancient Near Eastern Meditative literature. Okay, that's a that's a long way to say That it's supposed to wash over you as you continue to read it again and again and again as you keep thinking about it as you Turn it over in your mind as you reread and re-listen to Noah in the ark David and Goliath as you listen to Moses on that Sinai as you as you listen to all these Stories that you've heard Abraham sacrificing Isaac as all these things all these stories as you keep repeating them. It's going to make sense differently in your mind over time They wash over you they erode false Perspectives and they give you God's perspective. It's to give you wisdom

That's what that's what those things should do. It's how it was written And so sometimes you might be reading Proverbs and it's in many of the book Many verses in the book are just they're detached from the other two verses that are right right that are right next to it You just you just read it and it talks about all these different things and sometimes you can find a corollary and sometimes you can't

But what it's meant to do is it's meant to stick with you stick to your ribs This is what the New Testament is talking about in in second Corinthians 10 Four and five where it talks about destroying arguments and taking every thought captive This is what Colossians 2 8 in the New Testament is talking about when it says don't fall for empty human philosophies what it's what it's telling you is is that your mind is Something that can be changed over time it things can be washed away things can be built up things can be brought in things can be taken out over time and So Proverbs then is like the tides of wisdom

Proverbs is like the tides tides come in tides come out with stunning Regularity it is impossible to distort the tides You can't you can't hurry and bring the tide in you can't make it coming faster You can't take a broom and sweep it out faster the tide is going to come in it's going to come out there's no shortcuts there is just a a Wisdom to it a regular a rhythm to it that is undeniable that teaches you you can only work with it or against it You can only work with it or against it Over the next four weeks Here's my challenge and we're going to get into this a little bit more, but my challenge is for you to meditate on the Proverbs We're going to be preaching You know on Sundays we're going to be talking about Proverbs this week in the next three weeks And we're talking about for Proverbs for 2024. Okay now They're they're not actual you know it's not just one proverb, but it's more like a more like a repeated theme in Proverbs

But I would encourage you there's 31 days in January January starts tomorrow 31 days in January there's 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs and so take a chapter a day I want to give you two things to kind of help you through that first We have a church center app On our church center app there's actually a part of it That's that's Bible reading you can find out more about that church center app in your worship guide There's a little place where you can figure out what it is but also With you version, so if you use you version Bible on your phone you can set your church to South Burleson And and as you do that the it'll have a featured reading plan that featured reading plan is going to be called What did I call it? Oh, yeah wisdom from the Proverbs. I didn't call it that it's just wisdom from the Proverbs Literally it is a chapter of Proverbs a day for 31 days

And if you are really, you know, like phone savvy you do a lot of these things on your phone Well, then then start it up. You can get on you version. You can find it there It's called the wisdom wisdom from the Proverbs and like I said, you can find that on either one But it's just a way to help you do that. I know a lot of you like me if you're like me at all It helps you when your phone tells you to do something. Okay, just every day. It's just a good reminder. Okay and so as the church want to take advantage of that and and that's a that's a way we're gonna do it, so

So, like I said, these are these are big repeated themes in Proverbs that we're gonna meditate on and today We're just gonna take a little bit of time. We're gonna look at the first proverb for 2024 that we're gonna look at And and it is probably one of the more foundational Proverbs or themes in Proverbs and that is that That we should learn the fear of God We should learn to fear God. I

Understand whenever I say that phrase fear God that's not like that doesn't bring up warm fuzzies For some of you, it might actually bring up some some pretty painful memories or or ideas That gets misused a lot But in Proverbs it gets used 13 times It gets used often in the book of Proverbs the fear of the Lord and it talks about it Every time it talks about it in a beneficial way the fear of the Lord is a beneficial thing

Proverbs 3 7 It says be not wise in your own eyes fear the Lord and turn away from evil Proverbs 1 7 so basically the verse that sets up the rest of Proverbs. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction now I don't We could talk about the fear of God for hours at least I could It is a it is a complex thing It is it it applies in a lot of different ways what I what I want to just help you kind of focus in on This morning is that fearing God doesn't mean cowering away from God, right? Typically when you're afraid of something you avoid it. Okay, you're like, hey I'm afraid You know, I have a good friend that I'm related to who's also my mother-in-law who is deathly afraid of snakes Okay, deathly afraid of snakes. She's even afraid of me saying the word. Okay, so She's a real fear. I look I don't love snakes either. So just saying if you threw a snake at me, I'd still squeal. Okay, but

But when you say okay if I'm saying, you know to my mother-in-law if I'm saying hey fear snakes She's like got it. Okay, I'm gonna fear and the way she's gonna fear snakes is to avoid them at all possible cost I mean just if there's any snake if there's a snake on TV, she's changing the channel. No snakes. Okay. All right, I'm And and so when we fear something we avoid something that and that is a that is a very kind of hard Association in our mind, right? I'm afraid so I avoid afraid avoid afraid avoid however In in Proverbs, it doesn't mean to avoid God. It actually carries the idea of approaching approaching God in reverence Okay, so here's think about it this way

Think about you have a friend who is going to have surgery Okay, and that friend says hey Listen, I'm really nervous. I need you to be in the operating room with me Okay. Now you're a good friend in this scenario. You might not be a good friend, but in this example you are okay You you go into the operating room to be in the same place with this person who's having surgery and they're very nervous Okay, so what do you do whenever you enter the operating room to observe the surgery? Well, you sterilize Every inch of your body that is not covered by clothing Right or or by by protective gear you sterilize everything you wear you put on anything they tell you to put on I mean they tell you put on a clown so you put it on. Okay, you put on anything They tell you to put on because because you are afraid

And doesn't mean you're avoiding the room, but you are Approaching it in fear. Do you see the difference? You you will obey the rules of going of approaching into that room because the stakes are high If you go into that room and you've got you know, some kind of Contagious cough or or something like that and you're not wearing protective gear If you haven't sterilized if you haven't obeyed all the rules, then then you might infect that patient Your friend in fact you you think about that even as you're entering the room You run that nightmare scenario in your mind like man. I I really hope that nothing Nothing comes from me that will get into that person I I I really don't want to mess this up because the stakes are high

You fear Causing complications you probably if you're like me you will fear bumping into the surgeon Okay, like because I'm so I'm usually so big and a little clumsy Then if I'm in that surgery and there's not a lot of room for me to kind of be over here I'm gonna worry about bumping into something, you know and So what I want you to do Is I want you to think about it that way you still enter the room, but it requires your detailed attention

You don't want to mess that up How does this look in the book of Proverbs? How do we fear the Lord? We got to return to our verses that we're looking at before in room in Proverbs 16 I'm gonna read one and two again, but I want to read the third verse with it It says it says the plans of the Lord sees me the plans of the heart belong to man But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes But the Lord weighs the Spirit Verse 3 commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established Look a couple of verses further down in Proverbs 16 9. It says the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps

Every every picture that we get of the Lord God in heaven. He is robed in majesty and Splendor he is worthy of our worship even his messengers even the angels Do you know what people say? whenever they Well, you know angels say whenever they meet somebody almost every time in the Bible. They say fear not You're not going to die Do you have any idea? I? Mean look angels don't waste their breath Do you have any idea of the personal interaction that's going on for you to approach somebody and they think they're going to die Because you're getting near them. We don't understand that that's not even we can't even fathom that the brilliance the radiance the beauty the majesty the the absolute weight of something that holy some someone who is is that pure that radiant it just it just It just undoes us and we just fall down

every picture we get Jesus whenever he's teaching his disciples to pray what does he say how does he start? He says our father who's in heaven and didn't he didn't say give us to stay our daily bread He doesn't hurry up and get there. What does he say says? How would be thy name you know what hallowed means he's make holy Make holy and so what Jesus says he's he's teaching his disciples how to pray he knows this is gonna get passed on And what does he say he says you you greet your father who is in heaven? Which is a very endearing kind of term like father. It's not just it's not king. It's not judge God is all those things but he but but Jesus opens with father and but then what does he say very soon after that? How would be your name? God your name is holy your name the very the very mention of your name is holy

Make your name holy when we fear God We approach him correctly When when we fear God It's not that we hope that we don't mess it up that he's going to kick us out It's that we understand who we are approaching We understand the identity of the person that we are approaching Those things that you know if you were to meet your your celebrity crush or or the president of the United States or man even a senator Like you're going to you're gonna like check the mirror You know what I mean? You're gonna make sure your eyebrows are like you know okay, and that your hair is okay And that you don't have anything in your teeth You're gonna make sure that you are presentable in a basic capacity To approach someone like that And we are talking about the creator of heaven and earth fearing God sobers us into wise living Fearing God sobers us into wise Living and this is why it says the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps

It's saying it's it's saying look you want some wisdom you want to understand God's perspective on this then don't just run off Make a plan and then say a three-second prayer be like Lord bless it and then just keep going no Take a second Maybe more seek his face Sober up to his plan not not your fanciful idea not what you really want to do Not just what's convenient for you sober up to his plan and let God Establish it there's a lot of wisdom out there that is a bit rogue On about making plans Louis Pasteur says chance favors the prepared mind

Thomas Edison says good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning from God's perspective Prepare and plan all you want I must establish what happens All right, your plans are cute But my plan is what's gonna happen God says to us And this is this is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge It's the beginning of wisdom It's why because when we understand when we get that variable down When we understand that that it's his power that his sovereignty that his glory his majesty his purposes are always A factor they're always there. They're always need to be included in any kind of perspective on anything We remember the Lord's plans are established It's not to be afraid and run away. You see it's to approach appropriately Unless we think this is just God getting his way This is just God being the big kid on the block because sometimes that gets passed around right that that's saying well, you know like

God's really mean because he just wants his way and Let me let me just say even as we look at the proverb that's here that that God is not just it's not just him getting his way It's it's God giving us himself Let me say that again. This is not just God getting his way. It's not just God saying look you plan all you want It's my plane that works. I'm the big dog. I'm up here. You're down there what I say goes what you say Stupid that's that's how we think sometimes that's how we think of it that God's treating us like we think okay I mean he doesn't really care about whatever our plans are he doesn't really know He's not just he's not just getting his way. He's giving up himself giving us excuse me giving us himself I want to look at three more proverbs

proverb 16 6 So we're a lot in Proverbs 16 if you want to just kind of review Proverbs 16 This is gonna be it's just a good way to kind of help remember what we looked at today Proverbs 16 6 says by steadfast love and faithfulness Iniquity is atoned for and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil Look at verse 17 says the highway of the upright turns aside from evil whoever guards his way preserves his life Proverbs 8 13 So we're jumping around a little bit says the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil Pride and arrogance and the way of evil are perverted and perverted speech. I hate God saying he hates that

God establishes his plan with our protection in mind God establishes his plans with our protection in mind because you could ask and then you'd be right to do so you could ask Why does God care about our sin at all just bother him? Just toward his plan Isn't what he said going to happen still going to happen no matter how I respond to it Why make a big deal out of my sin why atone for it why even encourage us to turn away from it? It's not as though whatever we're doing has any bearing on reality any bearing on God's plan Why? And the only explanation is because he cares for us It's because the way of evil is death

Pride perverted speech rebellion It erodes us it erodes our our ability to love it erodes our relationships our ability to experience grace It perverts our mind it even perverts our self-perception Sin ruins us Quickly or slowly But it never does you any favors? The reason that the Lord God in heaven is is passing these provers passing this wisdom on to us It's not just to to tell him or for excuse me for him to just tell us a to-do list He's giving us his heart The Lord is protecting us and when we learn to fear God it cultivates a heart like his heart for God

We are given Proverbs to cooperate with the tides of wisdom and in that process we discover God's heart Fearing God and and learning to do so is a bit like like LASIK surgery Okay, if you think about it this way No one is signing up for how LASIK feels Okay, nobody's signing up for that nobody wants a laser pointed at their eye Okay, like it's not I've heard it's not fun. I don't know if I'll ever do it I think glasses are a great alternative to getting surgery my eye, but Whatever, it's fine It I know enough to know it's not fun That it hurts that recovery is is slow and painful, but at the end your vision is corrected at the end It is something where you are able to perceive things more clearly things are less confusing for you Okay reading the Proverbs is like LASIK Okay, it hurts It really does But in the end in the end you you don't just see what's good or bad

You don't just see what's black and white you don't just see what's lazy or not you also you in addition to all that you see God's heart in it I want to give you three ways I'm gonna leave you with three ways to accomplish that to accomplish meditating on the on the Proverbs Discovering God's heart. I just want to give you a little bit to do that the first I Just want to encourage you strongly Commit to reading the Proverbs in January Commit to it. It's December 31st. Okay, so you have all day to decide and make plans Okay, got a whole I don't know what's left of the day like, you know 18 hours so Take a sec. Just in your heart decide Decide to read the Proverbs in January. It's one chapter per day. So we're talking 10 minutes tops. Okay, I'm a slow reader 15 tops for me. Okay and And if you need a way to do that There's the we have the wisdom from the Proverbs plan. You can get on the church center app

Or you can get on you version and set South Birla's and Baptist Church as you as your church my encouragement Like we were talking about before you want to let those tides of wisdom just wash over you just on repeat Just ready to go. In fact, it might even be helpful for you To read it yourself and then even as you're going to work, you know on you version and there's lots of other apps I can do it. It'll read the Bible to you just all out loud and everything And so you can you can do that You can just download the book of Proverbs in particular and you can just listen to a chapter of Proverbs on your way to work If you have a 15-minute commute, it's great. It's even less even less time than that And usually it's a British guy that sounds pretty great, right? I don't know who that guy is, but he's awesome I want him to read anything to me And So that's my encouragement. Let let the tides of wisdom wash over you right do that in January

Okay, and look I'm not promising magic here. Okay, I'm not saying all your problems go away I must but I am saying you will feel you will feel your perspectives beginning to change You will feel False narratives beginning to erode you will begin to wake up in new ways This is what the Lord does through his word so commit to reading Proverbs in January a chapter a day And if you forget what chapter you're on just think of what date is in January and that's the chapter you read, okay?

application number to lay your life against the Proverbs as You read Proverbs lay your life against them The word parable in Greek parabolo it means to throw beside Okay, so a parable is it's it's something thrown beside something else to teach for a comparison, right? and and so Proverbs are the same thing there are parable a riddle a comparison something for you to learn from and so my encouragement as you're reading the Proverbs Begin to lay your life against them and begin to ask questions of yourself

Am I acting the fool am I acting like the wise man am I acting like a sluggard How wise am I living right now? What rhythms am I walking in? Right, what am I leading my family in? What am I doing at work? What are the rhythms there? It's humbling It's painful. It's like lasek It's not fun. That's not a fun chore. Okay, that's not a to-do that you couple with other really difficult to do Do that with some fun ones, but it's it is a hundred percent worth it

sobering sobering to fear the Lord The third and last thing as you read Proverbs pray to see God's heart in the Proverbs Pray to see God's heart in the Proverbs Pray to see God's heart It might not have occurred to you until now, but tides are not They're not a rescue Tides the tide the actual tide the tide that rolls in and out the tide that we see right there going in and out There's actually some pretty terrible stories about being taken away by the tide, right? um And so when I talk about the tides of wisdom, look, I don't mean it as as fuzzy or fun or nice these these tides are tough They can be a whip In fact In if you read Proverbs and and you read about the tides and you you aren't cooperating with the tides Proverbs tells you What awaits you? injury failure death loss Needless suffering

The the tides aren't aren't this this place of grace They're they're in fact a bit merciless but If you let them humble you if you lay your life against them, then you begin to find there is deep comfort in the fact that God owns time space your career Your family and your weekend plans There is deep comfort in that That we should fear God, but we should not avoid him That we should understand that he's in control of those things, but that he has a plan that's good in them

Not just something to be run from or something to hide from Because his perspective is unlike ours. His perspective is complete total holistic nothing is missed by him he holds it all and his heart is Good. Do you hear me? It's probably not surprised to you that God is in control of everything or that he owns time and space and your career and your weekend plans But it might be a surprise Even if you kind of knew it intellectually, it might be a surprise to help you understand. God's heart is Good that he plans good things for you to enjoy He plans good works for you to do his heart is good and he works it as a blessing

I pray And i'm going to call the band back up. I I pray that as you read proverbs As you let those tides of wisdom kind of wash over you and and and and change your perspective and do I pray that you would begin to fear him And to trust his heart at the exact same time I pray that you would learn to fear him kind of respect him for who he is, but also trust his heart I pray that you would do those things at the exact same time And as we enter into a time of response, I just want to encourage you

Just how how is the lord calling you right now to put your future in his hands? Spoiler alert it's there anyway Okay, it's there anyway But the lord in his kindness He says to us look All those plans that you have all those things all those big decisions that you're kind of mulling over all these You know, like do we have another kid? Do I need to move do I need to retire? Do I need to how do how do I need to approach this situation? How do I confront this person all these things all these big decisions? The lord is calling us both to fear him and trust him at the exact same time That he wants to use all of that in your life