In all your ways acknowledge
Him, and he shall direct your paths.
-Proverbs 3:6
Most of us know the line that comes before the one above. We
hear it in church, at Sunday school, and we read it on blogs! Proverbs 3:5
says, “Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and lean not on your own
understanding.” While it is important for us to highlight the fact that we need
to trust God, we already know this. The problem is that we don’t know what to
do after the trusting. That’s where Proverbs 3:6 comes in.
Last week, I was under a lot of (self-produced) pressure due
to final exams. I think it’s safe to say that a lot of us feel overwhelmed at
that time of the year, and this feeling often leads us to neglecting what is
important to us (apart from school, which becomes our sole focus). We don’t
call our parents, we stop talking to our friends, we forget to eat (not me – I’m
always eating), but most importantly, we abandon our relationship with God.
This was my reality. I was so consumed by the studying that I had to do, that
it was the only thing upon which my eyes were fixed. I couldn’t even make time
to read one Bible verse or talk to God for one minute. The only time God heard from
me was the night before the exam when I was trying my best to cram as much
information as possible.
What makes the situation even sadder is that I could feel my
spirit weakening. I could feel anxiety starting to take over and at times, I
felt as though I wasn’t going to be able to make it through the week. Although
I was retaining some knowledge, it didn’t matter because my spiritual tank was
running dangerously low. For one whole week, I didn’t do a Bible study, didn’t talk
to my Father, or sing praises to Him. At the end of the week, I was feeling
lost, both in terms of my education and my spirit.
It’s currently 12:32am. I am sitting in my bed, listening to
the “Exiles” album by Seeker &
Servant. I’m feeding my spirit and spending time with God. I am writing
this blog post because I came to a realization. The reason I was unable to keep
up my relationship with God during that one week is that God isn’t my top priority.
In fact, he’s not even close to the top. My education is my number one
priority. It even tops family, apparently. What follows is family, friends, food,
music, Instagram, emails, job searches, next semester’s plans and then God. He
is so low on my priority list that I couldn’t even trust Him to help me through
exam week. This is the God who paints the sky every day and I can’t even allow
Him to carry me through, not even one full week, but TWO days of exams? Wow!
Don’t get me wrong, I trust God, dearly. I just didn’t want
to trust Him with this particular thing. “No God. You can handle my other
problems. I don’t think school is Your thing,” said Mandile, arrogantly. This
problem of not trusting God wholly, comes from the refusal to follow the instructions
given in Proverbs 3:6. “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct
your paths.” Whoa! My Bible is the NKJV but my phone Bible is the NIV. As I was
cross-referencing the two versions, I found that the NIV uses the word “submit”
in place of “acknowledge”. “In all your ways submit to Him.” In everything
you do, give yourself wholly to Him
and you will not be lost. Make Him a priority and He will show you the way to
go. Had I handed myself over to God during that time, I wouldn’t have felt lost
at the end of the week. The only way to submit yourself to Him, is if you’re
putting him first. You only hand something over to someone because you know
that person has some kind of authority over that thing. You don’t ask your fish
to watch your friend, do you? I hope not. You give your fish to your friend
because you acknowledge that your friend has more power than the fish. In the
same way, you don’t ask your problem to deal with God. You ask God to deal with
your problem. You can only do that if God is above that problem/situation on
your priority list.
But seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to
you.
-Matthew 6:33
Jesus tells us to seek the kingdom of God first. In case that’s not clear, before
we do anything else, we are to seek
God’s kingdom. We are to put aside exams, social media, food (omg) and go to
God first. We are to make Him our top priority. We are to focus on spreading
the name of Jesus, learning more about God’s heart, and growing spiritually
before we try to get an education. As an African, my life is inherently centered
around my education. Not anymore. I refuse to put anything above God. I refuse
to spend six hours studying before I spend even just one hour with God. I
refuse to worry about which photo to post on Instagram before I pray about
which book of the Bible He wants me to be studying. I refuse to work towards
building my own house in the future before I work on building His kingdom right
now.
There is nothing wrong with caring about things so
passionately that you’re willing to give up food for them (once again, not me).
It’s when those things replace your relationship with God and your mission to
serve Him that it becomes a problem. However, it’s easier said than done. We
are humans. We are drawn to worldly things. That’s why it’s so important to spend
time praying that God will grant you wisdom to see when your priorities are not
straight. I’ll be praying for you, my friend, and I hope you’ll be praying for
me too. Let us build His house, before we build our own.
God truly loves you.
With love,
Mandile.
Shout-out: (I mentioned them in the post) Seeker &
Servant is a worship band whose music is super mellow and chill. It’s perfect
for Bible study, quiet time, or sitting by the fire. Visit their website and give
their albums a listen. I can almost guarantee that you will love them!
No comments
Post a Comment