{"id":108,"date":"2014-06-10T21:54:20","date_gmt":"2014-06-10T21:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/?p=108"},"modified":"2014-06-10T21:54:20","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T21:54:20","slug":"proverbs-35-6-from-a-soldiers-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/2014\/06\/10\/proverbs-35-6-from-a-soldiers-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Proverbs 3:5, 6 \u2013 From a Soldier\u2019s Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RTO_face\"<\/a>Trust in the Lord with all your heart.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trust the LORD, i.e. the General, the Commander-in-Chief! Trust Him entirely and wholeheartedly. Place all of your confidence in God as your Commander-in-Chief. He is the only one who is able to see the entire battlefield. He is the only one who has the perspective that takes into account all necessary and relevant factors. He has at His disposal far greater intelligence reporting than any soldier or officer on the front lines. He is the only one who knows the movements of the entire enemy army. So He is the only one capable of positioning all Allied assets where they can be most effective! You must trust Him!<\/p>\n

Lean not on your own understanding.<\/strong><\/p>\n

From where you stand, in your little corner of the war, you have a very limited view. You’ve been positioned on a hill overlooking a road that runs along the river down below. You can perhaps see about half a mile to the west and another quarter mile to the east, but that’s about it. You’re a Lieutenant, your men are stationed in foxholes within your field of view; you can see more than they can so they must look to you and trust you for direction, but you must look to the General for directions. Compared to what the General can see, you are able to see and understand very little of the big picture. You must not rely on your understanding of what’s taking place because you simply do not have the information or perspective or the knowledge that the General has. So you must not rely on or place confidence in your own insight – for your sake, as well as for the sake of those under your care!<\/p>\n

In all your ways acknowledge him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You must not only trust the General, you need to obey him. In every decision you make, in every order you give, you must acknowledge that you are under His orders and direction. You do this by consulting Him before you move. In everything you do you demonstrate that you recognize and accept your limitations; that there’s one far more capable of leading and guiding you and your men than you are. This is not because you are stupid, neither is it because you do not know how to think or make decisions, it is simply because you are not the General; you simply do not have His perspective and understanding. Like the men under you, you are soldier under orders with a very limited sightline and a narrow field of view. In all your actions defer to and consult Him!<\/p>\n

And he shall direct your paths.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This means that God, your Commander-in-Chief, will clear the road for you. Some translations read, “he will make your paths straight.”<\/em>. The Hebrew for this phrase carries the idea that God, your Commander-in-Chief, has the power, authority and capacity to clear the mine fields ahead of you and remove the obstacles that the enemy has placed in your way. Therefore, when you are following His lead you will not be blown apart; you will not be killed; you will not be held up! You will be able to reach the goal that He has assigned to you safely and with minimal delay.<\/p>\n

If you do not trust the General, if you try to lean on your own understanding, if you do not acknowledge that you are under orders and limited in your perspective, then you will most likely end up getting men killed! At the least, you will fall behind as you try to deal with all the obstacles yourself. Your unit will grow exhausted and increasingly become ineffective in the battle going forward.<\/p>\n

We live in God’s kingdom; we live under God’s rule. We are His soldiers, under His authority. The beauty is that God, the omnipotent and omniscient Commander-in-Chief under whom we serve, is also gracious and loving and kind. We can completely trust him! We can trust him not only to bring our side to final victory, but to utilize us in ways that are not just best for the war effort, but for who us as individuals. We will be truly fulfilled and useful under His command. So, we can trust him to be concerned, not only for the Army at large, but for our own personal safety and the welfare of our of men.<\/p>\n

Trust wholeheartedly in Yahweh, put no faith in your own perception; in every course you take, have him in mind: he will see that your paths are smooth. – (Jerusalem Bible)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Trust the LORD, i.e. the General, the Commander-in-Chief! Trust Him entirely and wholeheartedly. Place all of your confidence in God as your Commander-in-Chief. He is the only one who is able to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions\/113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}