Depend on the Lord. Trust him, and he will take care of you.
Psalm 37:5 (Life Application Study Bible)
Jesus Tells Us; Plan. Plot. Scheme. That is the way this world does things. it’s all about control. Control your time, control your money, control the people and events around you, control your life. Control equals peace. But the thing is, you can never be in complete control. Just when you think you’re prepared for every possibility, something unexpected pops up and ruins all your plans. Your parents may say no, the weather may cancel the big game, or sickness may stop you from getting out of bed. Control does equal peace, but only when it’s My control. Bring me all your needs, your hopes and fears, and leave them in My care.
Jesus Concludes; Depend on Me to do the planning, and I will give you, My Peace.
Psalm 37:5; 1 Peter 5:6-7; Proverbs 16:9; Study Notes
Footnotes Psalm 37:4-5; David calls us to take delight in the Lord and to commit everything we have and do to him. But how do we do this? To delight in someone means to experience great pleasure and joy in his or her presence. This happens only when we know that person well and when we have been a faithful friend. Thus, to delight in the Lord, we must get to know him better and be faithful in our relationship with him. The certainty of God’s great love for us will then indeed give us delight. To commit ourselves to the Lord, means to entrust everything, our lives, families, jobs, possessions, to his control and guidance. To commit ourselves to the Lord means to trust in him, believing that he can care for us better than we can ourselves. We should wait patiently for him to work out what is best for us.
Passage 1 Peter 5:6-7; 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Footnotes 1 Peter 5:6-7; 6We often worry about position and status, hoping to get proper recognition for what we do. But Peter advises us to remember that God’s recognition counts more than human praise. God is able and willing to bless us according to his timing. Humbly obey God regardless of your present circumstances, and in his good time, either in this life, or in the next, he will honor you. 7Carrying our worries, stresses, and daily struggles by ourselves, shows that we have not trusted God fully with our lives. Humility is needed, however, to recognize that God cares, to admit our needs, and to let others in God’s family help us. Sometimes we think that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God’s concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, he will bear the weight even of those struggles. Letting God carry our anxieties calls for action, not passivity. Don’t submit to circumstances, submit to the Lord, who controls circumstances.
Passage Proverbs 16:9; In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
Footnotes Proverbs 16:7; We want other people to like us, and sometimes we will do almost anything to win their approval. But God tells us to put our energy into pleasing him first. Our effort to be peacemakers will usually make us more appealing to those around us, even our adversaries. But even when it doesn’t, we haven’t lost anything. We are still pleasing God, the only one who truly matters.
Jesus Tells Us is from the Jesus Calling 365 devotions for kids.
THE WORLD…we see history
In the Word and the World, we see His Story, Israel Evans.
The Battle of Yorktown effectively ended the American Revolution. British General Charles Cornwallis, badly outnumbered and isolated, sent out a white flag and surrendered to George Washington. Israel Evans was there to preach a sermon of victory to the American forces. A native of Pennsylvania, Evans had served as a chaplain throughout the War. His sermons had strengthened George Washinton at Valley Forge, and he was standing beside Washington at Yorktown when they were both nearly hit by a cannonball. On October 20, 1781, the day after the victorious battle, Evans preached to the euphoric troops from 1 Samuel 7:12, which is a quotation from the prophet Samuel after a battlefield victory over the Philistines. Samuel wanted to commemorate the victory, so he established a monument and called Ebenezer, which meant, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” “I now beg your further attention, my dearly beloved hearers, while I attempt to illustrate the meaning of the words, which I have chosen for the assistance of your devotions on this joyful day,” said Evans in his victory sermon.
By these words we are called to a devout consideration of our independence on the Almighty God, and to a recollection of the many instances of help and relief with which He has condescended to bless us. This is a truth which cannot be justly contradicted, and this is a truth from which America ought to learn her happiness as a nation. Hitherto hath the Lord helped us!
READ MORE
Evans went on to say that everyone in the new nation, all the Patriots and brothers and sisters, should form one great concert of praise to “Him who has aided us.” Historians would look back on the struggle, he said, and see the “ways of God” in allowing the oppressed of the land to gain their freedom. God had made the new nation like the “apple of His eye” or like a vine that is planted. God had raised up the warriors needed, and He had ordained statesmen to assist the cause. He had established a new nation to praise Him and to thank Him for their liberty. “Praise the Lord, who hath redeemed us from our enemies, for His mercy endureth forever!” Evans shouted to the generals and all the troops gathered before him. He also reminded them of the twists of providence and the rather miraculous moments that had saved America from expected disaster. That the colonial army, ragtag and unproven and outmatched, should defeat the greatest military power in the world was a remarkable exhibition of providence, virtually unseen since the days of Samuel. No expedition which depended, in the first plan of it, upon forces so much disjoined and events so precarious, was ever blessed with a more seasonable and harmonious junction of prosperous circumstances or ended with more substantial glory and complete success, O! All ye inhabitants of the United States, let your thankfulness appear by the piety of your hearts and the purity of our lives. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, Methinks if men uttered no songs of praise to their Deliverer, this continent itself would reprove their ingratitude. Israel Evans sermon on October 20th looked backward at God’s providential hand over the course of the War. But later he preached another victory sermon in New Yor City, in which he looked ahead and painted a picture of what America could be. His words were almost prophetic, and they picture America as she should be.
The great Continent of America, is now free and independent! The blood and treasure of the sons of freedom have purchased these privileges, oh, blessed day which brings us to the possession of all we have been contending for and enables us to erect the standard of Liberty and Glory upon one of the four great divisions of earth! Hail auspicious morning of the rising empire. Hail arts and sciences, America is the new theatre of your improvements. Commerce and trade shall spread their sails and waft the riches of distant lands to this great continent. Now, without fear of an insulting enemy, the industrious husbandman shall sow his enlarged fields and reap his rich and joyful harvests. Here the oppressed shall find a secure retreat from all the poverty and misery of merciless tyranny. Religion and learning shall raise their drooping heads and flourish again. Now shall the brave soldier claim the honor of being a free and independent citizen of the United States of America. The blessed soil of independence shall strive to reward him for his persevering valor. May peace and love and human affection be once more planted in the human mind, and there grow and flourish till time shall be no more.
The Revolutionary leaders of America understood the meaning of Ebenezar, hitherto has the Lord helped us! There wasn’t a better word in the dictionary t describe their feelings on that day of final victory. And those among them who understood the role of providence knew that the God who had helped them thus far waws needed now more than ever for the future. We all have Ebenezer moments in our lives. Looking back, we can see God’s help; and looking forward, we can see God’s hand. Hitherto has the Lord helped us.
Source: 100 Bible Verses that Made America/Page 106 https://www.robertjmorgan.com/100verses/