Just over a month ago, I was getting out of the shower, getting ready for church. As I picked up the towel to dry off, Proverbs 3:5 (NKJV) came to me. 
 
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
 
I paused for a couple seconds, pondering the clarity of the message. Trust in the Lord. At that point in my walk, I didn’t really understand what trusting the Lord meant. But it was a message I needed to hear. I recognized that I didn’t know many scripture verses given that I was a new believer. But this was one that I was familiar with, and I felt compelled to hear it.
 
Later that morning, I went to church, and as the worship service ended, and the pastor came to give the sermon. He gave his usual opening announcements about the church, asked us to greet our neighbors, and then he began: “Open your Bibles. Proverbs Chapter 3 is where we’re going this morning.”
 
Throughout the sermon, and since then, it’s become clear to me that God wants our trust. He wants us to know that He is in control, that He is sovereign, and that He loves us. Beyond simply understanding these things is what we do with that knowledge. Do we trust God with everything? Or do we give lip service to trust and rely on our own understanding to navigate the world, the choices we face, and the ways that we serve?
 
I think it’s important to gauge where we are in terms of trusting the Lord. That’s what God asked me to do that morning, and I think He’s asking each of us to do so in our own ways. Though at times it may be difficult to trust, putting unfettered trust in the Lord produces fruit. I invite you today to inquire inside where you are in trusting the Lord, and what it means to trust the Lord within everything.
 
Psalm 143:8 (NIV)
 
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
    for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
    for to you I entrust my life.

​As a new Christian, I’m learning what God has in store for me every single day. What’s clearer by the day is that dedicating time to reading scriptures is the most useful tool for discerning God’s will for me. Today I turned to read Genesis, the beginning of creation, and made it through the first five chapters. Then God stirred in me and I seemed to recall that Jesus was referenced in the beginning of Genesis. I looked it up, and sure enough in Genesis 3 (NKJV), The Temptation and The Fall of Man, speaks about Jesus. It says:
 
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:
 
            Because you have done this,
            You are cursed more than all 
                        cattle
            And more than every beast of
                        the field;
            On your belly you shall go,
            And you shall eat dust
            All the days of your life.
15        And I will put enmity
            Between you and the woman,
            And between your seed and her
                        Seed;
            He shall bruise your head,
            And you shall bruise His heel.”           
 
I found this important because then I asked for guidance for God’s will for me, and he showed me the following passage from Habakkuk 3 (NKJV):
 
12 You marched through the land
            in indignation;
You trampled the nations
            in anger.
13 You went forth for the salvation 
            of Your people,
For salvation with Your
            Anointed.
You struck the head from the
            house of the wicked,
By laying bare from foundation,
            to neck.
                                    Selah
 
God’s guidance for me today is to know certainly a few things. 
 
First, He has a plan for me. As is written in these scriptures, His plans have been such from the beginning. By putting my trust in Him and in His plan for me, He will deliver me from sin into salvation. I trust this inherently.
 
Second, God knew from the beginning that He had to send Jesus to redeem us from sin. God says this in the very, very, very first instance of sin against Him. Think about that for a moment. This shows God’s omniscience, and His acknowledgement of the way of salvation as He knew what would happen as a result of the fall of man.
 
Third, God shows me that the Bible is a living document. He gave me insight, and showed me how these scriptures were tied together. These speak of Jesus coming, marching and trampling the enemy for his propagation of sin, and saving His people. It is with this insight that you can see why in Genesis 3 it says “And you shall bruise His heel.” It is because Jesus will march and trample the enemy.
 
Together these two scriptures give me insight into how God works, confidence that taking time every day to read scriptures will guide my life, and that God has a plan for everything. These lessons are important to me as I continue my journey with Jesus.