Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
The background to the story of the triumphal entrance in Mark 11:1-6 has a revealing phrase in verse 4 that is captured in the KJV Bible. It says they “found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met;”
A place where two ways meet is a fork in the road. I love the way Robert Frost put it: “Two roads diverged in a wood and, and I, took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Whether we realize it or not, we come upon these forks many times in our journey through life, and we are making a choice, a decision that will make all the difference in our lives. I have recently come to such a fork in my own life.
I have been at forks similar to this many times, but this is the first time I have gotten such clear direction on which road to take. A couple of months ago the Lord spoke to me one morning and said the road ahead for you is Proverbs 3:5-6, which is the road of trusting the Lord. My first thought was of course it is, that is the way I live my life, but it was what He did not tell, what the other road is that got my attention.
As believers who have walked down the journey of life with God for a few seasons it is not like the broad and narrow way. That is an obvious choice, but the forks many of us come upon today give us choices that do not seem so obvious, both ways seem right, at least on the surface.
So I asked the Lord what is the other road and He sent a young man to me. This young man is very gifted and has a tremendous calling upon his life. He has done a couple tours with YWAM and is presently involved in church planting and spiritual leadership, and is planning to go to the nations as a church planter later this year.
He described to me the way he felt on the inside and it was like he was describing how I how felt for many years of my Christian life. He was traveling down that same road of trying to please the Lord that I had and he was not a happy camper.
I have discovered that a life of trusting the Lord is what grace looks like lived out. That is what it all boils down to. Trusting in what He says, what He did and what He is doing, and not depending or trusting in my own understanding, strengths, experience and even my spiritual gifting and calling.
When Jesus was baptized at the Jordan, the Father spoke from heaven, “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased (Mark 1:11).” God was pleased with Jesus because He was His Son, bottom line. He was not pleased with Him for any other reason. God is pleased with you and I because we are sons or daughters, not because of anything we will ever do.
The road of pleasing God is based on what we do versus what He did and does. That is why it leads to nowhere but frustration and failure.
When it is all said and done, at the core of every believer who is walking with God our choices will boil down to this; am I going to trust Him or am I going to please Him? The thing we must know is that He is already pleased. That is why a revelation of the Father Heart of God and grace are foundational to everything spiritual. The sad thing is for much of Christianity this is the road less traveled.
The Bible tells us without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb. 11:6). We can put the word trust in the place of faith, as trust is the verb form of faith. Trust is faith in action. If we trust Him we are pleasing Him. Trusting Him will make all the difference in your life and it will be pleasing to you and the Lord.
Many Blessings, BW