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Trust in the Lord with all your heart
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

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Entering into this Fall season with schools starting back up, an election on, and the Delta variant afoot\u2014along with however many other things may be going on in your life\u2014these words from Proverbs might seem quaint.\xa0

\u201cTrust in the Lord.\u201d\xa0 \u201cSubmit your ways to him.\u201d\xa0 \u201cLet him make your paths straight in this world.\u201d\xa0 Yeah right, you might think: if only you knew the paths I have to take to make it through a day in this world! \xa0The arrangements I\u2019ve had to work out for daycare, school, work at home, flipping back and forth between in person and at home, etc, etc.\xa0 I can\u2019t just pray and hope it all works out: there are things that just won\u2019t wait, things that need doing!

And that\u2019s right.\xa0 There are things that need doing.\xa0 And in the midst of those things it\u2019s hard to live these verses out.\xa0 Yet, I think there\u2019s something deeply foundational to placing our trust in the Lord. I\u2019d like to sketch it out as a triangle with equal sides.\xa0 So, picture a triangle, and let\u2019s walk around it.\xa0

Starting at the peak of the triangle, the point at the top, sits God as our Creator.\xa0 Proverbs is constantly making reference to God\u2019s act of Creation.\xa0 Read through all of chapter 3 if you have time and you\u2019ll find statements like \u201cBy wisdom the Lord laid the earth\u2019s foundations.\u201d\xa0 So, God as our Creator sits at the top of the triangle.

Then at the triangle\u2019s lower right corner sits God\u2019s provision.\xa0 This is the Creation itself which carries with it the possibility of food, of shelter, of security, of beauty, of fun and play, of power, of wealth, of technology, of culture, of children, of life.\xa0 The line from God at the top of the triangle to this right hand corner reminds us that all these bits and pieces of the Creation that make up all of our provision is firstly, a good gift from God.\xa0 We find this theme elsewhere in Proverbs 3 too in statements like: wisdom \u201cis a tree of life to those who take hold of her,\u201d an illusion to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2.\xa0 Said differently: all of God\u2019s good and wise provision offers everything that\u2019s needed for life.\xa0 That\u2019s the lower right hand corner.

Finally, the lower left hand corner of the triangle.\xa0 This corner is labeled \u201ctrust.\u201d\xa0 Having already received from God all the provision we need for life\u2014all the provision that we spend our days chasing to secure\u2014we can perhaps begin to realize that all this provision actually comes from God and not from our striving to secure it.\xa0 And that, may just lead us back to our verse from today.\xa0

Trust in the Lord.\xa0 He knows what you need.\xa0 He already provided it: in the Creation itself and the breath of life that fills our lungs.\xa0 Look to him with your trust, and the Triangle is complete.\xa0 God provides, and we receive it in trust that God will continue to provide, building our trust further.\xa0 Round and round we go.\xa0 Tasting and seeing that the Lord is good.

This path around the triangle isn\u2019t straight because it\u2019s linear.\xa0 It\u2019s straight because it\u2019s centered around a right and trusting relationship with our Creator God.\xa0 Which then puts all our other relationships straight\u2014our relationship with our provision, with our daily tasks and activities\u2014it all flows from the centre: a right and trusting relationship with our Creator God.\xa0

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