Trust in the Lord with all your heart

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
(Proverbs 3:5-8)

We read this together at our staff prayer meeting recently. We had been discussing various important practical issues and applying our minds as best we could. But as we turned to prayer I felt we must remind ourselves that wisdom only gets us so far. The book of Proverbs is generally very positive about wisdom, but in the passage above it warns against an over-confidence in our own wisdom. It is those who “fear the Lord and shun evil” whom the Lord blesses.

One new development which is the product of wisdom is our new website. Our previous one, designed by Andy Moore, was outstanding. It even won the runners’ up prize in a national competition! But technology never stands still. An increasing number of churches are discovering the value of using their website, not only as a source of relatively stable information, but as a conduit of up to the minute news, and information. We have therefore built a new website using a new system. Members will be able to log in, check and update their personal information, see the latest church news, receive automatic reminders of their rota duties, and much more. We hope that this will increase our ability to function well as a community of God’s people as we grow larger. But its only our best wisdom!

And then there is the new church Constitution. The Charities Commission are requiring churches like ours to reform themselves into new charities. There have been many false starts over the last few years, but now we are required to become registered before the autumn. There are a couple of proposals for which we particularly need wisdom. The elders are convinced that we need to reduce the quorum for church meetings, but we are less certain by how much. We are also not finally settled in our minds whether the new local trustees which are required by the Charities Commission should be elders and deacons, or elders only. We need the collective wisdom of the church in this, so please come to the First Tuesday meeting on 5th May to consider and pray about this together. But when all is said and done the solution we adopt will only be our best wisdom!

We need to responsibly consider these things, and seek the best wisdom available but neither the website nor the Constitution will make us healthy. Humble fear of the Lord, and simple godliness are the things which will keep us vibrant as a church. The Lord is blessing abundantly at present - two more baptism on 10th May - and it is not our wisdom which got us here, nor will it be our brains which keeps us fruitful.

It is as we trust in him and acknowledge him in all our ways, that he makes our paths straight.


May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)