THE TWO WAYS OF LIVING YOUR LIFE
A Christian can live his life in one of two ways. Either you lean on your own understanding, or you choose to live your life in such a way that you trust in the Lord on a daily basis. In Proverbs 3:5-6 we read that we should trust in the LORD with all our hearts and that we should not lean on our own understanding. It also states that we should, in all our ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct our paths.
When the Bible says that we should acknowledge Him in all your ways, it means exactly that. All your ways mean all your ways, not only the difficult things. We need to acknowledge Him in everything we do. Acknowledge that He is with us, knows more than we do and is ultimately the One who sees the bigger picture. Self-sufficiency and self-dependence have been the ruin of mankind ever since the fall of Adam. The grand sin of the human race is their continual endeavour to live independently of God.
What we often do is to pick a path with the expectation that God will approve of it and bless us on our way. That’s not how God works. Rather than picking a path and asking God to bless it, we need to understand that God has already chosen a “bless-able” path for us. The Holy Spirit has come to help us walk that path and when we choose to trust Him, lean on Him, and acknowledge Him, His path becomes clearer and clearer. God doesn’t bless “our” path. He blesses “His” path and invites us to walk on it. Our limited understanding of how we should live our lives can easily lead us astray and into destruction. Proverbs 16:25 says, "There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end, it leads to death." There are many voices and influences in this world that want to lead you. Be aware of that!
We need to push beyond our emotional responses to life and seek the LORD's guidance. To acknowledge God means that you live your life in such a way that you have a persistent refusal to follow your own wisdom, but a persistent insistence on knowing God’s wisdom.