Trusting God with the Week Ahead - Your Nightly Prayer - November 15

Audio By Carbonatix

Trusting God with the Week Ahead

TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

SOMETHING TO PONDER

In recent years, a growing trend has begun to divide people into one of two categories. It’s pretty lighthearted, but I often find big feelings arise when it comes up in group discussions. In your home, do you decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving?

At this point, I know more people who enjoy their Thanksgiving meal by the glow of their Christmas tree than those who don't. But it seems that in every family, friend group, or workplace, there's always that one person who refuses to give in to the Christmas-before-Thanksgiving trend. For them, it's turkey first, Christmas second.

You may be standing firm against the crowd on a casual decision like your holiday decorating timeline. Still, Caleb is a great example of someone who stood firm when the decision carried far greater weight. Rather than allowing the opinions of those around him to determine his response, Caleb trusted what God had said.

Maybe tonight, you are also facing a week of heavy responsibilities, uncertainties, and looming decisions. The temptation may be to rely on your own understanding or let the voices around you determine your next step. But tonight’s Scripture offers us another way.

Caleb and Joshua were among the twelve spies sent on a mission to explore the Promised Land. Instead of looking at fortified cities and giant inhabitants and concluding that entering the land was impossible, Caleb stood before the Israelites and confidently said, “We should go up and take possession of the land.” (Numbers 13:30)

Caleb trusted the Lord with all his heart. He believed God’s promise that He would give Israel the land, even when what he saw with his eyes seemed to point to a different outcome.

Unlike the rest of the generation, Caleb and Joshua did not allow their circumstances to outweigh God’s promise. They stood firm against the majority report. They chose to trust the words spoken by God Almighty.

Tonight’s verse reminds us to not only trust in the LORD, but to do so wholeheartedly! We are called to lay down our own understanding, not follow the crowd, and submit our ways to Him. And when we do, we can trust Him to direct our paths.

God Himself described Caleb in this way in Numbers 14:24: “Because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”

Caleb didn’t know exactly how God would fulfill His promise. He simply trusted that God would. The same is true for us, tonight. We may not know how a difficult decision will unfold or how uncertainty will resolve, but we can choose to surrender our own understanding to the One who sees the entire path.

Despite what everyone around us believes or says, God sees our heart condition and our submission to Him. Surrender your circumstances to Him tonight, and rest knowing that in that one step of obedience, He promises to direct your path.

YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER

Father, I thank You that You desire to direct my path. I am overcome with gratitude at the thought of the God of the universe being so involved in the details of my life. Help me to trust You wholeheartedly, as Caleb did. I do not want the voices of those around me to influence my heart and pull me away from Your best. Lord, open my eyes to see my circumstances from Your perspective, and to not rely on myself or anyone else in my decisions moving forward. I surrender to You and You alone. In Jesus’ name, amen.

THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON

1. What decision, responsibility, or uncertainty are you carrying into this week that God may be asking you to surrender to Him?

2. Whose voice has the greatest influence on your heart right now, and is it louder than God’s word?

3. What would it look like for me to trust God wholeheartedly this week?

Reflect on tonight’s prayer and share how God met you there. Join the Your Nightly Prayer discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.

Lindsey Callahan is a wife, girl mom, writer, and speaker whose story reflects God’s grace and redemption. After nearly two decades in the television news industry, she felt the Lord calling her to step away and serve in pregnancy help ministry. Once a self-described “career girl” who believed children stood in the way of her dreams, Lindsey experienced a true heart change. Now, she knows that children are a heritage from the Lord, a reward from Him (Psalm 127:3), and she’s passionate about helping others see new life as a precious gift, straight from the hand of God.

Now that you've prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below!