Pastor Ben Oesterling

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5 and 3:6

This advice is easy to follow when things are going well in our lives. We can trust in the Lord when our circumstances are calm and our life is going the way we “planned.”

But the easy times of life are not when our faith is really needed. It is in the times of uncertainty and struggle that our faith is truly tested.

We tend to want to lean on our own understanding and experience as a first response, but there are situations in life in which our knowledge and experience just won’t cut it.

Case in point: I have never taken a college class on leading a congregation through a national pandemic. I don’t know if I slept through that class or was sick that day ... or if it just wasn’t offered, but no other pastors I know got training on this subject either.

I can’t look to myself during this time. Instead, I have to go to God’s Word and trust Him to guide me and our people through this crisis. He will direct our paths and He will direct yours as well.

This is His promise, but He tells us that we must first trust in Him with all of our heart. He doesn’t want us to trust him partially. He doesn’t want us to trust Him as a backup plan. He wants full trust with all of our heart.

Remember, God is still in control. We are not. We need to encourage our hearts not to stress during times of uncertainty and not to lean on ourselves or our understanding.

Instead, we must trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and let Him direct our path.

Pastor Ben Oesterling is the senior pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Prospect.