ON THE VANGUARD

SUCCESSFUL STEPS
“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”
Proverbs 16:3

We have probably all gotten these emails before, or maybe even tried one once. You know what I’m talking about. Those get rich quick schemes. If you give $50 to enter into the program, they will send you a list of 100 names to contact. For every one that contacts you back and joins, you make a percentage off them. For everyone that responds to them, you not only make your original percentage, but now you make also a percentage off the newbie. The pyramid goes on and on until you have so much money you are considered a millionaire. Have you been part of that scheme before? Or how about my favorite one. It seems that in every remote part of the world I have some relative who has passed away leaving bundles of money. Every other relative is dead and I am the next close of kin. By giving this banker handling the estate my bank account information, they will place the money into my account and I will be richer than when I started. While that one shows more promise, it too is a con as in the end I have heard stories of people doing this and then being deleted of anything in their bank instead of it being added to.
Get rich quick schemes are all around us, and chances are we have fallen for a few without even knowing. But there are those that we are able to read for what they are and yet we still give in. What am I talking about? How about the lottery? For the price of a lottery ticket you too can have the chance to win millions. Is this not also a get rich quick scheme? And can you really justify gambling, which is what the lottery is, as something God wants you to engage in?
We all want to get rich quick; we all want to be secure in our financial steps. There is nothing wrong with having money or savings. But when we look to other things as opposed to God, then we are walking the line of distrusting Him. I use money as it is something we can all relate to, but Proverbs 16:3 doesn’t just relate to money. “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” We all want to succeed in life, but it is how we chose to find our success that we must be careful in. Putting the lottery or a get rich quick scheme in place of trusting God is a dangerous place. And what exactly does ‘commit’ mean? The Hebrew word is GALAL, and it means to roll down or flop down on. At first that word doesn’t seem to fit, but let us read it in context. Flop down on the LORD and in whatever you do you will succeed.
I want to find success in my finances, but also in every other area as well. I want success in my skills as a father and husband, in my work place, in my relationships, and in every other area where it matters. But how can I honestly get to that point? The answer is simply by flopping down in the Lord’s lap and letting Him guide the movements that bring me into success. On my own I can do nothing – John 15:5 reminds me of that. But flopped down in his lap I have the source of all the success I will ever encounter. If I desire successful steps, then I need to remember where the success comes from. I need to make the secret of my success not a get rich quick scheme, but a planting of myself in His lap.