Back to School – When God Sends You Back to School
FairviewBC08.05.26am
Proverbs 3:5-7 NKJV:
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
INTRO: It is that time of year when all the kids will soon go back to school.
Do you remember the last time you went back to school?
I remember better the first time I went to school than I do the last time. I was a lot more excited about it the first time than the last time.
I think that the advice we would give to students going back to school today is likely advice we need to take to heart for those of us who are older as well. And, where could we go for better advice for living life than to the Book of Proverbs?
Much of Proverbs, not all, but much of it was written by Solomon one of the wisest, if not, the wisest man who ever lived.
One thing is for sure, and that is that the best advice you will ever find is in the Word of God.
I. Let’s think first this morning about trust. Who or what can you really trust today?
The problem for us whether we are young or old here in the year 2026 is where can we place our trust. It used to be, if a newspaper or magazine printed something we could pretty much believe it was true or they would not have printed it. Sadly, it is not that way today, is it? There are so many articles and things written that we can read on the Internet.
But we don’t believe very much of it, do we?
Just a few years ago if you saw a video of something about someone or something it was more than likely real. But now, do you believe everything you see on television or on the internet?
We know that with AI they can take your picture and just a few of your spoken words and create a video with you talking about anything they want it to say or doing anything they want you to be doing.
Now, that is scary, isn’t it?
Everything seems to be moving and changing around us constantly. But the Word of God doesn’t change. Oh, we have many different translations (More than 50 English translations.) but for the most part the gist of what it says still comes through.
And Who is the Word of God? The Word of God has a name and His Name is Jesus Christ!! And the Bible says that Christ Jesus is the same “Yesterday, Today, and Forever.”
In Psalm 19:14 David calls the Lord Jesus “… my [firm, immovable] rock and my Redeemer.”
Jesus says in Matthew 7:24: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock”
Jesus is that firm immovable rock that we can build a life on that will not be blown away by the storms of life. We can put our Trust in the Word of God, Who is Jesus Christ.
Solomon, perhaps the wisest man who ever lived tells us to 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
Solomon’s realization of that is evidence of his great wisdom. Let’s take advantage of his wisdom and Trust in the Lord!
Everything around us may appear to be like shifting sand but if we are standing on the rock, we will be safe from the whims of the world that are ever changing.
II. And lean not on your own understanding.
You may not even remember now the tragedy that occurred at Texas A&M University back in 1999. Students at A&M annually built a huge bonfire, known as the Aggie Bonfire, built before the Thanksgiving football game. But in 1999 while building the bonfire it collapsed.
When the bonfire stack collapsed it was 59 feet tall consisting of 5,000 logs! It would have been a huge humongous bonfire bigger than any before. When it collapsed of the 58 students working on the stack it killed 12 and injured 27. The tragedy ended a tradition that had its beginning in 1907.
We wonder how such a thing could happen, and some have suggested poor supervision… Along with a lack of construction according to proven designs used in the past as the cause. There was also information that was brought forward suggesting the entire structure was leaning.
Doug Keegan, a senior applied mathematics major, superimposed a grid over the photos of the stack and he discovered what he believes was a slack in the support cables on one side of the stack. There also appeared to be a slight bow in the center pole. One student involved in the construction said that shortly before the collapse the stack did appear to be slightly leaning.
The Dean of Baylor University’s engineering and computer sciences school believes the uneven distribution of weight may explain the collapse. He also stated that the method and materials used in building the stack made it “a very complicated structure.”
Only a slight leaning of the stack appears to have resulted in its collapse. What is true of bonfire stacks is also true of the human life. We are very complex structures too…
We are instructed to build carefully upon the foundation our Lord has laid in 1 Corinthians 3:11. And in the previous verse we are told “But let each one take heed how he builds on it (1 Corinthians 3:10b).”
If we don’t use the proper materials and construction techniques, our human lives will come tumbling down, just as surely as did the A&M bonfire stack.
With what should we build our lives? The apostle Paul recommends “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified (Acts 20:32).”
Solomon says in Proverbs 24:3, “Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established.”
From where does wisdom and understanding come? The Psalmist tells us “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever (Psalm 111:10).”
If your life was a building, and the Lord was a building inspector, would you pass the inspection? Or would He find some shoddy construction, which has resulted in a life that is leaning?
III. Your Own Understanding. “Lean not to your own understanding.”
Because of alcohol, illegal and prescription drug use the understanding of some is perverted. Here is how Danny Hollis Jr. came to have a distorted understanding.
The Sheriff’s Department in Lawrence County, Tennessee spokesperson tells what happened when… Danny first smoked some “wasp” a mixture of Meth and a crystalized insecticide. Wasp is known to cause psychotic episodes.
Lawrence County deputies responded to a 7pm 911 call about a naked man having broken into a home occupied by a young mother and four children. Once inside the house Hollis then sat down at a table and cut his own throat in front of the family.
The Sheriff’s Dept spokesperson stated: “This man walks in. the family is all in there, minding their own business. He is stripped naked. He says the dog is looking at him. He grabs a knife and he cuts his own throat. He goes up stairs and jumps out a window, after busting his head on the glass of the front door, and he takes off running. He then jumps on the gazebo in the family’s back yard. The 35-year-old runs across a field, where deputies finally catch up to him. After he hits his head on the pavement, deputies and EMS were able to secure him. Later, Hollis told deputies that he could not remember anything he did.” (WKRN – Nashville 12.22.17)
Why would anyone intentionally mix up a toxic chemical with an illegal drug and then smoke it? Because, their understanding has been darkened, and they are alienated from the life of God. The farther a person travels from the will of God for their life, the more they will try to escape reality.
To find true reality, you must put on the “new man.” What is the “new man?”
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
This new creation is the new man, or new woman, or new boy, or new girl. The more that you put off the old man the more you will be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The more you are renewed in the spirit of your mind; the more you will experience the true reality of the new man.
How do you do that? Romans 13:14 tells us: “Rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about the desires of the old nature.”
The old KJV puts Romans 13:14 as: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding
What a contrast this is to Proverbs 28:26 which says:
…He that trusts in his own heart is a fool…”
Years ago, likely in the late 1960s or early 1970s J. Vernon McGee tells in his commentary of a man who was witnessing to a group of young people that he says were in the “drug culture.”
He said he said to young man “God loves you, young man.”
And the young man responded by saying: “I don’t need God to love me. I love myself. I don’t need to trust in God. I trust in myself.”
The writer of Proverbs says that man is a fool …He that trusts in his own heart is a fool…”
Illegal drug use was a problem back then, but I suspect it is even worse now with all kinds of synthetic drugs often mixed with fentanyl that just tiny bit can strike you dead.
“Mackerel in the Moonlight” is the title of a book published in 2004. There is also a book, “Mackerel by Moonlight” published in 1998; both books are about corruption in politics.
The statement “Mackerel in the Moonlight” was once used by a politician in describing corruption. He used it that way because a Mackerel laying on the shore in the moonlight would appear to be glimmering and shiny. But upon closer examination you would find that it was rotting and smelled.
If we look around at this world we live in we can see many of those Mackerels in the Moonlight. There are a vast number of those Mackerels in the political world. There are so many politicians willing say anything and do anything to be elected without any intention of actually doing what they have promised. (Gov of Virginia is a recent example.)
However, it is not just the political world that abounds with Mackerels, because nearly every area of life from business topersonal has a share of Mackerels in the Moonlight. (Also Medical – Dr Fauci’s diary)
One psychological study I read about claimed that living in the American society caused mental illness. Our way of life in the United States appears to be great, but there are some of the Mackerels lying around.
There is so much of the material world that is available for purchase. To keep up with your neighbors you need to have a new car or two or three – one for every family member. Your clothes need to look nice, preferrable name brand, and it may be that you will need a new house to keep up with your friends.
The pressure is on! You need to make more and more to buy more and more. And, if you can’t make more and more then you feel worse and worse.
Jesus brings this to a very personal level when He says, “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-24)
If your conscience goes bad you will become like a rotting, stinking fish. Because when our master is “mammon” we continually choose whatever it takes to get more of what the world has to offer. As a result, our “light” grows dimmer and dimmer until we become like that proverbial, “Mackerel in the Moonlight.”
You may look good on the outside to your friends and neighbors, but inside if your master is “mammon” you will become a rotten, stinking mess.
If you are hearing this, and know that God is speaking to you about your life, the good news is that it is not too late to change. Your “light” has not become too dim to be convicted of your need for a new master, and now is the time to change. Put God first (Matthew 6:33) in your life, and make Him your master in every area of your life, because that is the only way to clean up the mess.
It is also the only way for a country with a mackerel problem to be cleaned up.
IV. Acknowledge Him! 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
What is the difference between Monterrey, California and Monterrey, Mexico? A German translation group providing services for a United Nations conference found out it was about 1,500 miles. It was when they arrived in California for the meeting, instead of Mexico that they found out. Their travel agency planned their itinerary and sent them to the wrong place.
Something similar almost happened to General Sherman, and a group of about 50 men in 1865. They were on their way to an important peace conference with the Comanches at Counsel Springs in Kansas.
Three days out of Fort Zarrah, their scout admitted to Sherman that he had no idea where they were; because their maps were of no use, and he didn’t know the area. But when Sherman asked if any of the men knew where they were, a young dispatch rider by the name of William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), confirmed they were heading south when they should have been headed west.
Proverbs 16:2 says, “All the ways of a man are pure (or innocent) in his own eyes….”
The problem we have when we try to direct our own lives, and order our own steps, is that in our own wisdom many ways look good. If we are headed in the wrong direction, we will arrive at the wrong destination.
Since life is unfamiliar, unknown territory for us, we should rely on Someone who knows what is ahead and knows the best direction for us to take. The only One who can do that for us is the Lord.
I once heard life described as being like watching a parade. At ground level, we can only see the floats and bands passing before us. However, if you were to be in a helicopter, a helicopter hovering above the parade, you would be able to see the beginning, and the end of the parade as well.
God can direct us accurately, because He is able to see the beginning, the present, and the end. Not only that; in addition, He desires the very best for us, and will not mislead us.
So, Are you heading in the right direction?
Are you sure?
Maybe you ought to ask God if you are where you should be. A correction in course now could save you not only miles, but heartaches and pain in the future. Allow Him to guide each step you take, through each day, and then no iniquity, no sin, will have dominion, power, over you.
In the mid 1800s wagon trains began to make their way across what is now the United States to that far away land of California.
The Stevens wagon train made a safe crossing of the frontier in 1844. They had a great leader in Elisha Stevens. They faced uncharted lands, filled with great dangers. They made a safe crossing because of their excellent leader.
Other wagon trains were not so fortunate we know like the Donner group. Because of their poor leadership the crossing ended in disaster with 70 people dying. They were even warned once by, Joseph Walker, one of the ablest mountain men in America, that they were on the wrong path.
Life is much like a frontier. It is filled with unknowns. None of us know what tomorrow holds. How much easier it would be if we had a guide, if we had a map. But we do!
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 3:1-2, “My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.”
And as we have read this morning in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
The Bible is our map and the Lord is our guide, but even the best map will not help if it is never opened.
Even the best guide in America did not help the Donner group because they would not listen to him.
Jesus is the ultimate guide and leader. That’s the question for every one of us. It’s the question the Lord is asking you.
Are you listening?
Well, Class, I’m glad you all showed up today.
For your homework, do a book report on this little book called the Bible.