Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long. Psalm 24:4-5.

The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Deuteronomy 31:8.

If I could think of anything to mark this age we live in now, it would be words. So many words everywhere all the time. With the overabundance of words is great confusion. So I read and ask for help to understand. In our chapter, Luke 17, are words for life. He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you. Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’” v. 1-10. It’s hard for me to read the above words because we don’t live in a time of slavery by men to other men. No. We live in a time of slavery of all men to sin and stumbling blocks. While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine – where are they? Was not one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go, your faith has made you well.” v. 11-19. A foreigner…a Samaritan, one considered “less than”…returned and gave thanks and glorified God. Are we the stumbling blocks? Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is! or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on that day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife: Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. {Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left}.” And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.” v. 20-35, 37.

With all the confusion of words in this age, how do we know what to trust? 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. The disciples didn’t understand everything Jesus told them and they lived with Him for three years. But they were witnesses to everything. And what they witnessed and lived changed their lives forever. And after He ascended back to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to be our guide as we trust God to provide. And as we today trust God and turn to Him for understanding, He will provide…and our lives will forever be changed. Our lives before knowing God are a reminder of all the stumbling blocks and confusion of sin we engage in. Our lives trusting Him bring meaning and purpose and hope in this life and for eternity. Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long…The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. There is so much confusion in our world today that can render us fearful and discouraged. Do not be deceived. Creator God is not confused. There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12. AB. What Creator God wants for us is life lived to the full with Him. When all is said and done as in the days of Noah and Lot – and today…what will be left? Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit! And His will for us and His creation! He is the One who created. He is the One who knows. He is the One we can trust!