Praying God's Wisdom: Trusting God with Your Grocery Shopping?

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 NIV

 Trust. What does it mean to you? I’m thinking about that this morning. One of the applications that came to mind is Google Maps. That may make you shake your head or chuckle, but stop and think about it for a minute. When you load up Google Maps, or Waze, or whatever navigation software you use, do you enter the address and then follow each step as they come, or do you zoom out and see the overall path they are taking you on? Many of us, like me, I think just plug in the address and start going. My husband takes the other approach and he wants to know what route the app is taking him on. Will he go up 167 or I-5? Are there a bunch of surface streets to navigate with unknown delays or is it more of a straight shot down grid-locked freeways, where he may be able to cut time by using the HOV lane? Does he trust Google maps? A little. I mean he is asking it for recommendations, but then he chooses which option to take or else he goes off the directions entirely and takes his own path. I, on the other hand, evidence much more trust in Google (for better or worse). I just ask it for directions and I take them. I do what it tells me and I don’t look for what’s coming next or the whole route. Now, I’ll be honest, I disagree with it’s assessment of how to get to the freeway from my house, I usually take a different side street than it recommends, but for the most part I just do what it says to.

 God is not like Google Maps. His ways, His plan, His directions are perfect- every time. If He says to go right, your life will be better if you go right, no contest. Now, will it get you to your destination faster? Not necessarily. Maybe you’ll encounter someone on the side of the road that needs your help. Maybe you’ll be stuck in a terrible traffic backup that will give you the time you need to spend with God talking about what’s been on your heart but you’ve been too busy to slow down and share with Him. It may not be the fastest path to where you’re going, but it will be the best one. Here’s another way God’s directions are different, you don’t get to zoom out or skip ahead to see what’s coming. At least that’s not how He works with me – YMMV. When God tells me to do something, I need to do that thing. That’s it. I don’t get to know what I’m doing next or after that, just right now. In fact, I typically won’t hear what I’m supposed to do second at all until I’ve completed the first thing. I don’t get to ask, “If I do this what will happen? What will the next step be?” So how do we do this? How do we follow God’s directions?

 According to today’s verses it starts with trust. I looked up this passage in 17 different translations, and they all start with the same word – Trust. Trust in what? Google maps? Thankfully, no, because I have definitely been let down by Google more times than I can count. We are to trust in the LORD. Notice that the word is in all caps, that’s very intentional. This indicates that I’m referring to the one and only God, creator of heaven and earth and master of all - not a god, not a lord (someone who is put in charge of some things), but the one, true God. He is the only one truly worthy of our complete and total trust. We can lean on Him because He is faithful and true. He will never lie. He will never let us down. He loves us more than we can imagine and He has a perfect plan for us. Will it be easy? No. His Word makes that plain. But it will be infinitely worth it!

 How do we act on, live in, this trust? This is where the translations begin to vary, giving us more depth and insight into the teaching. What we are told is to avoid leaning, depending or relying on your own understanding or insight. What are we supposed to do? In all our ways, in everything we do, we are to acknowledge God, seek His will, submit to Him, know Him and recognize Him. What is the result of doing this? God will direct our path, making it straight, showing us the way we should take and removing obstacles that block our way.

 This is great in theory, but what does it look like in practical application? For me, it plays out as an ongoing conversation with God, praying without ceasing as Paul put it (1 Thessalonians 5:17). When I go grocery shopping, I pray. I ask God to guide my shopping, to open my eyes to opportunities, to slow me down and help me to be intentional and see those around me. I've known incredible women of faith who have experienced this to the degree that God will direct them to purchase something not on their list only to encounter someone with a need for that very thing later and they have it on hand! My husband and I used to have a lot of disagreements about this because he wanted to know how much I would spend on groceries and I would tell him whatever God told me to. He wanted a budget, I wanted to shop freely among the aisles adding anything to my cart that I felt led to. Today we have found a much more amicable compromise where we do, indeed, have a grocery budget that I do my best to stick to, but I still try to shop according to God’s direction. I don’t want to take undue credit, I don’t pray about my shopping nearly as much as I should, definitely not all the time, but I’d like to. I try to. Do I buy things I shouldn’t have? Sometimes. I’m not perfect, just growing in Christ and trying to do a little better each day. But I definitely don’t waste as much as I used to, and I’m improving in my shopping and planning skills all the time, thanks to the work that God is doing in my heart and mind. It has helped our finances, our family, our health and my relationship with money and my husband.

Here's the Thing: Checking in with God before I do things blesses my life in countless ways. I’m so glad for the ways that He has taught me to incorporate it into my life. I want to do it more. He is so worthy of our trust!