Lean On The Lord
Before we address the need to lean on the Lord, I’d like to help you girls out. We’re honoring fathers, but I need to help you ladies with a little insight. If you’ve been married for any length of time, you’ve probably figured all these things out. But just in case, let’s see what a man means when he says something. You know I routinely work with translators on the mission field. So let me translate Man-Speak for you! When a man says: It would take too long to explain?
- He really means: I don’t have a clue how this works.
If he says: Take a break, honey, you’re working too hard.
- He really means: I can’t hear the football game over the vacuum cleaner.
When he says: That’s interesting dear.
- He really means: Are you still talking?
A man says: It’s a GUY-thing:
- He means: There’s no rational or logical thought process connected to this problem. And there’s no chance of making it sound logical to anybody else.
When a man says can I help with dinner?
- He really means: Why isn’t it ready to eat yet?
If a man says: Ah, sure, dear.
- He means absolutely nothing. It’s a reflexive response.
When he says: You know how bad my memory is.
- He really means: I remember the Gilligan’s Island theme song, the phone number of the first girl I kissed, my Social Security number and my driver’s license number. But yes, I forgot your birthday.
When a man says: Don’t make a fuss. I just cut myself. It’s no big deal.
- He means: I’ve probably a severed limb, but I’ll bleed to death before I will admit I’m hurt. So just get over here and help.
A man says: I can’t find it.
- He really means: It didn’t drop into my outstretched arms. So I’m completely clueless.
When he says, I heard you.
- It means: I don’t have a clue what you just said. And I’m hoping desperately to fake it well enough that you don’t spend the next three days upset with me.
When a man says: You look terrific.
- It means: Please don’t try out any more outfits. I’m ready to go home.
But if a man ever says: I’m not lost, I know exactly where we are.
- He really means: Nobody’s will ever see us alive again.
When a man says: I don’t think I can go today.
- He means: Shopping is not fun and I’m never going to think that it is.
When a man says: That’s not what I meant.
- He means: If something I said that can be taken two ways and one way makes you sad or angry. I meant the other one!
And finally, when a man says: Honey, what color is this?
- He means: All man see in 16 colors just like The Crayola box you had in second grade. Peach, for example, is a fruit. It is not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. And NO man has any idea what taupe is.
Alright, so now you have a primer for Man-Speak!
Good Men Learn to Lean
But here’s what comprises and makes and builds a good man, that critter that I’ve said already we have too few of. Good men are those who have learned to lean. Specifically, that means we are learning to lean on the Lord. You can probably quote Proverbs 3:5-6. Those verses tell us:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.
So the man we need in today’s world is one who has learned to lean on the Lord. And what does he lean on the Lord for? He leans on the Lord for salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9,
For by grace, are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
We lean on the Lord, we don’t lean on our own strength, we lean on Him, because His Word has told us that it is by grace that we come to Him. It is God’s gift to us. And we simply accept it. We accept it humbly, because we cannot provide for our own salvation. The Word says, it is not of works. So I cannot:
- Do enough
- Go to church enough
- Give enough.
- Do any work for the Lord to earn my salvation.
Grace Abounds
Salvation is a gift, and God is more than willing to give it to anyone who will ask. You see, men like to be in control. They like to make things happen, right? It’s not a bad thing, it is how God made us. Celebrate that. But ladies sometimes find it a little easier to rest in the Lord while men are driven by a need to be doing something; taking action. Jesus’ example to all of us is found in Matthew 18. He brought a child and set the child before them. And He said:
Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of God.
And that’s not reverting in age. It’s not that being trusted by a child to trust what the father says he’d believe, just like children believe us as their parents as their Godly examples. And so they have that attitude. And it’s just part of the nature of being a child. That makes me genuinely thankful for the good men who lead their families, serve the Lord’s church and the many men in my life who have learned to lean on the Lord and not on their own understanding.
Lean For Strength
So we lean on the Lord for salvation, but we also lean on the Lord for strength. How many of us think we can just do anything? We spent a little time in our lives, probably when we were younger, thinking that and some of us have a harder time getting over that than others. But where does real strength come from? Real strength comes from the Lord. That famous passage from the book of Isaiah 40:30-31
Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young man shall utterly fall but they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.
Our strength comes from the Lord. And see that clearly in Psalm 147:10-11. That passage tells us:
He does not delight in the strength of the horse, He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man, the Lord favors those who fear Him who wait for His loving kindness.
You see, everything we need is in the Lord Himself. And the man, the good man that we need, the good man that we become, happens when we are leaning on the Lord for salvation, strength, and supply. In essence, for everything we need.
Lean For Supply
Another verse you can probably quote is Philippians 4:19. Hear it as my God, your God, your Heavenly Father…
…will supply all of your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.
He will supply! That’s God’s promise. He is the same One who says: I will forgive you, save you and make you My child. The One Who will do all that says, I will supply you with everything that you need.
That’s not everything you may want. But it’s everything you need, and you can take that one to the bank. And I don’t mean one down the street. Why? Because we are to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where the moth does not corrupt thieves don’t break in and steal. We’re using that which God supplies and laying up treasure in Heaven. God’s goodness makes that possible!
Lean For Wisdom
We lean on Him for our supply, but we also lean on the Lord for wisdom. Notice James 1:5 –
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
You know that this is the second of two prayers in the scripture that if a person prays them, God has guaranteed the answer in advance. The first prayer is that of salvation. Romans 10:13 shows us:
Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved.
So if we call upon the name of the Lord for salvation and for repentance, then God will answer that prayer. We know that. And He promises to give us wisdom if we just ask. So if you don’t understand how to proceed, ask God and He will give you wisdom. Want a little proof?
Lean On Answered Prayer
I can’t share everything because it wouldn’t be appropriate. However, I was very blessed Friday morning, in our men’s prayer meeting. Somebody in our prayer had been praying for wisdom. And God had answered those prayers just over the course of a couple of weeks. And so part of our prayer time Friday morning was giving thanks to God for answering the prayer for wisdom. Now, some of you were there to hear that you know what I’m talking about. But God answered that prayer.
Now, all of us are thankful for those few good men who have learned to lean on the Lord, right? 
Soli Deo Gloria!
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Too Few Good Men – Part III
