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.
(Proverbs 3:5-6)
Hello Friends,
Here is a really familiar verse that I have been meditating on in the last two days. Not sure why, but it was really impressed upon my heart. It’s one of those memory verses that we are taught to memorize, but do we really ponder what it is actually commanding? “Trust God” is repeated so many times in the Bible that it has become as common as saying “God Bless you”. Many times, the more often something is repeated and becomes just part of our routine vocabulary, the less impact it has upon us. So let’s break it down and analyze it and see if we really are practicing what the proverb admonishes us to do. I know I don’t.
What does trust mean? Well, I just took a plane from Kitchener to Calgary yesterday morning. I don’t know any of the grounds crew responsible for preparing the plane for flight, making sure it is mechanically sound, and I don’t know any of the flight crew who will be flying the plane. I make a judgement call that they are competent to fly – not drunk, or on drugs, or fatigued, nor going to die while flying, etc. I put my life and care in the hands of complete strangers. I have nothing to read about them that would reveal their character, their experience, their patterns of behavior, etc. Yet, I blindly get into a plane that could be mechanically faulty, with possibly severely flawed people to fly a very complicated piece of machinery 35,000 feet in the air at 500 miles per hour. Why do I trust so easily people I know nothing about? On the other hand, I serve a God whose character, power, faithfulness is revealed throughout the scriptures, testified by thousands of individuals over thousands of years. My God is trustworthy because I know Him by His revelation in the Bible. I trust Him because the word that describes Him is truth, and I believe it. So my faith, plus my own experiences of past faithfulness, plus the testimonies I have read in His word and heard or read from others who have served Him, is conviction enough that I can trust Him to be the same God who never fails and never changes – the same yesterday today and forever. So God is trustworthy!
So if there is no problem with God, the problem, if there is one, must be with my heart. There must be a piece or several parts of my heart with which I am not willing to trust Him. Why is that? Is it a hurt or wound that keeps that part of my life closed off to God? Is there an unmet expectation where God did not give me what I wanted so I am not willing to give Him this particular part of my life/heart? Is there a belief about God that maybe He doesn’t really care about that “small detail” or “insignificant matter”? Maybe I believe that I can do a better job than God can? Maybe like Moses, I really don’t want to do what God is asking me, so I make an excuse to get out of it, like a speech impediment – do we use our weaknesses and shortcomings to avoid trusting God? What part of my heart am I not giving to God and why? I am commanded to love Him and trust Him with my whole heart, mind, soul and strength. So what am I holding back? Why can’t I do so? Incidentally, the word trust here means, “placing one’s full weight upon someone or something with calm assurance.” Am I calm when I have handed something over to God to deal with, or do I have fear and anxiety? I guess our emotional responses will determine how much we really trust God with a situation or problem. "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" (Isa. 26:3).
If we believe our heart is good and fully given to God, than possibly, there is an “understanding” we are “leaning” on we should not be. We have elevated our truth and knowledge, which let’s be honest, comes from the world, if it has not come from the word of God, nor Holy Spirit. The problem is it is not God’s wisdom and spiritual discernment, it is “our own”. “For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6). The word “lean” means trust, rely on, rest on, support oneself on. It’s a synonym of trust, but in this case trusting “me” versus trusting God. Are there not areas in our mind that we have not surrendered to the knowledge and wisdom of God? When you encounter a problem or issue, what do you default to? Man’s wisdom or what God says in His word? Come on; be honest! We all do it! We have been conditioned to think for ourselves, with our own mind, and not the mind of Christ. The way we “trust God” is by resisting the temptation to trust “worldly wisdom” the world has taught us, or our own knowledge (reason, preconceived expectations, etc.) we have accumulated over our lifetime. Let’s not trust our own “understanding”. Sometimes we forget our God is supernatural, and all-powerful. He can do anything – if He commands me to walk on water like Peter did, I have to lay down all my beliefs, even natural laws of nature to obey Him. The Spirit of God gives wisdom, reveals truth, gives divine revelation for specific tasks, words of knowledge, and discernment. He will lead me into crazy situations if I trust Him; like facing giants and lions and maybe the scariest of all…telling people about Jesus.
The stanza literally says, “With ALL our heart… in All our ways”; that’s all the time! No matter which way we are going or what we are doing! Do we trust God fully? Do we acknowledge Him; follow His knowledge and lean on His understanding? The word ‘acknowledge’ literally means ‘know’. Do we know God? ‘Those who know their God will be strong and do great exploits’ (Dan. 11:32 NKJ). Aren’t we more than conquerors through Him (Rom. 8:37)? Can’t we do all things through Christ (Phil. 4:13)? Do we trust Him to do the ‘greater things’ He promised (John 14:12). If we choose Him over ourselves, He will literally smooth out the rocky paths before us; straighten out the crooked path and level the hills and valleys – that is what “make our paths straight” means. He will remove the obstacles or break through them for us! What path would we rather walk? What path are we walking now? Fear not! He is with us! Do we know Him? Do we trust Him? What’s holding us back? Let’s pick up our Bible and be encouraged by what God can do through someone who trusts Him with their whole heart. Read a missionary biography. What’s holding you and me back from the path He wants us to walk?
Live Boldly this week!
"Advancing the Kingdom of God by releasing Spirit-filled followers to serve Jesus in freedom and joy."
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