Proverbs
3: 5, 6 NIV
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths
straight.
This proverb
is a familiar passage to many: verse 5 is a balancing pair of commands. We are
told, positively, to trust the Lord and, negatively, not to trust
our own understanding. Those two things are mutually exclusive. In other words,
if we trust in the Lord, we cannot also depend upon our own ability to
understand everything God is doing.
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commands are given: Trust, meaning “rely on, depend on”; Lean not,
meaning do not depend on your own native instincts, and Acknowledge him,
meaning have fellowship and intimacy with God in all of life. The result of
such devotion is that God will make the paths straight before you.
1st Corinthians 13:12 says, "For now we
see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall
know fully, even as I have been fully known." We only see part of the
picture God is painting. If we are to truly trust Him, we have to let go of our pride, our programs, and our plans.
Even the best-laid human plans cannot begin to approach the magnificent
sagacity of God’s plan. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom”
(1 Corinthians 1:25).
Most of us
have an anxious desire to understand, but in so many areas we must acknowledge
that we cannot understand. We must approve of God’s ways, even when we
can’t comprehend them. Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us why we often don't
understand what God is doing:
"For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. 'For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.' God sees the whole picture, while we only see
our tiny corner of it. To trust in the Lord with all our heart means we can't
place our own right to understand above His right to direct our lives the way
He sees fit. When we insist on God always making sense to our finite minds, we
are setting ourselves up for spiritual trouble.
Our limited
understanding can easily lead us astray. Proverbs 16:25 says, "There is
a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death."
When we choose to direct our lives according to what seems right to us, we
often reap disaster (Judges 21:25). Every culture has tried to get God
to approve of its definition of right and wrong, but God never changes
and His standards never change (Numbers 23:19; James 1:17; Romans
11:29).
Every person must make a decision whether to live his or her life
according to personal preference or according to the unchanging Word of God.
We often will not understand how God is causing "all things to work
together for good" (Romans 8:28), but when we trust Him with all
our hearts, we know that He is. He will never fail us (Psalm 119:142;
Philippians 2:13).
This V-5
here applies to all believers, but even more to those who are in the service to
God. God never chose any man or woman to work for Him because of their training
and ability within themselves. God chooses people like Jeremiah who was just a
lad with no formal training; and God put the words in Jeremiah's mouth to give
to the people. You may read all about it in chapter 1 of Jeremiah. When we
depend upon our own ability, we fall very short. For a minister of God to be
effective, it must be God speaking through him.
Hebrews
13:15 tells us when
we should praise the Lord.
"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his
name." If He directs our path,
we shall walk in the light and not stumble and fall.
In Christ,
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts [BSTFPA]
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