Proverb 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Every day we ought to assent to and openly embrace the fact that apart from Christ, we can do nothing. Now, these are some of the most famous verses in the book of Proverbs. Many people learn them and memorize them at an early age. As we break them apart,Proverbs 3:5-6 lays out three key points:
I. Trust God Completely——–V. 5A
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;”
Solomon tells us in Proverbs 3, being guided by God begins with us trusting Him. The word ‘trust’ means to lie helpless, facedown. Solomon is telling us to trust the Lord because he has discovered through personal experience that God can be trusted.
The Lord here means “Yahweh”, which is a personal name for God. Solomon is telling us to build a personal relationship with God. God is the object of your trust.
We are to build a relationship with God where we are completely dependent on Him and have the utmost confidence in Him. There are two important reasons why you can trust the Lord:
1. God is a covenant-keeping God: John 1:12 (NLT) “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”
2. The Lord is truthful and cannot lie: Titus 1:2 (KJV) “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”
When you trust God, no matter what happens, you believe that God will help you no matter what happens in life. Trust does not come from the head, but from the heart. When we trust God, we are willing to trust and follow His path.
II. Trust God, Not Yourself——–V. 5B
“…and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
Trusting God with all your heart means we have decided to put away our understanding and we will trust God’s understanding about the matter. Because God knows what is best for us. He is a better judge of what we need or want than we are!
We must not “lean” or rely on our own understanding. Leaning on our own understanding suggests, self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and independence from God. We must make a choice; “Will we follow God’s path or our own?”
Our own understanding is often proven to be unreliable because:
1. It can be “clouded” by own sins, spiritual blindness, and the hardness of our hearts.
2. It is “limited”, we just don’t know everything
3. It is often “contrary” to God’s wisdom
That doesn’t mean we should omit careful thinking and planning or minimize our God-given common sense; but we should not trust our own ideas to the exclusion of God. On God’s path, we must trust His wisdom.
III. Trust God’s guidance——–V. 6
“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Instead of “depending on ourselves”, we are to acknowledge God. The way we trust God is to acknowledge or invite Him into our plans. Our trust in God grows as we learn more and more about Him.
The more we know God, the closer we are to Him, the easier it is to acknowledge and invite Him into our plans. We are seeking the counsel and wisdom of God in every matter. Acknowledging God is not just for major decisions, it’s for every issue and area of our lives.
When you acknowledge God, He will direct your paths. God directing your paths speaks of two things:
1. God’s guidance: When you acknowledge God, He will guide you or chart the course for you to take. God will help map out a plan of action for you.
2. God’s involvement in the outcome your plans: When our lives are totally dependent on God’s guidance, it benefits us in two ways:
A. We are easier to guide because we are not interfering.
B. God will direct our paths or make our paths straight. God will remove some of the obstacles, resistance, problems, even people, to bring His plans for you to an expected end or outcome.
Trust in the Lord. Don’t lean on your own understanding but rely on His Word. Make a conscious decision to acknowledge and honor God in all that you do. If we can follow these three steps, we can trust God promises to direct our paths. Friends, let us “Trust God’s Path”.
Pastor John N. Punni, II