June 3, 2024

Proverbs 3.5, 6 (NIV)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Having forfeited our confidence in God, we believe that in order to have the life we want, we must take matters into our own hands.*

Trust in the Lord: Taking that first step of trust is hard. “Give me a reason to trust,” you might say. Once you have trusted and you see that your confidence was not in vain, you find it much easier to trust again. Keep trusting and you will be able to graduate from baby steps to leaps of faith!

Lean not on your own understanding: Solomon is not telling us that our own understanding is worthless; it’s just not 100% reliable. The literal translation of this phrase is “do not prop yourself up.” If I prop myself up against a rickety wall that is about to fall down, it might hold me up as long as the conditions are right – no wind, no one else comes along to lean beside me. But if I lean against the solid rock – Jesus – I won’t fall down.

In all your ways acknowledge him: Literally, “in all your ways know him.” We must actively seek a personal awareness of God in every move we make. We should be conscious of the fact that we take him with us everywhere we go. Our godliness is a full-time occupation, not just something we do when we’re in church or during a crisis.

He will make your paths straight: As a reward for our faithfulness, Solomon says that God will make our paths straight. Does this mean that God will remove obstacles, flatten the hills, and straighten out the curves? Whatever he meant, we can be confident that God will walk with us and help us to stay on the path that leads to righteousness.

You must know him by living closely with him, relating to him personally in every aspect of your life.*