“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” Prov. 3:5-8
This is yet another very familiar part of Scripture for any who has been in the church for any length of time. We also find this plastered on our walls, our t-shirts, on our Facebook pages or even on our refrigerators! Lol! We see these verses everywhere and I think because of that we get careless with their meaning. Let’s consider this passage…really think about it a moment.
The first line is placed in a command posture. In fact, the whole passage starting at verse one could be seen as an imperative for Christians. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” We all have a hard time from time to time trusting in the Lord because we all have trust issues. We have all been hurt, taken for granted or persecuted by people we loved and wanted to trust. People, in general, let us down and we let that cloud our relationship with our Lord and Savior. However, we are commanded to be guided by the truth. The Word says God is trustworthy…not sometimes…not when He feels like it…but He is trustworthy…which defines part of His character…so he is always trustworthy…and by the way, He has proven it.
The second part of this phrase goes with the first part…“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” We can and must Trust IN the LORD BECAUSE we CANNOT depend upon our own understanding to do anything but help us fall more and more away from the truth. That is why he also says, “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.” BECAUSE when we seek our own best and when we are not “fearing the LORD” we are leaning on our own understanding which leans toward evil. God is trustworthy…we are not. It is easy for us to lean on our own understanding because we believe we know what is best for us…but we don’t…only God knows what is best for His children all the time…and what is best is to Trust in the LORD.
Next Solomon says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” Trusting Him enables us to acknowledge Him in all things with a plan for the good of those who love Him. Acknowledging Him enables us to trust in Him through life’s conflicts, struggles and tragedies as well as through life’s grand celebrations for all things come to us by God’s pre-ordination. Acknowledging Him enables us to surrender to Him and submit to His discipline which then focus’ us on His W,ay which He has made straight before us. Acknowledging Him shows that we do in fact trust Him to do as He pleases for His own glory and our good. Following the Lord’s Way, as stated in His Word, is where true freedom, joy and peace lie. “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’” (John 8:31-32,36) It is not our own understanding. Rather, it is trusting in the Lord and acknowledging Him for it is the Son…the Word…that sets us free.
Trusting in Him…acknowledging Him …fearing Him requires humility on our part since we would rather think pretty highly of ourselves and our abilities. And if we won’t humble ourselves, God will! For He will not allow His children to toil in their sin forever without some kind of consequence. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”(Matt. 23:12) But for those who humble themselves before Him, trust in Him, acknowledge Him, fear Him, there are sweet promises that come. In this passage alone we see, “He will make straight your paths.” and, “It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” That is, we will know where to go and what to do to bring Him glory and we will experience His peace. “Healing to your flesh and refreshment in your bones” has more to do with a wonderful case of satisfaction and contentment in the LORD than it does about physical healing.
Trusting in the LORD, acknowledging His way, fearing Him is where true freedom and peace are experienced in this life by believers. This is where we experience His blessings best which lead us to humble ourselves before Him more and more. You see this passage is a bit more that a pithy statement to place on our refrigerator to make us feel good…it is a call to action…to, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” This is NOT optional!
God Bless y’all today. Like Paul, I give thanks for you continually before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
