Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6 The Message
Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God!
Over this past year, trust has taken a beating. Medical people, scientists, and politicians tell us one thing this week, and then another thing next week. At first everyone realized this new virus was something we had never dealt with before, and we understood information was developing. But after more than a year, many wonder what is really true and factual. Who can we trust?
Proverbs tells us to trust God with all our hearts or from the bottom of our hearts. That would indicate a total complete trust. I suspect if you are like me, that you would say you do trust God totally. After all, God is Almighty God, Supreme, Creator of the Universe, loving, etc. Why wouldn’t I completely trust God. But …
I live in a broken world. Would God let me catch the coronavirus and die? Would God allow me to get some serious illness? Would God allow something bad to happen to my children? To my extended family? Would God allow me to lose my job? Now do you get a hint of what I’m thinking? How much do I really trust God? When things in my life start to unravel, how much do I trust God?
I see some instructions in these verses in Proverbs. First, I do need to trust in God. When I get scared and nervous, I need to stop, take a deep breath, and affirm my trust in God, remind myself of who he is. A short prayer asking God to help me in that situation helps me remember that I can trust God.
“Do not depend on your own understanding”, “lean not on your own understanding”, “don’t try to figure out everything on your own”, “don’t assume that you know it all”.
I don’t think God is asking us to put our brains aside. We are made in God’s image, and he created us with the ability to think, dream and create. There’s a difference between searching for information, thinking things through and coming to what you think is a good solution to a problem – and – being intent on controlling everything around you. I have to admit that I have a tendency to want to keep things under control, to make sure everything goes smoothly and is well planned out. It’s taken a lot of experience over my 70+ years to realize that I need to trust God even when I think life is going downhill. One of those lessons came when I was looking for a teaching job after being a stay-at-home mom for 18 years. My husband had been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, and we had three daughters ranging in age from 10 to 18. The job in alternative education was one I never would have taken except I was desperate and it was the only one offered. Yet that job turned out to be the best one of my life, a job I enjoyed so much, and where I grew so much as a person. I learned once again that I could trust God.
“Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
“Submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
“Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.”
How do I do that? I get to know my Bible so I know what God’s instructions are. For example, I know that God wants me to love my neighbour as myself – even though my neighbour might not be my first choice of a great person. I know that God says I should deal with my anger before the sun goes down. I know that God wants me to respect my parents. I know that God wants me to share my faith with others. And the list goes on and on. Not one of us will ever be perfect in this life, but we need a desire to live the way God would want us to. As the Holy Spirit convicts us of behaviour or attitudes that need to be fixed, we need to be willing to listen.
And we need to pray. It’s amazing how prayer can change our attitude and plans. As we talk with God about our problems and dreams, we can get a sense of what the right direction is. Now, I don’t mean some light-filled idea will strike us on the spot. Our prayer life is an ongoing conversation with God about our life together. Sometimes the nudging of the Spirit is over days or weeks. In some imperfect ways, it’s like the conversations we have with our partner. Sometimes the solution comes right away; sometimes we talk about it for a while before a decision is made.
Trusting God doesn’t mean our path will be smoothly paved with lovely flower gardens along the side, and with softly glowing lights in the evenings as we wander along a lake or stream. Proverbs says, God will show us “which path to take”, or “he will make your paths straight”, or “he’s the one who will keep you on track.” God has a plan for each one of us, and when we trust him, we will get on that path. It might include difficult times, or it might include times of great joy and peace, but no matter what our emotions are, we will know we are where God wants us to be.
So as we face somewhat uncertain times in 2021 with questions of trust in what is happening around us – read that verse in today’s devotions. We can trust God! Yes, we can!
Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
Here’s our song for today by Lauren Daigle – Trust in You