Pursue Trust
A verse that has meant a lot to me as a pastor is Proverbs 3:5-6. It is one of those verses that I try and yet am learning to live by. Just as a refresher, here is what it says...
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. (Proverbs 3:5-6, ESV)
What is Solomon really calling us to do in this verse? Is Solomon calling us to become irrational in the way that we make decisions and even navigate life? So many times I look to past experience, past failures, to help me create a grid of understanding so that I don't become a repeat offender. To help makes sense of this I did a little further study on what Proverbs says about understanding and wisdom...here is what I found:
- “[Incline] your heart to understanding” (Proverbs 2:2).
- “Raise your voice for understanding” (Proverbs 2:3).
- “Understanding will guard you” (Proverbs 2:6).
- “Blessed is the one who…gets understanding” (Proverbs 3:13).
- “Wisdom rests in the heart of a man of understanding” (Proverbs 14:33).
- “The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge” (Proverbs 15:14).
- To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver (Proverbs 16:16).
- “Buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding” (Proverbs 23:23).
Here is where some of the confusion streams from - So if we’re supposed to get understanding, why are we not supposed to lean on it?
What Solomon warns us of doing is being people that lean on our own understanding...meaning being people that lean primarily on conclusions defined by our own perceptions. Yet, this is something that humans have battled against from the time Adam and Eve chose to eat from the tree.
While everything was perfect and Adam and Eve lived in perfect union with each other and God- God did forbid Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan in his fanciful deception wanted Adam and Eve to think that God just wanted to keep them ignorant. However, God’s true desire wasn’t to keep us ignorant but really to preserve what was good.
How...to eat of the tree after God’s command was saying a lot of different things to God and how we were going to relate to him. Eating of the tree was saying...
- "God, we know better."
- “I am smarter than you God."
- "God, i don't have to live under your authority. I have greater authority than you."
- "I am wiser than you God."
- "I think I can care for myself better than you care for me."
- "God, you are not a very good father...so I am going to reject you."
When you think about from this perspective, it creates a major problem. Honestly, we don't have the ability to fully comprehend and handle the knowledge of good and evil. Humans don't have the ability to comprehend all the possible options and contingency plans to navigate life successfully. Nor, do we have the ability to make reality conform to the proper course.
In short...only God can fully do any of this...that is what he was trying to protect us from in the Garden.
So what this really means is the person that is irrational is the person that fully trusts in their own understanding. Think about how much heartache, fear, anxiety is rooted in the fact of us leaning on our own understanding.
I am convinced that God has bigger ideas and plans that are so far from our comprehension in what he wants to do in us and through us. Therefore, we have to forfeit our "right" to define our own understanding and lean on the ONE that holds all things together. At that begins when we trust him over our personal experience.