When I was little my grandmother would often get out a small plastic box labelled “Precious Promises.” She would open the lid to reveal about a hundred small rectangular cards in different pastel colors. On each card was printed a verse of Scripture, a promise from God written in the Bible. She’d pick one, then let me pick one, and then she’d read them both aloud. Then she’d smile and say, “Now we’ve had our promises for today.” It was just one more way that she communicated to me the importance of the Bible, and how encouraging its words could be.
A few years later, after an aunt and uncle gave me my first Bible, my grandma showed me Proverbs 3:5-6, which says:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (NKJV)
Many of us are familiar with those verses, and maybe we’re a little too familiar. We gloss over them without really contemplating what they mean. There are three admonitions for us, followed by one promise from God.
To “trust in the LORD with all your heart” means to rely on Him fully, not just by going through the motions, but with all your being. Sometimes what God tells us to do in His Word flies in the face of “common wisdom,” “what everybody else thinks,” and what makes sense to us. It doesn’t mean we check our brain at the door and proceed without discernment. But it does mean that sometimes, where what we think and what God says are in conflict, we should always do what God says and trust Him with the outcome.
To “acknowledge him” in all our ways means more than just “being religious” and then doing what we want to do anyway. It’s more than just a nod of the head and a cheerful wave in God’s direction as we live our life according to our own lights. Rather, it means to understand that God is Lord over every aspect of our lives, and that we need to bring every aspect of our lives into willing submission to Him. And I can testify: every time I have insisted on going my own way instead of God’s, my life ends up in the ditch. But if I do what God said to do and wait on Him (I hate this part), in the end everything always turns out for the best.
But then there’s God’s part: “and he shall direct your paths.” Literally, “He will make your paths straight.” Instead of a crooked path that’s easy to lose, if we wait on God (again, I hate this part), then step by step, one step at a time, He will direct our paths and guide us in the way we ought to go. It’s like those TV shows where the hero has entered an unfamiliar building, and someone back at headquarters is looking at a schematic of the building, then telling him in his earpiece, “Now go forward to the next intersection and turn right.” God promised His people through Isaiah, “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21) Sometimes God still does that for us. But most of the time, He wrote down His directions for us in His Book.
Henry Blackaby said that God brings us to a crisis of faith every time we have to choose whether to obey His directions for us, even if it’s to wait (boy, I hate that part), or to go our own way and do what we think is best. It always comes down to this: who do you really believe knows what’s best for you, you or God? (Hint: It’s always God.)
But here’s some more good news: when we blow it and go our own way (again) instead of God’s, when we repent and turn back to Him, He always stands ready to forgive. “If we confess our sins [every time], he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins [every time] and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9…The bracketed comments are mine.)
God is the God of second chances. And third, and fourth, and twentieth chances. Because Jesus paid it all. But life really does go better if we do what God tells us, and trust Him for the results.
As Steve Brown would say: “You think about that! Amen!”
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor David