Trusting God

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Verse 5 begins by telling us that we need to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding.

The word “trust” is Hebrew word H982, which means to have confidence, to be bold, and to be secure.

The word “lean” is a Hebrew word H8172 which means to trust in, to support, support oneself.

Trusting is not a onetime event, but it is a continual process in which we have the opportunity to hear God’s heart in a given situation and obey Him versus being tempted to lean on our own understanding. This process allows us to develop confidence in our God. Just as in any human relationship, it takes time to build trust and confidence in someone.  Because we are fallible many times we see God the same way, so it will take time for us to truly develop a deep trust and security in Him!!

 Basically the scripture is telling us that we need to develop confidence in the Lord and be secure in our relationship with Him. If we fail to do that, we will lean on our own understanding. God has given us understanding, so we can use it and be discerning. However, when we lean or trust in our own understanding, we choose to put our trust in someone or something else besides complete trust in the Lord. That could be us, our spouse, pastor, friends, or our skill set, etc. Anything we choose as a point of confidence is leaning on our own understanding.  It can be deadly spiritually, because it takes away time from cultivating trust in God, and makes us invest in false security.

Some of the Biblical examples of people who trusted God and didn’t lean on their own understanding were, Joshua and the walls of Jericho, Joseph being thrown in the pit and prison, David working under Saul, Elijah and the widow with some flour and oil, Stephen being stoned, and a whole host of believers throughout centuries. They accomplished great things for God because they didn’t lean on false security.

There were also those who leaned on their own understanding and reaped the results of not trusting God. Some of those were Jacob’s scheming his way through God’s promises, Saul’s disobeying God’s commands, the Israelites making the golden calf and, Judas’ betraying Jesus for money.

⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him;
And He shall direct your paths.

The word “Acknowledge”  is Hebrew word H848: to know, learn to know b) to perceive c) to perceive and see, find out and discern d) to discriminate, distinguish

Acknowledging God means we recognize and perceive his presence and guidance in our lives. We have learned to continually include Him in every aspect of our lives. We become acquainted and familiar with our father, and in the process the Lord directs and smoothes out the path. We continue to let Him direct our lives. He is the one who will take the rocks out of the way, and makes it smooth for us to walk. The Scripture in Psalm 18:30 tell us. ” As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” , and Psalm 18:32 says, “It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect.” His ways are perfect, and when we trust Him, He makes our ways perfect!! Praise God!!

Today, we have the opportunity to trust Him in whatever situation that we are in. We have the choice to lean on God or to lean on our own understanding. Let’s pray for faith and courage to trust Him in all things and respond accordingly.