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More Than Straight Paths

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Proverbs 3:3-8

3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
Normally we focus on vs 5-6, And rightly so. Trusting the Lord, fully and acknowledging Him, and in that He will direct us. 100% true and the bedrock for us as to wisdom and guidance from the Lord. But this is not all that is here. Namely this passage also answers the question of how. How do we trust the Lord? Look at the verses before and after these famous verses. First vs 3-4 call us to focus on steadfast love and faithfulness, never letting them depart from you, having them at the depths of your heart. Part of trusting the Lord is continually finding ways to remember is steadfast love and faithfulness. For us, that means keeping the cross in front of us at all times.

The Love and faithfulness shown in God redeeming us from sin is the greatest proof that God loves us and will remain faithful. That helps us to trust the Lord with all our heart, even when the path we are on doesn't make perfect sense. We know God's heart. Secondly, part of trusting the Lord with all our heart is that we do not lean on our own understanding. The way we think things should go is not always the way God wants it to. Verse 7 elaborates that it means that we do not consider ourselves wise in our own eyes. In a word any sort of "pride" short circuits our trust in God. It is us saying in essence, I trust myself to work out this situation, not God. I don't trust his wisdom, I trust my own.

Bottom line - According to this passage two big parts of trusting the Lord are

  1. Never forgetting his steadfast love and faithfulness in the cross and... 
  2. Trusting him by rejecting our own wisdom and pride by trusting God even over ourselves. He will direct us as we trust him wholeheartedly.

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