Jump Start # 1355

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on our own understanding.”

  Trust and faith are linked together. Without one there cannot be the other. Our faith in God leads us to trusting Him. We believe what He says is right and true. We trust what He says is for our good. He believe His promises will be fulfilled.

The writer of Proverbs adds a negative to our passage today. Do not just trust in the Lord, but also, do not lean on your own understanding. Leaning—we lean against a wall, we lean on each other, we lean on things for support, encouragement and help. We are told here not to lean on our own understanding, which would be our own thinking. Don’t do that. Our own thinking can get us into trouble. Our own thinking can take us away from God.

The way we think is often not the way God thinks. This is demonstrated throughout the Bible. It is shown by principle when the prophet recorded God saying, “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” It is illustrated by the synagogue official complaining that Jesus healed the bent over woman on the Sabbath day. It is demonstrated by the one who interrupted Jesus and wanted the Lord to tell his brother to divide the family inheritance with him. Much too often the man thought was not the way the Lord thought.

We look at the modern church that has left the Bible behind. It follows a business model for organization and raising money and a social model for what is acceptable and a democratic model for determining policy and by-laws. Plain old fashioned preaching is out. The modern church is leaning upon it’s own understanding.

The problem with our own understanding is just that we often do not understand. We think we do, but we don’t. Our view is limited to what we see. God sees the past, present and future. God sees the big picture. Our understanding is governed by our experiences. Our understanding is limited by our insights and knowledge. Our understanding is tainted by our likes and dislikes.

Doing what we like, doing what we feel is right, can be the wrong path in life. Following your heart can get you into all sorts of trouble and a real mess. Trust God is the answer. Trusting God may go against what I would think is best. Trusting God is often not the easy way of doing things. God compels us to do things that we do not like. Remember Elijah hiding in the cave, afraid of Jezebel? God told the prophet to leave the cave and go do the work He had planned. This wasn’t in Elijah’s thinking. His understanding led him to the cave. He would have stayed there unless God spoke to Him. Remember Jonah? He ran away from God. That was his thinking. God sent him back. Then there is Adam and Eve, they hid from God. Then there is Peter, who at the transfiguration, wanted to build three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah and one for Jesus. Remember Cornelius, when he met Peter, he wanted to bow down to him. Remember John, in Revelation, when he saw an angel, he wanted to bow down to him. All of these were leaning upon their own understanding. All of them were wrong. Trust God.

Often we tell a person going through a dark period of their life, ‘you’ll get though it,’ but that may be nothing more than a green light to do whatever you feel like. A heart that doesn’t trust God may do some very foreign, unhealthy and even ungodly things.

Trust in the Lord. That doesn’t just happen over night. Trust takes time to build. It comes from a relationship. We trust the Lord when we learn about Him from the Scriptures. We see how the Lord was with Abraham, David, and the apostles. We see the goodness of the Lord. We learn what God expects and what He desires. We see that He keeps His word. We see the Lord staying true to His word. Trust begins. We look in our lives and see that the Lord has been there. We see answered prayers. We see strength and help from the Lord. Trust swells. We study suffering and that helps us. We learn about prayers that are answered “No.” That helps us. We understand God’s will, that helps.

As we keep walking and walking with the Lord, our trust grows and grows. We come to understand that the Lord doesn’t give up on us. He doesn’t leave us in difficult times. He’s there when we are going through those dark valleys. He is there when we fall and fail. We understand His way and His word works. They are the best. We come to see that modern books about marriage, relationships, getting along with others are really Bible based, even if they don’t realize it. Trust soars.

Then as we age and death becomes more of a reality, our trust in the Lord drives fear away. Our trust in the Lord brings confidence, hope and a desire to see God face to face.

Trust in the Lord. Trust Him when He tells us to go to the one who sins against us. Trust Him when He tells us to turn our cheek. Trust Him when He tells us to forgive. Trust Him when He tells us to be kind. Trust Him when He tells us to be generous. Trust Him when He tells us to worship Him with all of our heart.

Trust in the Lord. Take your hands off of the wheel of life and let the Lord take over. Trust Him. There is a hymn, “Leaning on His everlasting arm,” which the chorus reminds us to “Lean on Jesus.” That’s nothing more than Trust in the Lord.

Roger