The Result of Trusting the Lord
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge, and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3: 5, 6)
Jesus Christ wants to meet you right where you are in your life’s pilgrimage and give you supernatural guidance. He who has experienced life wants to be your divine Guide.
Let’s explore our text and at the same time let it explore us. It calls for – – –
A positive and a negative aspect of commitment is noted. First the positive.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart.”
When you realize that any step may be a step into heaven, you want it guided by the Lord. Proverbs 30:5: “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.”
The word translated “trust” had an interesting secondary usage in the day in which this Proverb was written. It was used in wrestling to describe a person holding on to another firmly. It meant to grab and hold onto. In describing our trust of the Lord, it means to grab on and hold on to Him.
The Bible is at all times trustworthy as well as realistic.
Now the negative, “Lean not on your own understanding.”
Guards on sentry duty stood at attention holding their long spears. Occasionally one would grow weary and lean on his spear. If he fell asleep he was dependent upon something to hold him up which he was holding up. When we lean on our own understanding we are likewise engaged in a circle of inadequacy. If we are to survive and have peace, we must admit our frailties and trust in the Lord.
Our trust of the Lord calls for us to… “In all thy ways acknowledge Him.”
We are to acknowledge Him in all our ways. The Bible says “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
We are to acknowledge Him with all our heart. This means to give Him total allegiance. A half-hearted Christian has divided allegiance and is always unstable.
Often scientists, in conducting an experiment, know it is supposed to work in a certain way. According to their theories they are able to postulate how it will work. When it doesn’t, they know what they call “intervening variables” have come into play. Or to use a less scientific term, something has “gummed up the works.” Some other undesirable factor has come into play.
The “intervening variable” that gums up the works for most Christians is known as self-will. Better defined, it is an area of their life where Christ is not Lord, an area of disobedience.
When we wholeheartedly trust Him, – – – “He shall direct your paths.”
There is an emphatic here: “He shall direct…” No doubt about it, He will. Life is like a maze. You have seen and perhaps toyed with the sketches that show a series of corridors and you are supposed to work your way through the maze to the goal. Perhaps you have been to an amusement park where there is an area of hallways designed in this manner. The problem is most of the corridors you try to go down result in a dead end. It is as though from His vantage point God can see the entire maze. He knows the dead ends and the right route. He is in the position to guide us and spare us the frustration of trial and error. Trust Him.