Proverbs 3:5,6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and and He will make your paths straight.”
I think when I memorized this verse shortly after becoming a follower of Christ, I had a vision of the Lord and I heading up this gradual slope, hand in hand. Projecting ahead, I saw myself at peace with the world and mankind, with no more cares than a flower in the field; more specifically a lilly, since I had also memorized Matt 6:28b.
This verse, coupled with Joshua 1:8 left me with the further impression that if I would continue to hide His word in my heart, that this path would proceed, on a more or less straight ahead route and there would be prosperity and success found along the way. I liked this plan; if I would do this then the Lord would do that. I liked the idea of traveling hand in hand with “Peace” and “Success”. I was more than ready to jettison “Loneliness” and “Failure”, my previous guides who had led me into a box canyon of misery. Yes, having this understanding of the Christian life to lean on was going to make this trek an enjoyable and, I believed, a pretty manageable affair.
We have grandchildren now and they remind me how cute and clueless little toddlers are. I am pretty sure the Lord was smiling down at me too as He saw me taking my first steps – imagining that this Christian life was going to be something I could actually manage by way of my understanding.
It was really kind of amazing how quickly the trail started to twist and turn. It was not that I had back tracked into my previous sinful lifestyle. In fact I was loaded up with memorized scriptures and was eager as could be to see how they would propel me to the high places. However, as I started traveling with a wife and kids and faced some vocational and financial challenges, Peace and Success seemed to have somehow morphed into Sorrow and Suffering. What’s the deal! This is not at all working out according to my understanding! This trail seems to be going off in some direction that will never get me anywhere.
The do not trust in your own understanding-part of our passage probably made its first major contribution to my life when the Lord was removing the myth from my belief system that I was going to be able to manage some process by way of my acquired knowledge, however biblical. Learning to place my trust in the Lord when things inside me and around me felt out of control and totally incomprehensible seemed to be the only path available.
It would be enjoyable and I think valuable for us to reflect on our stories and tell each other about those times where we learned (or failed to learn) to trust in Him and acknowledge Him. I will recommend once again a favorite book of mine. Many of you have probably read Hinds Feet on High Places. It, as well as any thing I have come across, depicts the journey to the higher places in God. It was particularly helpful in those seasons where the trail has seemed impossible or lost altogether.
The myth has now been replaced, at least to some degree, with an experience-based revelation that His life within me is a mystery far greater than my finite mind can lay hold of and in any way control. Literally, Christ is my life and His ongoing revelation of this reality has required that I experience life’s ups and downs and twists and turns. with HIm. This is the essence of my relationship with Him. If I have learned anything it is that the abundant life is all about enjoying His company along the way, no matter what we enocounter along the trail. It is really only through my rest in His love that I can entrust all my heart to Him. Christ alone, not my understanding of Him or the Bible is my sufficiency. Our lives are simply the classroom where God intends to birth this revelation in the presence of those yet to be saved.
Let you light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
And for the record, I am SO glad I memorized those scriptures and I am SO grateful for His Word! I am also more grateful than ever before for His Spirit who has breathed life into my stockpile of bible knowledge and connected some of the dots.
Father, Thank you for being our good and capable Shepherd. May we see and acknowledge Your lovingkindness in the midst of our current circumstances. May we continue to learn how to prefer Your leadership over our own understanding. Amen.