Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Proverbs 3:5
Trust With All Your Heart
If you trust your own heart to make decisions, you’re in for a bad surprise. We can’t trust our own hearts like we can trust God. For one thing, Jeremiah the Prophet wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it” (Jeremiah 17:9). Who can understand our own hearts? Not me. God says, “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind” (Jeremiah 17:10). Reason number one to trust God is that we can’t trust ourselves.
Don’t Lean on Yourself
When we’re told to not lean on our own understanding, that must mean some people were (many, in fact!). Otherwise, why write a proverb for something that nobody’s doing? His point is well taken: If I were only leaning on my own understanding, I’d fall. But leaning on the Rock of Ages, now that is a permanent power to lean on because He doesn’t move.
Acknowledge Him
When we are blessed or God opens a door, we must give God the glory, for God will not ever share His glory with another (Isaiah 42:8). The Apostle Paul makes a great statement about acknowledging God for everything, as he asked, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it” (1 Corinthians 4:7)? Name one thing you have that God didn’t provide. Even your very life was from Him (Acts 3:15).
Straightened Paths
The past part of this proverb says that if we trust Him, lean not on our own understanding and acknowledge Him in everything, He makes our paths easier ones to walk. Solomon wrote, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:6). This must mean that the path was crooked before because it was made straight, meaning it wasn’t straight to begin with. Trust the Pathmaker more than the path.
Conclusion
We know we must trust in God, lean on His understanding and not our own, and give Him the glory for any good we do. After all that, He’ll straighten the path; and “then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble” (Proverbs 3:23).
