Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Proverbs 3:5
We’re Not Trustworthy
I can only speak for myself, but I would imagine most of you would agree with this statement. I know I can trust God, but me, not so much. God cannot lie (Titus 1:2), but we’re pretty good at it (Num. 23:19). That being said, I sometimes can deceive and lie to myself and to others about what I believe to be true. My own pride resists trying to trust someone else’s understanding, but when I am humble, I really know that I must trust in God’s ways. I hear that if we speak a lie long enough, we’ll begin to believe it ourselves. Indeed, Jeremiah was right: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it” (Jer. 17:9)? Only God can understand our heart, so that’s why the wisest thing we could ever do is to not lean against air (our own understanding) but lean upon the solid rock of God (Prov. 3:5).
Men Can Fail, God Cannot
I am “fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Rom. 4:21). As for me, I am not so convinced that I am able to even keep a promise I make because circumstances can change things. Why do I know that God cannot fail? For one thing, if God is for someone, who in the world could ever be against them (Rom. 8:31). As for me, “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Tim. 1:12). How convinced are you about your own ability to do what you have promised as opposed to what God has promised?
God Knows the Beginning and the End
I don’t even know what tomorrow may bring (James 4:14). I can’t even boast about tomorrow except that God’s will surely stands (Prov. 27:1), so I need to “stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils” (Isaiah 2:22). God “calls into existence the things that do not exist” (Rom. 4:17) “and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are” (1 Cor. 1:28), and He is “declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” (Isaiah 46:10), so why would I ever trust or lean on my own finite understanding when the omniscient God knows it all. I trust that.
Conclusion
From my own personal experience, I have learned the hard way the futility of leaning on my own understanding because God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8). I am actually thankful for that because there is peace in knowing that you and I can trust God, for He is not only faithful to His Word and all His promises–and amen–but He has the power to bring about whatsoever He decrees and wills. I most assuredly do not.
