During this mornings family devotions we read through Proverbs 3, you all know it I’m sure, but some things stuck out to me this morning that I’ve never thought about before about verses 5 and 6. Here’s the passage:
Prov. 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 he will make straight your paths.
Now we can all give a basic, texbook answer to what this verse means, “It means to trust in God in all that you do and not to trust in your own self.” But there is more to this verse than just trusting in God. Let’s look at the context of these verses. In verse 1, it says, “My son, do not forget my teaching…” so it is addressed to sons (or children). Then later, in verse 11, it says, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, (v. 12) for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as the father the son in whom he delights.”
Why the verse on discipline? Becuase it is primarily in discipline that we need to be trusting. Trusting the Lord comes easy when everything is going good, but how hard does it become when we are being chastised? A lot harder. Why? Our sin of course is the first and ultimate answer, but more specifically, becuase of our pride. In verse 7, it says, “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.” It is when we believe that we are wise that we began to lose trust in the Lord, so this verse goes directly to the heart, “Don’t think that your wise” its saying, in fact our wisdom, the wisdom of man is evil, which explains the need to turn away from it and fear the Lord.
So I belive the point of this passage is to show our need for trust, specifically, in two times of our lives, the first being, when God is disciplining us. We need to know that God is still soveriegn and still loving especially when we are being reproved by him, becuase we are his children and he will discipline his children. The second time, being, when we believe we are wise. This is not the time when we are humbled by God’s discipline, but we when are proud of our own wisdom, and God says, to fear Him, and to turn from our own wisdom and understanding (so called) and trust in Him.
Like I said, it is easy to trust when things are going the way we want, but as soon as thigs go badly (in our minds) we must understand that God is far wiser than we and that trusting in him will lead to healing and refreshment (v. 8).
To God be the Glory.
