Proverbs 3:5-6
Praise the Lord everybody. King Solomon, who asked the Lord to give him the wisdom to lead the Children of Israel after King David died was considered the wisest man on earth. He is credited in writing the book of Proverbs, and what he wrote in Proverbs 3:5-6 is one of his wisest sayings.
Solomon wrote this after finally realizing that everything he thought was important achieve in life was “all vanity” and that there was “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes chapter 1) compared to following God’s will for your life and trusting in His plan. To say we trust God is easy to say, but to truly trust Him with all our hearts is not easy to accomplish as many Christians have found out. We find ourselves trusting God for somethings while at the same time trusting our carnal minds, and science for others. We often do not stop to pray first in an emergency or an unexpected happenstance, we try and figure it out for ourselves, leaving God standing on the sideline. It is only When all our plans fail, that we then turn to God for His help in the situation. The Bible tells us that God’s ways are not our ways, He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, who better to trust?
Verse six tells us that should acknowledge God in all our ways, just what does that mean? Most people, even Christians, tend to keep their own council. We do not like to reach out to others for help and we have a hard time accepting suggestions from family and friends, again leaning on our own understanding. God wants us to reach out to him in all things we do. First in reverence of who He is as we acknowledge the fact that it is His will that will be done, not ours. The Bible tells us that “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9). King David has been called “a man after God’s own heart” and as you read about him in the Bible you will see where it will say “and David sought the Lord” before he made any key decision. This is what God wants from us, to include Him in our every decision. The verse goes on to say that we should “acknowledge Him in all our ways” so that He “will direct our paths.”. God wants us to trust that He knows what is good for us, and why shouldn’t He, He created us. God Himself tells us “11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
The bottom line is we as Christians must trust God in all things. He has given us His word, which is full of examples on why we should trust Him. We also have our personal testimonies of what He has done for us and what we have witnessed God doing for others. So let us humble ourselves and let God be God in our lives.
King James Version (KJV)
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
New International Version (NIV)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
New American Bible (NASB)
“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 your paths straight.”
English Standard Version (ESV)
“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.”
The Living Bible (TLB)
“then trust the Lord completely; don’t ever trust yourself. In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.”
Trust In The Lord
This has been my favourite passage for a long time now. The word that always stands out to me is ALL. In verses 5 and 6, it is said that we are to trust God with ALL of our hearts and acknowledge Him in ALL our ways.
If we think about having faith, trusting in Him – it is not enough to trust the Lord like we trust our friends to catch us in a “trust fall”. We are to trust him with EVERYTHING we have.