April 10, 2016 (Proverbs 3:5,6)

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5,6). One of life’s greatest challenges is putting this proverb into practice each and everyday instead of simply giving lip service to God’s instruction. Such a trust is critical to having a meaningful and satisfying relationship with God. It is based on faith that God is trustworthy and will faithfully care for us as we find ourselves challenged by trials and adverse circumstances. The proverb has a NT parallel in Romans 8:28 which assures us that God works in all things for good of those who love Him and accept being called to His purpose of seeing themselves conformed to the likeness of His Son. It should be readily apparent to true believers in Christ that our own understanding is easily subject to error, and that we need the Word of God to be a lamp for our feet and light to our path in we’re to walk faithfully in the ways of God (Ps 119:105). If we fail to treasure the priceless wisdom revealed in God’s Word and apply its spiritual principles to our daily decisions with a great deal of consistency, many will be our sorrows and avoidable pitfalls. As Proverbs 14:12 warns, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”  Human wisdom is a fallible way for determining what is right or wrong, worthy or unworthy, and nothing other than the ways of God leads to eternal life. Our paths through life will never prove righteous in the sight of God if we allow our thoughts to be guided by humanistic wisdom, and yet that is where ‘self’ and the father of lies Satan will have us focus unless we make a deliberate and conscious decision to acknowledge the ways of God by daily washing our minds in the water of God’s Word. To not do so is to doubt that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and able to handle anything which comes our way according to His perfect will. So it is that this week’s proverb is frequently the difference between living a victorious life in Christ and failing to do so. Our witness to Christ will never be as planned by God in advance (Eph 2:10) as long as we persist in leaning on our own understanding instead of trusting the LORD with all our heart and practicing His will as revealed to us in the scriptures. Both OT and NT scriptures remind us that the righteous live by faith, and such is what makes our path through life ‘straight’ in the eyes of God.