Growing up, our nightly bedtime routine was fixed and rarely ever changed. One thing my mom and dad incorporated was Scripture memory. No system. No rigorous repetitions. No flash cards. They just read a passage to me until we all remembered it over time. But one we spent a significant amount of time on was Proverbs 3:5-6.
This was my very first memory verse. I don’t remember much from my early childhood, but I do remember this. Therefore, like a friend I haven’t seen in a while, this verse will seem to be distant but then pay me a visit at just the right time. In every season of my life, it makes inroads into my thoughts:
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.
Proverbs 3:5–6
As I grew up and sat with my own musings, I treated this verse like a mere formula for decision-making or “finding God’s will.”
“I don’t know what college to attend! Okay, okay. I just gotta trust the Lord with ALL my heart (check), lean NOT on my own understanding (check)… Viola! The heavens will open up, a divine Apple Maps pin will drop, and I will know what decision to make!”
But upon further reading, the passage is so powerful because of what it shows us about the character of an infinite God.
Trust in the LORD (Yahweh) with all your heart…
What does this line teach us about God other than that He indeed can be trusted? What a striking statement from the Biblical author! It’s a command, not a suggestion. But why such confidence?
The capital “LORD” is the transliteration of the word Adonai, which the Jewish writers would substitute for the divine name YHWH (Or Yahweh). Yahweh (or I AM) is the special covenant name of God. It was the name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush that was rife with redemptive underpinnings.
Moses asked for the name of the God who would send him to Pharaoh, whom he would audaciously command to let God’s people go. “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” (Exodus 3:14). God giving Moses His own name in this way suggests His self-sufficiency, self-existence (aseity), and faithfulness.
Do you see how this would be comforting to Moses while being commissioned to lead thousands of people out of slavery to the greatest earthly superpower with the greatest earthly leader, Pharaoh? Moses is thinking, “Who is this God who will go with me to Pharaoh?” Answer: The one who is—the infinite source of all life and being, the one who sustains and gives life to everyone and everything, including the big mean Pharaoh! Moses had the creator of all the universe on His side. You would almost feel bad for poor Pharaoh, for what created being is even remotely as strong as the great I AM?
Not only is the divine name a cause for God’s trustworthiness, but He acts in accordance with that name by fulfilling every one of His promises. Throughout Israel’s history, they were used to reading, “Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” (Joshua 21:45).
For disciples of Jesus, this is even more comforting. As we read of promises, prophecies, and prefigurings of a messiah and deliverer who would come to crush the serpent’s head, we stand on their fulfillment.
“For all the promises of God find their Yes in him [Jesus]. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2 Co 1:20–21).
Because God the Son came to us and provided infinite hope as the long-awaited prophet, priest, and king who died and rose again for the guilty, what else can we say in light of this? Trust in the LORD with all your heart. It’s the only logical conclusion.
Lean not on your own understanding…
What does this teach us about God other than that, in light of our weak and flawed understanding, He is the God of infinite understanding, wisdom, and knowledge?
God is the God whose greatness is unsearchable since His understanding is unsearchable (Psalm 145:3; Isaiah 40:28). In other words, his understanding is far above us. Our understanding has limits. His is utterly limitless.
God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are His thoughts above our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).
In Christ, we have the storehouse of infinite wisdom since He is wisdom incarnate. Paul tells us that in Christ lie all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).
Let me ask: why on earth would I lean on my own understanding? Why would there be any trust in my finite mind to understand God and life under the sun? Leaning on my understanding is like using a twig as my walking stick as I traverse the highest peaks—It’s going to break, and I’m going to fall. Thus, I go to the place where God has chosen to reveal His divine mind that I may think His thoughts after Him; I run to the inerrant Scriptures.
In all your ways acknowledge Him…
What does this teach us about God other than that He is worthy of our attention?
In all of our ways—every decision, every season of life, every twist and turn—we tend to acknowledge other opinions, stock our minds with worldly advice, and absorb what is seen.
The call to acknowledge God in all our ways is a call to fruitful contemplation of what is unseen:
Facing temptation? Turn your attention to God. Contemplate His power over sin.
Facing a tough decision? Turn your attention to God. Contemplate His wisdom and providence.
Facing difficult people? Turn your attention to God. Contemplate His love for you, a difficult person.
We tend to acknowledge everything on earth before the One who reigns for all eternity. Rather, in all your ways, acknowledge Him. Remember Him. Contemplate Him. He’s worthy of your attention.
He will make straight your paths.
This is where we mistakenly take the turn toward formula. If I do all the above, boom, God will just tell me my next step in life… right?
Well, actually, the immediate context does not speak of decision-making or finding God’s hidden will. Solomon is instructing his “son” in the good commandments of God. He desires for God’s “steadfast love and faithfulness” to never forsake him but rather be written on the tablet of his heart.
He’s essentially trying to shine a beam of light on a straight path in the midst of dark, crooked paths covered with thorns and thistles. God makes straight a path no matter what we face—it’s the way of His commandments. Trusting God with all our hearts in this context is the idea that, when all your senses see are crooked paths, faith sees the straight path in the midst of them.
Proverbs 3:5-6: A formula for finding God’s will? Unlikely. An antidote for anxiety in various circumstances? Absolutely.
For instance, that temptation smacking you in the face is seeking to bring you into a crooked path. But acknowledging God’s commandments in light of the trustworthiness of Christ carves the straight way of escape, helping you “fear the LORD and turn away from evil” (Proverbs 3:7).
That trial may be a cause for despair, but acknowledging the Lord Jesus who blazed the trail of suffering before you enables you to walk the straight path of submitting to His sovereignty (1 Peter 2:23).
That season of joy and celebration may bring with it the temptation to live independent of God. But acknowledging God will provide the straight path of continued dependence on Him, whose kindness cooled you down in the pool of joy while surrounded by the deserts of sorrow.
In all these things, therefore, the straight path that God makes for us is the straight path of His commandments. They guide us to enjoy Him when our hearts would rather wallow in sorrow and drown out the screams of our circumstances that seek to woo us onto the path of self-dependence.
Well explained
This was so very encouraging.