In Full Trust

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.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Notes

The Hebrew word for trust here literally means “to lean on something for support”. What do you lean on in hard times to hold you up? This makes me think of when I broke my ankle in Costa Rica and they didn’t have any crutches available in the small town I was in. I had to lean on my friends to support me to go anywhere. Many times they picked me up and carried me because even with their support it was exhausting to hop along on one foot. For the next twelve weeks, I was completely dependent on something or someone to move because my ankle could not bear my weight.

Perhaps the first thing we gravitate towards to lean on when we feel like we can’t walk is our own understanding. This is the very thing we are immediately told not to lean on in this verse.

How often do we first try to figure out our problems using our own understanding? We want to be independent and our pride tells us we shouldn’t ask for help. We might be quick to help others, but we are slow to ask for help or even accept it when it is offered. The path of our lives is rocky and twisted. We may have two broken legs yet still be determined to walk this path relying only on our own strength and ability.

The prophet Jeremiah says, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man,” but “blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord” (Jer 17:5, 7). This word for trust is also used frequently in the Bible to describe what people should not put their confidence in. The Israelites are warned against relying on other nations to save them (Isa 31:1). They are discouraged from depending on wealth to provide security (Prov 11:28). It is made clear that it is foolish to trust in idols (Hab 2:18) or themselves (Ps 49:13-14). These same things – other people, wealth, and ourselves – can easily become idols in our lives today as well.

It can be good and right to trust in other people and things at times, but ultimately our trust needs to be in God. When we are told to trust the Lord with all our heart, in essence this means we are to rely on him to help us and protect us. This call to trust in God alone is echoed throughout Scripture.

To fully lean on something with all your weight you have to believe it can hold you up. To trust God you have to believe he can and will hold you up. Why is it hard for us to trust God? It may be because we’ve been disappointed and hurt in the past. Sometimes we don’t believe God is able to help us. Perhaps most frequently, for those of us who follow God, we believe he can help us but we doubt that he will in the situation we are facing.

Trust grows in relationships and therefore it is no surprise that trusting the Lord is dependent on knowing him. If I am going to trust God with all my heart, I have to really get to know him. This passage tells us to “acknowledge God in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight.” The word translated as “acknowledge” is the Hebrew word “to know” and it isn’t simply recognition of God’s existence. It is a deeper relational knowing of God that includes obedience. Here we are being asked to trust and obey God and promised that he will make our paths straight when we do.

When we read the Bible we get to know who God is and what he promises to those who put their faith in him. Over time, we can look back on our experience of God helping us in the past to build our confidence to trust him today.

We also have to realize that nothing and no one else is able to always provide the help we need – everything has its limits. Other people or things may support us to a degree on the rough path we are on, but only God can actually smooth our path for us.

The importance of the totality of our trust being in Yahweh is emphasized in this proverb by the phrases “with all your heart” and “in all your ways”. God isn’t looking for partial commitment to himself. He unapologetically asks for all of us. “All of our heart” means “all of who we are” – our being, our mind, our inmost parts. “All our ways” means “all we do” – every aspect of our life. This is a call to complete submission to God.

This seems like a big ask. However, when we know God, we discover that the idea of surrendering completely to him is actually the safest way to live our lives. Only God can straighten our path. Only God can rescue us from harm, provide for our every need, and love us unconditionally. It matters who or what we put our trust in, and only God is worthy of our complete trust. He alone will never leave us or forsake us (Heb 11:13:5-6). He alone knows what is for our best and for his glory (Rom 8:28; Gen 50:20; Isa 43:7).

The Lord is all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present. We are finite, and that means our knowledge, understanding and abilities are limited. When we try to rely on our own understanding, we do not see the full picture. Our limited understanding can’t be depended on because there are significant things we can’t see and aren’t taking into consideration. But if we trust in God and his infinite understanding he will direct us in the best and most beautiful path for our life. Only he can make our path straight. Our part is to trust in him and know him, and he does the straightening of our lives.