Doing right

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.  – Proverbs 3v5-7

Proverbs 3v5-6 is one of those passage that is so often quoted and is the life verse of so many people that we can get to the point where we take it for granted. Everybody loves this passage, and we should, but let’s 

make sure we remind ourselves of the blessing that is here.

Each phrase probably deserves its own separate entry, but I think the whole package is vital. There is a couplet in each verse.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart – don’t lean on your own understanding.

You can’t do one without the other. We either trust God or we trust us. If I trust me not a whole lot is going to make sense. Things rarely go the way I think they should. If I had my druthers everything would go the way that I think is right.

Can you imagine the mess I would make?

In all your ways acknowledge Him – He will direct your path.

If I really do trust God and forsake my own understanding I will acknowledge Him in everything I do. When I face a fork in the road I don’t go the way that seems best to me at the moment. I compare the paths in the light of God’s word, seek the help of the Holy Spirit, and go down His path. I can be assured that if I am acknowledging Him, He will direct.

Don’t be wise in your own eyes – fear God and forsake evil.

And here we have the application. Don’t trust your own wisdom, it will always fail you.

Instead, we simply trust him. We fear God, we forsake evil, and we trust Him with the result.