LEANING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Proverbs 3.5-8
LEANING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.... (3.5)

WHEN WE ARE TIRED, WE LIKE TO LEAN on something. When we are unsure, we like to consult someone. To whom do we go? What do we count on?

Many people turn instinctively to common sense. Or to common practice and precedents. We often ask ourselves what we would do. Or else, we look around to see what others are doing. This is not necessarily wrong. It may prove helpful at times.

However, Proverbs also warns us, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death" (14.12). On a number of occasions I have found this to be true when I am driving. A road seems like the one that would take me to my destination. But after a while, I realise it is taking me farther and farther away into the unknown. If only I have stopped the car and consulted the street directory!

So it may be with us. We lean on our own understanding. True, God has given us a mind to think through our problems. And we should use it. But, is our mind thinking God's thoughts or our own? Have we trained our mind to trust in the LORD? God delights to be consulted. We do well to go to Him, even in the smallest matter.

"...In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" (v.6). Just as we trust Him fully ("with all your heart"), we trust Him in everything. Our trust in the Lord is complete only when it involves our whole heart and when it encompasses our whole life. "Those who put everything in God's hand, will see His hand in everything."

In life, we come up against obstacles. It may be a seemingly impossible task, or a difficult person, or a hopelessly dead-end situation. What do we do? We trust the LORD to make our paths straight, to remove the obstacles, to open up the way. The condition must however be met: we must acknowledge His wisdom, not our own understanding. We must abide by what He says, not what we want.

The author of Proverbs counsels us, "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil" (v.7). There are only two ways to go. Either we seek to be wise in our own eyes (and in the eyes of men), or we fear the Lord and let that be the beginning of wisdom.

On what am I leaning?