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.
He will make your paths straight…that’s the promise of this proverb of Solomon. A common mistake that many people commit, Christians included, is that we set our our desires or goals, but neglect to make sure that the path we are taking to meet them are straight . Of course our desires must be godly, and rightly discerned. But our goal must not just be to meet our desires – it must also be about how we reach them. That’s what the straight path is…it’s the path we take to reach our desired goal. They must be straight. No wrong turns, following the signs. In other words the straight path is the righteous path, the right path, the path that God wants us to be following.
Many today take the crooked path to get what they want. In the world we live in the crooked path is sometimes seen as the right path. It doesn’t matter how you get it, just get it! Today people cheat, bribe, lie, deceive, hurt…just to get what they want. Many Christians are likewise tempted to do the same, just to get the same success, reach the same goal as those in the world. But we need to be strong.
This is the encouragement of Proverbs 3:5-6, encouraging us to keep our paths straight. How do we do that?
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Our tendency is to trust in ourselves, in our actions, to get what we desire. But our trust must be in the Lord. And if we claim we trust God, that means we are willing to walk in His ways, in righteousness, to get what we desire. Our trust in the Lord must be with all our heart, and not just a part of it. In other words, we have no other plan, we are considering no other path except that which is of God.
Lean not on your own understanding. The saying “God works in mysterious ways” is true. We mustn’t trust in our own understanding of the situation we are in, or what we must do. We need to believe our God will get things done for us in His way. His ways are not our ways, and most of the time our finite minds do not understand His ways. The usual understanding in the world is that righteous ways, or God’s ways, will never work for us to be successful But we must not lean on our own understanding.
In all our ways acknowledge Him. To acknowledge is “to know”. In all our ways know God is with us. He is present, watching and guiding us to walk in His ways. We also have the assurance of His protection and blessing.
The straight path. May all of us walk in it.
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