Most Read Bible Verses---#6---Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. 

Proverbs 3 contains 17 promises of God that we all should realize.  Joshua 23:14 says that all promises (good words) of God will come true, none will fail.  Read over this chapter today and reflect on all these promises.  And share them with your children, grandchildren, and others you feel close to.  Proverbs 3 is one of the most remarkable and magnificent chapters of the entire Bible!  In the first six verses of Proverbs 3 there are three outstanding promises---a long life filled with peace, a life that is liked and respected by all others including God, and a life that is directly guided by the Lord.  I have always wished that I was made aware of Proverbs 3 and all its promises when I was a youth rather than learning them when I was well into my thirties.  My life would be different today.   

If there are two verses in the Bible that I have quoted to myself, to others and prayed about more than any other two verses, they are Proverbs 3:5-6.  There are four absolutely amazing truths in these two verses that I must remind myself about as much as possible for the rest of my life and you should too. 

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart.  Trust in the original Hebrew is the idea of throwing yourself down, casting all your hopes for the present and the future upon the Lord.  Heart is used throughout the Old Testament to refer to that part of you that constitutes the seat of your intellect, emotion, and will.  It’s your conscience, your personality, your soul.  Trusting the Lord with all your heart means that you confidently expect that He will do what He promises. You are not left to doubt, to hope, or to guess; you have a positive trust that brings positive results.

Do not lean on your own understanding

The Hebrew word for “lean” means to support yourself.  However, you are NOT to support yourself, you are not to worry about attempting to explain what is happening in your life.  To follow this command means that you are to be humble and honest about your limitations. Have you ever had to walk with a crutch?  Leaning on a crutch for very long can be exhausting.  So is leaning on your own understanding.  Trying to understand life around you can become utterly exhausting.  Depression in life comes from trying to understand everything you can, but realizing you cannot.  But, you don’t need to!

In all your ways acknowledge Him

Rather than leaning on the manmade crutch of your devices, you are exhorted to recognize God’s presence and His will in your plight.  Acknowledging Him enables you not to be alone.  Note the emphasis on the word “all” both here and trusting with all of your heart.  God does not accept half way attitudes and actions.  If your heart is “half-hearted” about serving God, about being faithful, about anything that is spiritual, in the view of God, you might as well consider yourself at ground zero.  There is no middle ground.  To agree to acknowledge Him in all your ways requires your obedience and your willingness to admit to others openly of your dependence on Him. 

And He will make your paths straight

The Hebrew word means to make smooth, straight, right.  It includes the idea of removing obstacles that are in the way.  It means that when the Lord is fully relied upon to handle a given situation, He will remove all the obstacles and smooth out your path thoroughly.  The requirements here are being obedient to the first three segments. When you trust in the Lord with all of your heart, when you don’t worry about trying to explain what’s happening (or not happening), and when you acknowledge Him in every aspect of your life, He will not only make your paths straight but also give you assurance, joy, contentment and peace. 

Billy Graham has told the story of a man during the Depression who lost his job, his fortune, his wife, and his home.  Yet, he did not give up on God.  He tenaciously held on to his faith.  One day he was walking and saw some men doing stonework on a huge church.  One of them was chiseling a triangular stone and this man asked why.  The workman said, “See that little opening away up there near the spire?  Well, I’m shaping this down here so that it will fit in up there.”  This man walked away and began to cry.  He realized that God had spoken to him through the workman to explain the ordeal that he was going through.  “I’m shaping you down there so that you’ll fit in up here.”  This is exactly what God is doing with you and using your current life’s situations to accomplish His ultimate purpose in you. 

You must learn to trust Him as He is shaping you through the trials, sufferings, and storms in your life.  You won’t understand it all now, but someday you will plus by doing all you can to put Him first in your life, you have the promise that He will be in control of your life and make your paths straight.  Pray for faith to believe this.  As the father said in Mark 9:24, “I believe, help me in my unbelief”.  This could be one of your favorite verses of the Bible.  Ask Him to help you to believe and to trust Him.