Let us read a very familiar verse from Proverbs 3:5,6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” We have to trust in the Lord with all our heart. In these verses we can see a wonderful promise and a strong warning. The warning is, “Do not lean on your own understanding” and the promise is, “He will make your path straight”. God will direct your life and your future beautifully if you put God first in everything you do.
Trust in the Lord means do not depend on anything else – our reasoning, our strength, our self. Instead of leaning on our own understanding, we should lean on His everlasting arms. That is full dependence on God. We sing in a song that leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus is secure and safe. This song, “Leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus” was written by Anthony J Showalter. When Anthony heard a sad news about his loved one through a friend; he was moved by a verse he read in Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!” In another version we read, “The eternal God is your refuge. His everlasting arms are under you.” We can trust our God because His arms are there for our protection. We have to trust God with all our heart.
Let us read a few verses. Psalms 20:7, “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.” Psalms 13:4,5, “And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him, And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.” In another translation we read, “I have trusted in your unfailing love” We can trust in this unfailing love in whatever we are going through. Psalms 125:1, “Those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.” Proverbs 28:26, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered.” 2 Corinthians 1:8,9 we read, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” God wants us to trust in Him and not in ourselves. In Jeremiah we read of a picture of a man who trusts in God. Jeremiah 17:7,8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.” We see that externally this man has a lot of struggles and problems. He is facing heat and drought but in the midst of all of this, he doesn’t cease to bear fruit. How is it possible? Because his trust is only in the Lord. Whatever comes against him, he doesn’t fear nor is he anxious. He continues to bear fruit. His roots extend deep because he trusts in God. This is the blessed life of a person whose trust is the Lord. God wants this for all of us. Do we trust God in everything we encounter in our lives? Maybe we have partial trust in God and partial trust in other things. God wants us to have a child-like dependence on Him and to lean completely on Him. In John 15 we read how a branch is fully dependent on the vine and thus bears fruits. Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” We have to fully trust in God through our everyday life. He is in control of everything and He has His arms around us. Our life is secure in Him.
In Isaiah 55:8,9 we read, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Many times we don’t know how God works in our lives. Sometimes we may be surprised to see the amazing ways that God works in our lives. So let us learn to trust in God’s ways and not try to get our way to be done. We shouldn’t depend on our strength, reasoning, understanding or self. In Proverbs 21:30, 31 we read, “There is no wisdom and no understanding And no counsel against the Lord. The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But victory belongs to the Lord.” In another translation we read, “There is no human wisdom and no human understanding against the counsel of the Lord.” Our understanding and God’s understanding is completely different. Our ways and God’s ways are completely different. So we have to commit our ways completely to God.
In Luke 5 we read of the miracle when Peter caught a lot of fish when he obeyed Jesus. In verse 5 Peter says, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” Peter says, “I have worked and the result is zero. But I will listen and act on your word.” Peter could have said, “I am an expert fisherman and there is no way that any fish can be caught”. But we see that Peter doesn’t depend on his understanding or experience nor does he give any excuses. He depends completely on the word that Jesus gives him. Trust in the Lord and obey His word – that is the blessed life. Let us look at another example. In 2 Kings 5 we read of Naaman’s healing. From verse 9-14 we read of Naaman’s encounter with Elijah. Naaman thought that Elisha would heal him by just commanding a word in the name of God. But God had a different way – to dip in the river 7 times. Trust in the Lord and obey His words. God’s ways are different from our ways; but if we will obey, we will have a blessed life.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us learn to put our trust only in the Lord. His loving arms are there to keep us safe and secure. He knows what we need. Let us not doubt His love. His love is unfailing.
May God bless us all!
