“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
In a society where lying
is the norm, sell-outs of friends are common, secrecy is ever-present, big brother is watching, loss of jobs, huge government debts, politicians seemingly drifting away from actually representing the people in their districts to vote for special projects to increase their own standing or circumstance, and the tragic consequences of global terror, trusting in someone or something is at the same time scarce and yet pervasive. To have trust is to have faith; and faith is something that is sometimes scoffed at in our sophisticated society.In the Bible’s Old Testament, Solomon recognized that we cannot stand alone. In our culture we value individualization and the ability to work for what we have and “pull ourselves up by our own boot straps.” But when God nudged Solomon to write the words in Proverbs, He shared His vision that we simply cannot go it alone in life. As much as we take pride in our “rugged individualism” we are more likely to flounder and fall under the pressures of “going it alone” than we are if we find something or someone to “lean” onto for support. Solomon “leaned” on God for the wisdom to write the Proverbs, and God says, “Trust in the Lord” and “lean” on Him.
Trust is a heavy-duty responsibility. Every day I drive a car I trust other drivers to be as good at driving as I want to be myself. When I am in heavy traffic on the interstate highway moving at 70 miles per hour and begin to pass the person in front moving at a slower speed, I trust the driver in the other car to continue to do what he is doing. Once I have ventured into the passing lane I trust the other driver not to swerve into that lane to push me off the road; I trust the other driver not to speed up and force me to increase my speed. At the time I am in the passing lane moving that fast I have placed myself in a precarious position of imminent danger and am relying on the strength and skill of that other driver to see me through that pass…I have placed my trust in the other driver’s ability to provide support for me.
In a very real sense my survival in life depends not as much on the sharpness of my own skills, as it does to the accuracy of the skills that countless other people have each time I place my trust in them to complete my path. When I step into a plane for flight I place my life in the skill of a pilot; when I step into an elevator I place my life into the hands of a myriad of people from mechanical engineers to those who have worked on the production line to produce the cables or hydraulics that operate the elevator. Each time I survive the action of a choice I have made it is because I have placed my trust in the hands of others.
The admonition from Solomon to “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart” takes a new perspective. If I can place my faith (trust) in others, how can I not all the more place my faith in the Lord? Trusting God is not just acknowledging Him verbally, but totally immersing myself with mind, emotions and will to trust him “with all my heart.”
In “all my ways” I should acknowledge God because His skills and abilities surpass all the combined total skills and abilities of each person collectively I have ever trusted in my life. Trusting Him, being obedient to Him is the only choice I have if I want to survive. In everything; when I place the key in the lock on my front door, when I change my baby’s diaper, when I lick the ice cream off the cone, when I board the cruise ship to vacation…in everything I will “trust in the Lord with all my heart.”
Being totally secured by willful obedience in yielding to God by trusting Him in everything; now God provides a promise. Obstacles are in our path for everything we do. An obstacle can be that person in whom I must place my trust in order to complete my task. But God can make that path straight; He can make that task light, or make the burden light. With God all things are possible and life in a complicated twenty-first century world that include relationships, responsibilities, relentless pursuit of life can be made straight by trusting in the Lord.
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