Wisdom for the Day: Proverbs 3:5

Proverbs 3

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Last week I looked at Proverbs relating to peace and as I sat in my chair pondering where to go next in the book of proverbs along the theme wisdom for the day. I noticed a proverb popped up on by computer screen. If there is ever wise advice, this is it.

There is something so limited about our paths and our understanding. When we think we know it all we are in for a fall because in reality, we know so little.

I was in New York last year and was struck by the incredible height of the buildings. I have a New York calendar on the wall and it is a picture of one of the most iconic landmarks there; the empire state building. The picture is taken from the bottom looking up and you can’t quite see the top as it disappears off the page. The blue cloudy sky stretches above. No matter how high we go we will eventually come to the extent of our human limitations.

The Biblical story of the tower of Babel teaches describes mankinds futile attempt to reach the heavens, God put a stop to it and scattered the people and confused their language. We were never meant to trust in ourselves and lean on our own understanding. That was not Gods plan for us. Wisdom starts by trusting in God with all of our hearts. That means surrendering to him, and using his word as our understanding. When we lean on our own understanding it is like leaning on a stick that is too brittle and weak. SNAP. It breaks and we fall to the ground.

There is a very important word used here, ‘all’ all of our heart and all of our ways. We do not withhold anything from God and when we do that he will make our paths straight.

At the start of my career at sea I was a watchkeeper. I was in charge of keeping everyone on the ship safe while I was on watch. Very occasionally the emergency alarm would go off, something was wrong and I was responsible for responding in the first instance by trying to understand what was wrong. It was always a relief when the senior officers and the captain came on to the bridge and I was relieved of that responsibility. Their knowledge and understanding was far greater than mine. They would take it from there.

Gods word tells us that we don’t need to know it all because he does. When we acknowledge our own limitations, trust him and follow the path he lays out for us it will go well for us. His wisdom, not our own. So trust in him and his ways.