He Will Make Your Paths Straight
As we conclude the devotional series about walking through life with the Lord on the ancient paths a proverb keeps coming to my mind. I think this proverb does a great job summing up how to walk on the ancient paths.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
Lean not on your own understanding,
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
The first three lines of the proverb give us instruction, the final line tells us what God will do if we follow this instruction. There are three verbs that delineate our role: trust, lean, acknowledge. Let’s look at each one of these.
Trust literally means to place confidence in, to rely on. The trust in this proverb is described as whole hearted trust. We cannot have this kind of trust if our hearts are divided. If we are partially trusting in ourselves or our bank accounts or our connections then we do not have whole hearted trust. The kind of trust we are called to allows for no compromise, no holding back. This is all-out trust. Think of an Olympic diver standing on the board, committed to a complicated dive. She cannot hold back with doubt and reservations, she has to totally commit. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean, put your full weight on. Sit in that chair and lean back.
Think of the image of taking a lean-to ladder, placing it upon the wall and then stepping up on it with your all your weight. This is a great visual of what it is like to trust, to have faith. You may not have the faith to climb to the top of the ladder, but take the little mustard seed of faith that you have and step up. Lean in.
Only this proverb tells us not to lean. This is a negative instruction, we are told not to lean upon our own understanding. Sounds like this may be a tendency we all have, trusting in ourselves and not the Lord. We may receive a promise from God but it seems impossible when we think about it, especially when we look at our circumstances. If we lean on our own understanding of the situation we will never be able to trust God with it. Shift your focus. Glance at your circumstances but gaze at God. Yes it seems impossible, but God is the God of the impossible. Lean not on your own understanding.
Acknowledge. In this proverb to acknowledge God is more than giving a tip of the hat to Him. It is more than acknowledging an acquaintance you pass by. The word acknowledge in Hebrew is yada. Yada means to know. It is the word used to describe intimate relations between husband and wife as in Adam knew Eve and she bore Cain. This is experiential knowledge, relating to Him at the deepest level.
Know God, experience life with Him in all your ways. Don’t compartmentalize your life and keep Him out of the corners of your heart. Invite the Lord into every aspect, every relationship, every thing you do. In all your ways acknowledge Him.
You do your part, then God does the rest. Some of us have crooked paths. Some have obstacles in our paths. We may have rough paths and washed out paths. Paths speak of our lifestyle, our daily walk. Our path includes the big and little choices we make. Our path includes all our relationships and situations. God says when you trust Him, lean upon and know Him, He will work out those knotty relationships, He will smooth out the rough places. He will make your paths straight.
How do we walk through life with the Lord on the ancient paths? Whole hearted trust, leaning not upon self, knowing God in every area of our life. It boils down to trusting Him even when you cannot see the way forward and then following Him closely. And when you do, you will find that He will make your paths straight.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Help me to trust you with my whole heart. Help me not to depend upon myself. Help me to know You more deeply in every area of my life. Thank You that You straighten out the path before me. Help me to follow you closely all the days of my life.
In Jesus name,
Amen