By Todd Paetznick, February 8, 2024

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. 

(Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB20)

Step 2 On our way to straight paths, do not lean on your own understanding.

In the modern world, there are two common situations where we must set aside what we believe to be the best course of action and instead act on God’s instruction.  The first situation is relying on experts’ opinions to establish our decisions and inform our actions.  Second, our personal desires often shape our opinions, which we will examine this week.  

“Leaning on our own understanding” expands on the first part of the passage, “trusting the Lord.”  The key is not relying on what we feel is right to determine our what we will do to achieve a desired outcome.  We must be very careful because our desires and biases can lead to poor and sometimes destructive decisions.  This has been a well-known problem that people have struggled with for thousands of years.  

• Solomon wrote the Proverbs 3 passage to help us avoid relying on our own understanding around 3,000 years ago.  
• Around 3,500 years ago, the book of Judges chronicled the generations of Jewish people who lived during the period before Solomon, before his father David, and before Israel’s first king, Saul.  The recurring theme of Judges is the people of God doing what they thought was right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25).  “In their own eyes” is the key phrase to focus on.  They thought they knew better than the instructions for living given to them by God and instead relied on their own understanding.  The Book of Judges offers case studies showing how the Israelites repeatedly needed divine rescue following times when doing what they thought was “right” did not end as they expected.  
• Around 2,500 years ago, the prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick; who can understand it” (Jeremiah 17:9 NASB20)?  Interestingly, just a few verses earlier, Jeremiah says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose trust is the LORD” (Jeremiah 17:7 NASB20).  Jeremiah recognized the disconnect between the heart (desire) and trusting God; we cannot have both.
• Around 2,000 years ago, Jesus’ disciple John wrote, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” (1 John 2:16 NASB20).  Lust of the eyes = desiring what we see to satisfy our imagination.  Lust of the flesh = what we want to possess to satisfy our physical bodies.   Pride of Life = how we want to be seen.  John summarized the three categories that temptation and sin fall into that are not from God.    

People have not changed.  Without considering the long-term consequences of our actions or the instruction offered by God, we have the tendency to do what we think is best; that thing we think will bring us the greatest happiness, wealth, or power. Our main passage from Proverbs advises us not to lean on our own understanding.  The alternative to relying on ourselves is trusting the Lord.  

What does this mean, and why does it work?  Trusting the Lord is not some mystical act where we step back and watch God do everything on our behalf.  The principle is about trusting and acting based on God’s teachings and instructions.  We should not rely on what we feel is best because our hearts are deceptive, often leading us to do things that set us back.  God knows better than we do because He made everything, established how the world works, and knows how people think.  God provided us with instructions in the Bible about how we are supposed to act and what we are supposed to do.  As God-followers, our task is to follow His instructions.  Following God’s instructions is an act of faith; we trust that God knows best and will orchestrate the outcome for our benefit and the benefit of His kingdom (“will make our paths straight”). 

Do not rely on feelings to make decisions; feelings can be deceptive.  Instead, trust God.