Straight Paths
| Trust in the Lord with all of your heart And lean not on your own understanding Acknowledge the Lord in all of your ways and He will make your paths straight (Proverbs3:5-6) |
In Hebrew culture the heart is not the seat of emotions but the control centre of life. In Hebrew poetry one often has parallel lines and so:
--- Trust in the Lord with all of your heart (and)
--- Acknowledge the Lord in all of your ways
are parallels - they're driving home the same point.
This much-loved passage asks us to Trust and Acknowledge God.
To trust God is to believe that His love for us remains unchanged, in spite of our circumstances. So often trouble comes and we feel that God has forgotten us and doesn't love us but trust looks past trouble to God's faithfulness.
To acknowledge God in all our ways is to live in constant awareness of His presence. We need to be willing to sign the name of Jesus next our name on every credit card slip and every contract and letter. We need to consider Him as being part of every discussion and with us in all we do.
In Hebrew culture life is often represented as a pathway. The image created here is that it is better to walk a pathway with God than to blaze a trail on our own. With God at our side, our pathway will be straight and not crooked.
When we lean on our own understanding without Trusting and Acknowledging Him, our pathways start to twist and turn. Even if we mean well and start straight, our lives are not meant to be lived for ourselves - we are designed and created to Trust and Acknowledge Him. When we lean on our own understanding, it is mutiny.
BUT let's be clear: This is not mindless Christianity. We don't have to leave our brains at the door. It is about reliance on God. We lean on a walking stick when we are injured, tired or going through heavy terrain. We should thoughtfully and mindfully lean on God.
When we do that and refuse to be led by our own thinking and desires, then God is able to make our paths straight - not necessarily smooth, but straight!
