Leaning Not on Your Own Understanding

We are all guilty at times of making an idol of our own human, fleshly logic. We place our trust in what we can see, touch, feel, and reason from our own comprehensions before even considering God in the equation. This happens in subtle ways before it escalades to make our own conscience and perspective to be fact before inquiring of the Lord in His wisdom.

Proverbs 3:5-6 is not a mere suggestive anecdote from Solomon, rather, it is a gracious reminder to all who care to listen that there is far more at play than what our minds can comprehend in the moment. It expresses,

“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

The first part of the verse implores us to fully immerse ourselves with our whole heart, our lēḇ in the Hebrew root word. This word by definition is not just the blood pumping organ of body, but the “inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding” (Blue Letter Bible dictionary). The act of placing trust not just in a capricious, whimsical, wishful hope, but rather a rooted trust with one’s inner man, one’s mind, one’s understanding and heart in the LORD is profound. The reason that, “LORD” is in all capital letters is because it is referring to God in the holiest of holies, His personal Name. The Bible project explains the significance of God’s Holy, personal Name sharing, “Ancient Jewish scribes wanted to prevent anyone from even accidentally saying this name aloud when you read the Hebrew Bible, and so they came up with a visual device to remind you to make sure you say adonai. They took the four consonant letters of the divine name. These letters correspond to our English letters, YHWH. Then they inserted the three vowels from the word adonai and combined these together to create an artificial hybrid word, which if you pronounced it, it would say yahowah. But no Israelite ever said yahowah. It’s simply a visual reminder to say the word adonai….. But the main thing is, the word LORD in all capital letters is an indication of the divine name. Don’t confuse it with the word Lord in your English translations that’s not in all capital letters. That’s the actual Hebrew word adon, which just means “lord” or “master.” This word can refer to people like kings or the master of a servant, even a shepherd over his sheep. And sometimes biblical authors will use this word to refer to God, like in the phrases “the Lord of all the earth” or the “Lord of lords.” But behind all these words, Jehovah, LORD, Adonai, stands the original divine name of the God of Israel. It refers to the one who was, who is, and who forever will be.”

This understanding is imperative to our study of Proverbs 3:5-6 because it is reminding us that the entity in Whom we are placing our full, inner man immerse trust is that of the Personal, Eternal, and “I AM” Creator of the Universe. We must recognize and establish first and foremost Who is receiving the trust before we even wade into the waters further, for trust is a beautiful, holy, and precious thing, and the LORD is ever worthy of such trust, for always.

The next portion of the verse encourages not to lean upon your own understanding. How often are we guilty of such a quick judgement in which we crutch ourselves on our own logic, assumptions, or reasoning with a situation? Recall the words of 1 Corinthians 3:19,

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. For it is written: “He is the one who catches the wise by their craftiness” 1 Corinthians 3:19

Earthly wisdom does not always find its genesis in our own brains, but the opinions of others, of culture, or of suggestion of opinion. Perhaps you find your understanding of a situation the borrowed wisdom from someone’s limited vantage point and two cents. Remember that leaning on your own understanding can become a stumbling block, one that sets you on a path of self-reliance. This self-reliance limits God because it is setting oneself up as one’s own provider, sustainer, and in a way, one’s own god. We were not made to live life this way, and when we lean on our own understanding, we therefore limit the beautiful opportunity for God to be in control, to acknowledge Him.

Verse six pivots us from limitations of internal understanding to instead acknowledge He Who is I AM. Isaiah 55:8-9 paints it profoundly in this way,

““For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

When we acknowledge God, when we lean into His understanding, His guidance, His Spirit, we are plunging our paradigm to be clay to be molded by the Potter’s Hand. We allow the situation to be formed, remade, and set by the One Who is eternal, with thoughts that are not our thoughts and ways that are not our ways, but the One Who sees all, seen and unseen.

God works in the unseen more predominately than in the seen and this has been proven true time and time again. As Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 4:18,

“while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18

Consider how God has worked in the stories of mankind all throughout human history. Joseph was given a dream in which God revealed to him that one day he would rule over his eleven brothers. At the time he was but a plucky, vibrant teenager, but he believed what the Lord said was in fact to be true. His brothers saw his dream not just an audacious claim, but as a threat unto them and the literally sold him into slavery. Despite Joseph’s attempts to live a godly, good life he found himself in a seemingly hopeless situation living in a dingey prison in Egypt. If Joseph had leaned on his own understanding, if he had gleaned his perspective from the prisoners around him, or if he had limited the possibilities of what might occur to his present situation, he would have more than likely found himself forlorn with no inkling of hope that things could change. Yet, he did not forget what God had shown him all those years before, and he did not limit God to what he could configure could happen. By worldly standards the best he could hope for in human logic would be an earthquake to break down the walls of the prison to set him free, but God was far more creative than a limited imagination of possibility. Instead, God gave another dream to Pharoah, the ruler of all of Egypt, and no one could offer an interpretation that brought Pharaoh peace. That was until Joseph was invited to offer insights not from his own reckoning, but from the Spirit of the Lord within him. In a short span of time Joseph went from prison to a palace living out God’s promise to him, but it was not how we could have thought the story would go. God is not limited to your imagination or your own understanding.

It is a gift that we need not lean on our own imaginations, ideas, or understanding for what will happen in the future. We can make the choice to lean upon the One Eternal, to fully trust Him, and to not limit Him. He will make our paths straight, even if we at times are unsure how it will level out. Make the choice today to surrender your attempts at control and to humbly submit to Him in the trust of your heart, of your innermost man. Know that when you do this you are not sacrificing something so dear to you to someone who will misuse it, rather, you are offering something precious to the One Who is the Great I AM. Ask Him to speak to you, to reveal to you His understanding of any and every situation. Connect with Him through prayer, through His Word, and believe He will convict your heart if you ask Him. His answers and ways may appear completely counter to what you can see at the moment, but do not underestimate what He is doing behind the scenes. Trust fully in Him and see that indeed He will make your paths straight and your story one to tell of His victorious glory.

Sources:

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/yhwh-lord/