Proverbs 3:5,6 Trust in the Lord
Prov. 3:6 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.
“...and He will make your paths straight.”
I’ve always wondered what this meant. Recently I recognized that pride is my bent, the direction of my life if left unchanged. On my own, my view of life and all of my decisions are bent/skewed by pride. As I trust Him, look to Him, refuse to lean on my own understanding, He straightens me out, my view of life, my walk.
Which leads to a second thought – in ourselves, our lives can be like pinballs, merely bouncing off and reacting to things in our environment. This is the ‘way of darkness’ Prov. 4:19. Trusting the Lord makes my path straight rather than wandering around trying to discern the right way, the best way, etc.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart…in all your ways acknowledge Him” is critical to walk a straight path.
Living a God-directed life (walking a straight path) requires trusting Him with all my heart and acknowledging Him in all my ways. I think this requires consuming and embracing scripture with the attitude of “Holy Spirit, if you’ll make clear to me what You want me to do, that’s what I will do.” John 7:17; 14:21
Also note that trusting Him with all my heart means I cannot ‘lean on’ my own understanding. I cannot automatically or presumptuously ‘follow my heart’. My heart has and is being changed, but there’s still a struggle going on between the flesh and the Spirit so that I may not simply do the things I please. Gal. 5:16-17 If I know the ‘what He wants me to do’, I cannot demand to know the ‘why’ before I strive to do.