A couple weeks ago we started out the elementum board meeting with a conversation about Proverbs 3:5-8, which reads;
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 straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil;
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.
Proverbs 3:5-8
This text – particularly the first two lines – is incredibly challenging to the structure and assumptions behind much of evangelical church culture. At least in my experience, the most evangelically-inclined churches tend to emphasize knowledge and understanding as the primary means of maturing as a Christian. We would never state it this way, but the functional reality is that we prioritize understanding over trusting.
A couple proofs: most evangelical Christians would, if asked what they should do to grow as followers of Jesus, give an answer that was some sort of learning or education. Read the Bible more. Sit under good, biblical preaching. Read a book by Keller, Piper, Chandler, Giglio, or the dozens of other celebrity-status pastors. Or maybe take part in a Bible study or a Sunday school class. Each of those are great things, but they are structured primarily to address the head rather than the heart and follow the enlightenment assumption that more knowledge and understanding equals more life change.
But is more understanding and knowledge about him what God wants us to prioritize? Unequivocally, no. What God wants is our hearts – our trust and love. Jesus makes this clear in his announcement that the greatest of the commands is to love God. The Proverb quoted above states it this way: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
Let’s take a closer look at what that means. There are two clear commands in this proverb, one positive and one negative. Positively, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Negatively, do not lean on your understanding. Let’s start with the negative.
Lean not on your own understanding
To lean on something is to depend upon it, rest your weight upon it. When we lean on our own understanding we are putting the weight of our lives and hope on our own capacity of comprehension. We study, think logically, examine options, and make decisions.
Some people thrive in this category, relishing the feeling of power that comes from hurried learning, making “smart” decisions, and feeling like thy are self-made successes. But ultimately leaning on your own understanding locks you into your head and disconnects you from your heart, the heart of God, and the hearts of those around you. That’s a problem.
Three of the problems with leaning on our own understanding are,
- 1) We rarely really understand. No matter how smart you are, how much you read, or how long or deep you think, your mind doesn’t have the capacity to fully understand even how your own self works, much less how another person or the world at large works.
- 2) It’s a form of idolatry. To depend on your own comprehension assumes that you have the right to determine the path of your life based on what you know and don’t know.
- 3) It will exhaust you. You weren’t made to comprehend everything or to carry the weight of holding it all together. Leaning on your own understanding will inevitably leave you anxious, exhausted, and frustrated.
So what are we to do instead of leaning on our own understanding? The writer of the proverb tells us we are to “trust in the Lord with all your heart.”
Trust in the Lord
Trust is a far cry from understanding. Trust requires mystery. If you have full, certain knowledge about something it doesn’t require trust. The person who is leaning on their own understanding will find it terrifying and difficult to trust God and others because doing so means a massive loss of power and control.
Trusting in the Lord requires that we accept the reality that we aren’t God, that we can’t know it all, and that we stop trying to solve every problem that comes our way. It requires moving your priorities from the head to the heart.
With all your heart
Note well where trust comes from; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”. Trust isn’t a mental exercise. It isn’t dependant on having thorough understanding. Trust comes from the heart. And, as we mentioned earlier, the heart is what God is after.
In the biblical worldview, the heart is the seat of the human self – where our emotions and identity are rooted. To trust in the Lord with all your heart is to open your very self up to him and enter into intimate connection and relationship. Whereas understanding can be cold, distant, and calculated, keeping a person safe from the potential pain and cost of relationships, trusting from the heart always means getting in deeper than is safe. It means taking the risk of true relationship.
There are two simple ways to know if your heart is connected:
- 1) You feel it. Skim the Psalms or Jesus’ interactions with his heavenly Father and you will see the full breadth of human emotional experience. If you are trusting God from your heart you’re going to feel things. From joy to sorrow to excitement to disappointment, your heart will be moved.
- 2) You act it. Emotion, not information, drives us to act. If you are trusting the Lord from the heart you will act on that trust far more than if you simply understand stuff about Him. That means following his commands, listening to his voice, and acting accordingly.
It will be healing and refreshment
The end of this passage in Proverbs declares, “It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” What an incredible statement! When we trust God from the heart, we will entrust all of our ways to him, lose any self-imagined wisdom, and be able to stay far from sin. According to the writer of proverbs this will result in massive restoration of physical wellness.
This is so crucial in our modern age where anxiety, depression, fear, and loneliness are rampant.
Much has been written about the impact of anxiety, depression, and burnout on people’s health. I believe much of this increase is caused by the fact that we now have more information than ever available to us, resulting in increasing demand on our understanding and simultaneous loss of the relational trust that we so need. We’ve replaced relationship with information.
If we would only move ourselves from leaning on our own understanding – expecting ourselves to know it all and solve every problem – and instead move into simply trusting the Lord fully, I am confident that much of the anxiety, fear, and burnout, that plague us would fade away as we discover better sleep because we trust God to take care of things while we rest, more energy because we aren’t carrying the weight of our own destinies, greater peace because we know God is in control and we are not, lasting health because we are living in our proper place as created beings rather than attempting to be gods, and refreshment for our bodies and souls.
As you go into this weekend, don’t lean on your own understanding. Instead, release your heart to trust fully in the Lord. It will do you much good, and bring God much glory.
No Comments