Trusting God, Not Our Understanding |
by David A. DePra |
| Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own |
| understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall |
| direct thy paths. (Prov. 3:5-6) |
| This is a powerful verse, filled with promises from God. And the |
| fact is, if a person actually believes what it says here, their life will |
| become drastically altered. They cannot live the way they used to |
| live. |
| It is so easy to plod along in life as a Christian, equipped with our |
| Bible verses and doctrines, convinced that we have great faith in |
| God. From time to time God does allow us seasons of relative |
| freedom from trials of faith. But eventually, if we walking with Jesus |
| Christ, we are going to come face to face with the basic question |
| of life. That question is this: Do we REALLY believe? I mean, do |
| we believe to the point where we are willing to risk everything on |
| the faithfulness of God? |
| It is an absolute Truth: He who trust Him wholly finds Him wholly |
| true. But when you are in the thick of it, and inundated with every |
| kind of contradiction and turmoil, it sometimes doesn't seem like it. |
| It may seem like God is indifferent, apathetic, and unreachable. Yet |
| rather than be cause for giving away faith, it is precisely during |
| those times that we MUST believe. It is THEN -- in the crisis -- that |
| we will either move forward, or fall back. |
| God is, in these two verses, asking us to stake everything upon |
| His faithfulness to us. He is asking us to absolutely sell-out to Him |
| regarding the most important things in our lives. And we are not |
| here talking about a religious, "said faith," or some kind of passive |
| assent to the Bible as being true. We are talking about active, |
| costly, and sometimes terrifying faith -- when life seems to be falling |
| apart around us. |
| Trust in the Lord |
| This passage from Proverbs 3 is actually a four-fold description |
| of a "walk by faith." And it is a progressive description -- that is -- |
| each of the four steps leads to the next. |
| The first thing we are told to do is "Trust in the Lord with all your |
| heart." Now, notice the point being made here: With ALL your heart. |
| Why that emphasis? Is it possible to trust the Lord with "part" of |
| our hearts? |
| Well, yes. In the ultimate sense, it is true that we either trust God |
| or we don't trust Him. The Lord either has all of our heart, or none |
| of it. But that is only AFTER all of our choices are made. Most of us |
| are in the middle of a process wherein we are choosing whether we |
| will trust the Lord with all of our heart. And God is seeing to it that |
| we are pushed to the point of making those choices. |
| Herein we see the purposes of God. Have you ever wondered |
| why God, at times, seems almost relentless in His testing and trying |
| of you over a particular situation or condition? Have you ever said |
| to God, "What possible good can be coming out of this? I've been |
| through all of this before. Why again?" It could be that God wants |
| to invade and occupy ALL of your heart? |
| Don't misunderstand. It isn't that you ever refused God. It isn't |
| that you deliberately closed off part of your heart from God. No. |
| In fact, there are areas of our hearts which we don't even know are |
| THERE. There are vast regions of our being which we know |
| absolutely nothing about. They are like an unknown country to us. |
| We have yet to discover it. |
| Of course, what all of this really means is that there are vast |
| regions and aspects of Jesus Christ that we have yet to discover. |
| There is always much more to Christ than our present perception. |
| And until God is able to invade those hidden areas of our heart, |
| and expose them to the Light, we will remain stagnant spiritually. |
| The fact is, we don't have the slightest idea of what we are made |
| of. Not the slightest. We don't know what we need. We don't know |
| where we are spiritually. We don't know where we are headed. |
| And it is good and right that we don't. That is why God tells us to |
| trust HIM. HE knows. |
| God wants ALL of our hearts. And He is so faithful that He will |
| not stop until He gets them. He will push and push, test and try, |
| bless and disturb, indeed, turn our lives upside down if necessary, |
| to gain possession of ALL of us. And thank God He does, for we |
| are the beneficiaries. There are eternal issues at stake here. |
| Presumption vs. Abandonment |
| What does it really mean to trust the Lord with ALL of our heart? |
| Well, it means to unconditionally abandon ourselves to Him. We |
| burn all the bridges and risk everything on His faithfulness. |
| Now, this is not to be confused with PRESUMPTION. I am |
| guilty of presumption when I "trust" God for things He has never |
| promised. Or "presume" He is doing something He isn't doing. |
| In other words, my mind gets ahead of what God has said and |
| draws unwarranted conclusions. |
| The causes of presumption are self-will, unbelief, or perhaps |
| simply ignorance. Our guard against presumption is sound |
| teaching and an open heart. |
| Abandonment to God is never presumption. That's because we |
| can never go wrong abandoning ourselves to God. In the case of |
| abandonment, we "presume" God is there for us -- even if we don't |
| know where He is. That is NOT presumption, however, because |
| God has already promised us He would never leave or forsake us. |
| How can I know the difference between presumption and |
| abandonment? It is a process to come to know the difference. But |
| there are general rules. Presumption carries an air of a closed |
| case about it. Abandonment always leaves room for God. The |
| attitude of presumption carries a "demand" in my spirit that I am |
| right about something, and won't accept any other answer. But |
| abandonment to God carries a certainty ONLY about HIM. The |
| rest of what I believe may be fairly certain to me. But again, I |
| realize the Truth isn't dependent upon MY grasp of it. I leave things |
| open to God. Presumption adjusts everything to fit what I want, or |
| what I fear. Abandonment allows God to adjust me. |
| In the final analysis, God has made things quite simple. He has |
| said to trust Him with all our heart. To do that is NEVER, EVER |
| presumption. But once we cross the line and begin to dictate the |
| specifics of what God is going to do as a result of our trust, then we |
| had better be careful. We had better be sure we have heard from |
| God. Otherwise we could be guilty of presumption. |
| With ALL Our Heart |
| To trust God with ALL of your heart means that you operate |
| under the belief that God is, right now, in charge of your life. It |
| means that you believe that there is nothing which can happen to |
| you that has not first been to Him. It means that despite the |
| absence of signs and wonders, and despite the absence of any |
| assurance from God, that you believe He cares and IS working |
| His purpose. |
| This isn't always as easy as it sounds. It IS easy when things |
| are going well. Then it is easy to say, "Yes, the Lord is faithful. Yes, |
| He provides." But when things fall apart, and circumstances |
| conspire to paint God as indifferent, unmerciful, or even mean, then |
| the TEST of faith is upon us. Will we then believe? Will we say, |
| with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will trust Him." |
| To trust God with ALL of your heart means that you no longer |
| belong to yourself. You are saying, "God, do your will, and not |
| mine. I am not smart enough to know the eternal issues involved |
| here. I am not wise enough to see the beginning from the end. I |
| am like a little child. You are my Heavenly Father." |
| God wants us to trust Him with all of our hearts. And He is in |
| the process of constantly deepening this faith in us all the tiime. |
| And Lean Not |
| The second thing God tells us to do is actually something He |
| says NOT to do. He says, "Lean NOT upon your own |
| understanding." And if you look at the verse closely, God portrays |
| "leaning upon our own understanding" as the alternative to trusting |
| God with all our hearts. In other words, to "lean upon" my |
| understanding is to trust it, rather than God, as the source of Truth. |
| Now notice the incredible thing God is telling us to do here. He |
| is saying, "There are going to be times when, if you rely upon your |
| mind, you will conclude I am unfaithful or indifferent. You will not be |
| able to think your way into any other conclusion -- based on the |
| facts as you know them, and based on how your emotions are |
| reacting. But I am telling you that your mind and your emotions are |
| lying to you if they deny My faithfulness. I AM faithful. Trust ME, and |
| do not rely upon what you think, grasp, feel, and react." |
| What a requirement! God is saying that we are to put aside, |
| indeed, utterly abandon any suggestion that He is unfaithful. It does |
| not matter what tragedy or trial comes upon us. We are to instead |
| trust Him no matter what. |
| This can be terrifying. There have been times when the more I |
| thought about something, and weighed the facts that I knew them, |
| the worse I felt about them. I knew God was there --- but what if....? |
| I just couldn't see how God could be faithful if this stuff was going on. |
| Yet it WAS going on, and God IS faithful. The problem, therefore, is |
| my grasp of the situation. And there is no possible way to bridge |
| this chasm between my understanding and God except by FAITH. |
| Now notice: God is not saying we must never seek to know. He |
| is not saying that at all -- for other places He promises us that we |
| will grow to understand. No. Rather, the key here is TRUST. God |
| is telling us that whether we think we understand or not, we must |
| never TRUST our understanding. We must trust HIM. |
| Trusting Our Understanding of God |
| To trust MY understanding would be to insist that the way I see |
| things must be the Truth -- i.e., must be the way God's sees them. |
| There is a subtle pride and unbelief wrapped up in this. There is |
| also a subtle demand in it -- that God must "make sure" we are right |
| about Him. If He allows us to be wrong we suggest it is His fault, |
| and a result of Him letting us down. |
| God has never promised we would always be right about Him. |
| Rather, He has promised He would always be right about us. He |
| has also promised us to lead us into all Truth -- part of the process |
| being the necessity of showing us how wrong we are about a great |
| many things! |
| God allows us to make mistakes because the mistakes are in |
| us to make, and He wants to expose them. That is His faithfulness. |
| It doesn't mean He likes sin or error. But it is a fact that we must |
| be exposed for who we are before we will be humbled and brought |
| to the place of spiritual bankruptcy. Then we will not only be set |
| free, but we will be able to truly understand God. |
| The fact is, God is so faithful that even if we make mistakes of |
| discernment -- big mistakes -- He will still bring His will to pass in |
| our lives if we trust Him. Again, the issue is NOT whether we make |
| the correct decision everytime the first time. It is whether we are |
| trusting God. If we are, God will use even the wrath of man to praise |
| Him. |
| Faith |
| Many times in a trial what we think we need is information. "If God |
| would just tell me this or that, then I'd be able to rest in Christ." No. |
| Faith is never the product of me knowing something. It is the |
| product of me BECOMING something, in Jesus Christ. Because I |
| have surrendered to God without knowing, I grow to know Jesus. |
| And in time, I will be made fit to know anything else God wants me |
| to know. |
| The Truth of God in Jesus Christ cannot be attained through |
| study, thinking, reasoning, logic, or any kind of intellectual exercise. |
| No. Truth comes by revelation to a heart which is yielded to God. |
| And it comes through any number of vehicles in life. But once God |
| reveals His Truth to our hearts, it will seek to renew our minds. At |
| some point we may then grow to express the Truth God has given |
| us through study, thinking, reasoning, and logic. We may express |
| it through our human vehicle unto the edification of others. But |
| WE did not reach up to heaven and grab the Truth. The Truth |
| reached down to us. |
| Actually, when the mind is able to express the Truth, there is not |
| much strain involved. That's because the Truth is incredibly |
| simple. It is logical and sane. There is no shadow or turning in it. |
| But we can only grasp it if WE have been reduced to simplicity. |
| Only if WE are in the process of becoming as little children. Then |
| we may understand. But we will not trust our understanding of even |
| the Truth. We will trust the One who IS the Truth. |
| In All Your Ways Acknowledge God |
| The third thing God says to do is "in all your ways acknowledge |
| Him." This is the OT equivalent of I Corinthians 10:31: |
| Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to |
| the glory of God. |
| I "acknowledge God" in "all my ways" when I take Him into |
| account. I seek to do His will, rather than my own -- even if I am not |
| clear about what His will is. Again, this is faith. I take the next steps |
| in life NOT knowing where I am going. But I trust the One leading, |
| even if I can't presently discern where He is. |
| Acknowledging God in all my ways means that I do not live |
| for myself. I do not live in any sort of independence from God. |
| There is no division in me between what is mine, and what is God's. |
| I am unconditionally surrendered to Him. |
| What we see here is that I must live doing more than just "making |
| room for God." Rather, I must live allowing God to make room for |
| me. I am not in charge. He is in charge. |
| Jesus Christ acknowledged God in all His ways. In the book of |
| Acts, Peter says, |
| I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, |
| that I should not be moved. (Acts 2:25) |
| Here we see a picture of Christ always keeping His face open |
| to God. No hiding. No hidden agenda. Always available to God. |
| Christ walked believing God was at His right hand, upholding Him. |
| When we believe that, there is nothing we can do without |
| acknowledging God. |
| And He Will Direct Your Paths |
| Do you want to be led of God? This passage from Proverbs is |
| telling us how. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not upon |
| your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. And |
| THEN -- He will direct your paths. You shall end up in the right |
| place at the right time -- and more importantly -- in the right spiritual |
| condition. |
| We often get this whole thing backwards. We think that FIRST |
| God should direct our paths. Then we would be able to |
| acknowledge Him as we walk that path. Then we would have |
| understanding -- and be able to trust the Lord. But no. God has |
| it the right way. First, we must trust. Then He will lead. |
| Why? Because God is working an eternal purpose. He wants |
| us to become conformed to the image of His Son. A fundamental |
| aspect of this is that He build in us FAITH. Faith, as we define it |
| here, has an eternal correspondence which will be released to |
| fullness in the eternal ages. We see only the seed here. God sees |
| the fullness of it eternally. |
| God will direct our path. But that doesn't mean we'll know He is |
| doing it. Notice: This particular passage doesn't say that God will |
| direct US to the path. No. It says that God will direct the PATH to |
| us! Much of what God does He does in ways which are not |
| dramatic, miraculous, or even noticably HIM. Yet He gives us |
| exactly what He promises to give us: His will. Both for this life and |
| the next. |
| God knows exactly what He is doing. There is no confusion on |
| His part -- even if WE are confused. There is no indecision on His |
| part -- even if WE are indecisive. There is no indifference on His |
| part. He cares about what we care about more than we care about |
| it. And there is no possibility that God has left us or forsaken us. It |
| does not matter how much it seems like it. There is a purpose to |
| everything God does, or doesn't do. |
| Now, all of this would drive us crazy -- if we were left to our own |
| understanding. But it won't drive us crazy if we do as God says: |
| "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not upon your own |
| understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. And He will |
| direct thy paths." This passage is God's receipe for our living and |
| walking with Him in this age as His sons and daughters. |