Proverbs 3:5-8
“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.”
To trust in the Lord wholeheartedly means you should not rely only on your own human understanding, for human insights are never enough. There are so many things that are beyond us and not even understandable—like, “How big is the universe?” Only God knows. God’s ways are incomprehensible but he is always trustworthy. People are not perfect so sometimes you can’t trust them, but God is absolutely trustworthy and He cannot lie. All the knowledge and wisdom a person may acquire can never replace the need for our full trust in God’s superior wisdom. The Hebrew word used here for “with all your heart” refers to your emotions, your intellect, understanding, and your will—everything that’s going on in your mind. As a person trusts in the Lord and acknowledges God as a lifestyle commitment, he finds that God “makes his paths straight”. Life becomes smoother, more peaceful, less complicated. God begins to remove the obstacles in your path and the problems that entangle you as you move toward your appointed goal of eternal life with Him. The book of Proverbs teaches that those who follow God’s wisdom have an easier, less problematic life
A similar New Testament passage is Hebrews 12:1-2. After reviewing most of the men and women of faith who trusted God in Hebrews 11, the author says, “Therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses (examples), let us also lay aside every encumbrance and every issue that so easily entangles us, and let us run the race that is set before us (life), fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith”. Pay attention to the two things that prevent us from living by faith and trusting the Lord—“encumbrances” and things that “entangle” us. What is in our way that blocks us from God? And what issues, weaknesses, and desires get us all tangled up and make our life complicated? Identify them and “lay them aside”. In the race of life get rid of everything that hinders your faith. Imagine trying to run a race with a great weight strapped to you, or trying to run with cords tangled up around your legs. So is life without God, therefore each person must determine what hinders them from their walk of faith with the Lord
