Trust in the Lord With All Your Heart

"Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."  Proverbs 3:5,6

King Solomon is credited with writing this book. He evidently had a certain son in mind when he wrote it, since the words "my son" appear so often in the singular. If Solomon was writing to give advice to his son, Rehoboam, much of the advice was wasted because Rehoboam is not known for his wisdom.

Even so, there is much of value for us in this book which is addressed to young people. 

Paul Jager was an excellent youth leader in the Saugatuck Church. He once taught the young people a lesson about trust. He lined up the teens in two rows facing each other. Then he showed them how to link their arms together across the aisle. Then he got on a ladder and fell backward onto their linked arms because he trusted them to catch him. Then he asked each of the teens one by one to do the same. Finally, he asked them to put the same trust in Jesus that they had put in each other. 

Why can't we lean on our own understanding? Because our understanding has been weakened and flawed by the fall of our first parents in Eden as recorded in Genesis 3. Even the "scientific method" cannot be trusted for ultimate truth.

During World War II, there was a large bomber airplane which had the nickname, Lady Be Good. Based in Africa, the crew took Lady Be Good on a bombing run to Italy. On the way back to their base in Africa, unknown to them, they caught a tail wind. Their instruments told them that they were back to their base, but they did not believe their instruments. They kept going.

Finally, they ran out of gas over the Sahara Desert. They were forced to land in the middle of nowhere. They tried walking back, but none of them ever arrived at the base. They all died in the desert and their bones were found years later. We are told that the airplane is still resting on the sands of the Sahara. Their tragic mistake? They leaned on their own understanding.

The Bible says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12)

God has ways to tell us where he wants us to go, and what he wants us to do. Let us trust that his way is the best way, not ours.