by: John Wilbanks
When Janet and I were first married, she was excellent at cross-stitching. My favorite piece was of Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” It has hung in our home for nearly 42 years of marriage and is a constant reminder of our good Father.
What an incredible promise this passage truly is. We don’t have to rely on our own intellect nor experiences. We have an omniscient guide to direct our paths or as the verse is otherwise interpreted, “make our paths straight.” In these days of turmoil and confusion, we all seek that direction more than ever.
A few days ago, Matt, my son, Eli, his 8 year old, and I went on a pretty serious hike from the top of Gingercake Mountain to a rock formation called Sitting Bear. In order to get there, one has to navigate a steep and slightly treacherous drop finding footholds on rocks and roots and grabbing any available trees or limbs. Eli started down behind his father and having not done this before, became frightened pretty early on in this effort. He began to say, “I’m scared.” His dad patiently worked him through the process of watching how and where to step and what to grab onto, giving physical assistance as needed. We made it down to the lookout and were treated to the most amazing views of the Linville Gorge and the mountain vistas around us - God’s magnificent handiwork laid out before us. What an incredible shared experience it was!
I reflected on that time and thought that it was an apt illustration of the direction part of the passage from Proverbs. Eli was scared of falling and unsure of his own ability to scale down the narrow and tortuous path. He could see the challenge right before him, but he wasn’t sure of what lay beyond his vision. Every slight slip reminded him of the danger he felt. But through it all, his good father was there, guiding him, encouraging him and “making his paths straight.” We could have gone back when the fear and doubt crept in, and concluded it was just too hard for Eli (and maybe me too!) but we kept moving and after all the hard work, the payoff was that we together experienced the wonder of creation in a profound way.
So, what does it really mean to trust in the Lord with all your heart? That truly is a high standard. All of our hearts? In order to fully trust, we have to recognize our dependence on God and release control of our lives to Him. It’s been said that you can have control or you can have trust, but you can’t have both at the same time. They are opposed to one another. In verse 5, we are admonished not to lean on our own understanding (be in control ourselves!) but instead to trust God and seek His direction. Only then will we experience the amazing wonders of His grace!
As a side note, when it came time to go up that same path, Eli transformed into a mountain goat and left us in the dust!