Pro 3:5-6 | KingComments | STEP | The third advice is to trust in the LORD with the whole heart and expect nothing from our own understanding ( ). Trusting with the whole heart is focusing the whole inner life – the whole will, feeling and understanding – on God. It is about actively trusting in Him. It applies to every minute of our life, wherever we are – at home, in society, at school or work, in the church – and in whatever we do. One should not want to lean on a creature or anything from the possession or abilities of a creature, not even on anything from ourselves (cf. ). This is not a contradiction between the heart on the one hand and understanding on the other, but between one’s own understanding and the Lord. We must trust in the Lord and not in ourselves. The father also advises his son to know God in all his ways ( ). “All your ways” means everything he plans, everything he says, all his doings. It does not just refer to moments of crisis, when big and important decisions must be made. If we involve Him in all daily things, we will also automatically go to Him with the big things. To know Him in all our ways means that we begin everything with Him, walk with Him in it and also complete it with Him. This requires obedience and surrender in every area of our lives. It also means that He does not dictate and impose His thoughts and plans on us. He allows us to take the initiative and plan a route. Then He invites us to discuss our plans with Him so that we are kept from plotting a route that leads to death (cf. ; ). We do not know the path. We don’t have to if we know Him, that is, if we live in fellowship with Him Who knows the way. Knowing Him means that we include Him in everything, always looking to Him, always having Him before our attention, thinking of Him as the One Who is always with us. We do this by consulting His Word in all our plans and letting it be our counselor ( ). This includes walking by the Spirit ( ). It is about total dedication, all our heart and all our ways. If we trust in Him with our whole heart and know Him in all our ways, He promises to make our paths straight. He will lead us straight to the goal we have determined in consultation with Him. That goal is ultimately He Himself. The straight paths are contrasted with the winding paths that man goes without knowing Him in them. No man can make his own path straight ( ). It does not say that the paths are easy and straight in our eyes. From our perspective, it may be a winding and difficult path. But we may know that all the twists and turns in it are provided by the Lord as part of the process of His work in us. His goal is for us to walk a path that culminates in our conformity to Christ. For Him, and therefore also for us, that is the straight path. This, like so many other proverbs in this book, is a general truth, not something that is always true without exception. For example, when we use the saying ‘an apple every day, keeps the doctor away’, it does not mean that we stay healthy if we eat an apple every day, but that an apple is healthy food. It is not a saying that guarantees that we will never get sick if we eat apples. Proverbs are pieces from life that show how life usually is, without saying that it is always and everywhere like that. In fact, there may be factors involved that delay immediate fulfillment. Those factors are not always known to us, but God knows them and uses them for His plan with our life. Proverbs are not promises from God for here and now that we can stand on. If we think so, we draw wrong conclusions. Proverbs are statements of observations that will prove their truth over time.

‏ Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD

The third advice is to trust in the LORD with the whole heart and expect nothing from our own understanding (Pro 3:5). Trusting with the whole heart is focusing the whole inner life – the whole will, feeling and understanding – on God. It is about actively trusting in Him. It applies to every minute of our life, wherever we are – at home, in society, at school or work, in the church – and in whatever we do.

One should not want to lean on a creature or anything from the possession or abilities of a creature, not even on anything from ourselves (cf. 2Chr 14:11). This is not a contradiction between the heart on the one hand and understanding on the other, but between one’s own understanding and the Lord. We must trust in the Lord and not in ourselves.

The father also advises his son to know God in all his ways (Pro 3:6). “All your ways” means everything he plans, everything he says, all his doings. It does not just refer to moments of crisis, when big and important decisions must be made. If we involve Him in all daily things, we will also automatically go to Him with the big things. To know Him in all our ways means that we begin everything with Him, walk with Him in it and also complete it with Him. This requires obedience and surrender in every area of our lives.

It also means that He does not dictate and impose His thoughts and plans on us. He allows us to take the initiative and plan a route. Then He invites us to discuss our plans with Him so that we are kept from plotting a route that leads to death (cf. Jam 4:15; Acts 18:21). We do not know the path. We don’t have to if we know Him, that is, if we live in fellowship with Him Who knows the way.

Knowing Him means that we include Him in everything, always looking to Him, always having Him before our attention, thinking of Him as the One Who is always with us. We do this by consulting His Word in all our plans and letting it be our counselor (Psa 119:24). This includes walking by the Spirit (Gal 5:16).

It is about total dedication, all our heart and all our ways. If we trust in Him with our whole heart and know Him in all our ways, He promises to make our paths straight. He will lead us straight to the goal we have determined in consultation with Him. That goal is ultimately He Himself. The straight paths are contrasted with the winding paths that man goes without knowing Him in them. No man can make his own path straight (Jer 10:23).

It does not say that the paths are easy and straight in our eyes. From our perspective, it may be a winding and difficult path. But we may know that all the twists and turns in it are provided by the Lord as part of the process of His work in us. His goal is for us to walk a path that culminates in our conformity to Christ. For Him, and therefore also for us, that is the straight path.

This, like so many other proverbs in this book, is a general truth, not something that is always true without exception. For example, when we use the saying ‘an apple every day, keeps the doctor away’, it does not mean that we stay healthy if we eat an apple every day, but that an apple is healthy food. It is not a saying that guarantees that we will never get sick if we eat apples. Proverbs are pieces from life that show how life usually is, without saying that it is always and everywhere like that. In fact, there may be factors involved that delay immediate fulfillment. Those factors are not always known to us, but God knows them and uses them for His plan with our life.

Proverbs are not promises from God for here and now that we can stand on. If we think so, we draw wrong conclusions. Proverbs are statements of observations that will prove their truth over time.