Learning to Lean

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

    and he will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

This is a familiar passage to many as well as a promise that we can stand on!

But let’s look at that phrase in italics –

“...lean not on your own understanding...”

When we lean on something, whether another person, a wall or any other object we are relying on its strength to hold us up.  

So the caution that God gives us is to not expect our own understanding to hold us up.

Instead we are to trust Him.

Even when that trust, placed in God, does not seem logical to our way of thinking!

Mary trusted – even though her understanding was that a virgin could not be pregnant.

David trusted the word of the Prophet when the title of King and the reality of that call were years apart.

Jesus trusted His Father when the path of victory meant climbing a hill called Golgotha.

Are you declaring your trust in the Lord while simultaneously expecting your own understanding to carry you through?

We must learn to let go of what may seem perfectly logical and yet is diametrically opposed to the plans and purposes of God.

Lean on God and not on your own understanding.

He will prove Himself strong!