"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..."
-- Proverbs 3:5
I always try to encourage those here in the Realm to not to lean on their own understanding, because the thing that you may think impossible today may be shown as not only possible, but likely, or even existent tommorrow.
However, that's easy for me to do with my brain (especially about things like cryptid animals, giants, and the like-- things that don't really affect my life directly) and much harder to do with the part of me in question above, namely my heart.
So often, I see the obstacles of life, the circumstances of occupation, the trials of relationships, and I lean so hard on my own understanding that I bust all my teeth on the ground as soon as it's pulled from under me.
I used to spiritualize my struggles and rationalize that I could trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding with my mind, and that was good enough. Better than most folks do.
But God has allowed to me continue leaning on my own understanding time and again until it finally dawned on me. My understanding is for crap. Literally. It's dung. Rubbish. Not worth spit.
I don't know where I'll go with this newfound perspective, but I'm going to start by trying to surrender and making myself vulnerable enough to trust in the Lord with ALL MY HEART.
But I have a feeling that believing there might be aliens on Pluto will be easier for me to put into practice.
Proverbs
Le Poignard
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3 comments:
Thanks for the post and for opening up, Ken. You know, or at least I think you do, that I put a high price on vulnerability, because so often it's where others can identify with us in the places where we hurt or have need. So, again I say thanks.
My understanding is for crap. Literally. It's dung. Rubbish. Not worth spit.
You and me both.
Dependence is such a tough thing for us as adults when we've been raised and trained for years to learn to do things for ourselves. Then, we learn that God has a different way, and we can't tell our up from down. What's that old saying? Letting go and letting God? It seems trite, but it probably fits. Not that I'm close to doing that with every part of my life, but it's a work in progress.
And then splitting our minds from hearts isn't the easiest thing either.
Aliens on Pluto, huh? I guess it's not out of the question.
Ken,
Great stuff Ken. This goes at the heart of our realization of need beyong what we think.
I did want to point out that in this verse, adding a little context helps:
Trust in the Lord, with all of you heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight. Worry not about tommorow because he controls all that matters.
Solomon is telling his son. Trust in God and here is how to:
1) Don't rely on your own undestanding:
It is easy for us to believe that we are 'in the know'. Solomon is insisting that we take measure of our thoughts. Weighing them against God's ways and will. Through prayer, studying God's word, and Fellowship with believers, we are better equipped to 'Lean not on' our 'own understanding'.
2) In all your ways acknowledge Him.
God doesn't need credit for what we do. This is not an ego thing for God, this is a humility thing for us. Acknowledging God is recognition that apart from him nothing is possible. Recall when David slew Goliath: David didn't tell Goliath about what he was going to do to him, David:
I Sam 17:45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
The promise is that when we do this, He will straighten our paths. It is not up to us, which leads to the 3rd part of this.
3. Don't worry about tommorow, because He controls all that matters
Don't worry, God has signed on to help us in all that we do. That does not even imply that tragedy and/or problems will come into our lives. But it is a promise that even in these, God is with us and He will carry us through.
It all sounds so dang easy on paper, but your epiphanie is so true. Our understanding, even of God, is so jaded. This is where I believe that true faith comes in.
It is beyond 'trust'. Trust says that there is a personal ackowledgement of our pressing dependance. 'Faith' is an action of submission, an utter reliance on something that is seemingly intangible.
I want to walk by faith in God, not in myself, and thus, I will choose this day, and everyday, to nail my understanding to the cross and trust in God. I will seek out those things that will give me insight into God. I will strive and commit to know God, not just about Him.
-Doug
Ken,
Hey I posted an article that a wrote a while back on my blog that may interest you. It is based on the same scripture. Check it out:
firstflite.blogspot.com
-Doug
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