“Trust in the Lord with all your 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 NIV
My own understanding? Don’t lean on my own understanding? Are you kidding me? I can’t say I really understand anything these days. I’m so dense I couldn’t even make a face mask if you said my life depended on it (and it actually may…).
The opposite of trusting my own wisdom these days versus going with God’s all-knowing GPS is no contest.
Often (our answers) come in that receptive silent waiting after we have opened our needs and where we do nothing but wait for direction. (The answers) may come during the day and push their way in between events that seem to bear no connection with them. These insights are precious and to be heeded if we are to live in response to that which we feel in prayer.
Steere, Douglas V Quoted in Devotional Classics Foster/Smith Editors Harper Collins New York 1993 pg. 8
It is a giant leap of faith to believe the Almighty God of the Universe is really listening to us, much less willing to join with us as we are cooped up in our houses these days.
But that is exactly what He has promised (see above!). Maybe not the kind of relational resolution we would choose. Maybe the peace that comes will only be a deep inner sense of His presence, and perhaps His joy will be so different from happiness that only you know it is part of your experience. Straight paths are almost never easy paths—that’s not what we are promised—but straight paths get us to our ultimate destination. And along the way we are not alone.
