trusting God

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
It will be a healing for your flesh
and a refreshment for your body.

Proverbs 3:5-8; NRSVue

A mentor and good friend, my senior in more ways than one often tells me something like, “Trust God,” although the way he expresses it seems better than just that. The words you hope go deep down into your soul, your very being, and change you, a likely gradual change with many fits and starts, steps forward and a step or two back. It seems to us as humans that life is up to us. We either make it work or not, do the right thing or fail to do it. But the wisdom of Proverbs has a different take on this.

First, the necessity of a wholehearted, unreserved trust in God. Well, what are we going to get perfect in this life (or I wonder myself, in any life, for that matter)? We should never look for some kind of perfection in trying to “trust and obey.” It should be a commitment. Something like, “God, I really don’t get this well. It doesn’t jive with my experience. But I’m committed to it, entirely so, as much as I know how, only through your grace and help.” Something like that.

The next word is just as important, because when push comes to shove, we just naturally go to our default. We’re not to lean or rely on our own insight. It seems like some serious unlearning is likely in play here for most of us. I will grant exceptions, like in the case of my wife, who has the most wonderful, childlike (not childish) faith in God. For whatever reasons, although I think I’ve made significant progress, I still struggle in my faith. I like to understand just how things work and lacking that, I find it hard to trust. It seems to me that I have to accept that there’s something of mystery, mysticism, just not being able to grasp exactly all that is at play here, God’s ways, so that I have to trust both the process and outcome that is in God’s hands, and that, in spite of the inevitable mistakes I’ll make along the way.

Next is the word that we’re to, in my words, look to God in all of our circumstances, with the promise that God will make straight our paths. The NET footnote (verse 6) is helpful here. I think the NIV and NLT are also helpful here.

in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:6; NIV

Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.

Proverbs 3:6; NLT

Acknowledging God means to depend on, trust in, and be obedient/submissive to. I like the idea in the NLT of seeking God’s will in all we do, but I admit, I’m a bit skeptical of the rendering suggesting that God will show us which path to take. Maybe that is the case in the sense that as we apply wisdom, we can make a good, reasonable decision at that moment in time, the process not free from trial and error, and never infallible. And as it says elsewhere in Proverbs (11:14; 15:22), not apart from the wise counsel of others. At the very least, God will honor our full commitment to trust and obey God, insofar as we understand that.

The final word here is to not be wise in our own eyes, but to fear God and turn away from evil, with the promise that as we do so, we will be refreshed in body and spirit. I do experience something of this, even if not as much as I should, due to my all too often weak faith. No matter what hangs over my head, or what lies ahead, I can find something of God’s rest.

As my brother, friend and mentor keeps reminding me, “Trust God.” Yes, it may seem trite, something many of us have heard in some form or another since our childhood days in Sunday School. But it can make a world of difference, the difference we definitely need.

learning the hard way

When a scoffer is punished, the simple become wiser;
when the wise are instructed, they increase in knowledge.

Proverbs 21:11; NRSVue

Simpletons only learn the hard way,
but the wise learn by listening.

Proverbs 21:11; MSG

Some little children think they have to touch the hot stove no matter what their mommy or daddy tells them. And it’s all too easy at least for many of us to get carried away through rationalizations and other thoughts so that we can go headlong into what is nothing less than wrong and just plain out bad for us and others. Is God’s grace present when we do that? Of course. But there are inevitable consequences.

As the proverb points out above, wisdom is evident when one pays attention to instruction and learns from that. To learn by experience is not bad, we can say that’s good as well. But to fail to pay attention to instruction is not good. Yes, when we err, if repentance and change demonstrated over time occurs, that’s good. But much better to pay attention to wisdom in the first place and become confirmed in that instead of having to learn the hard way.

dealing with anxiety through pointed prayer, meditative thought, and sustained action

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things that you have learned and received and heard and noticed in me, do them, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:4-9; NRSVue

There is no end to cause for anxiety in this world. Some of us are more prone to anxiety than others. Life is after all full of challenges and questions with sometimes no easy answers. And if you take all of it seriously, it can close in on you from every side.

What I have found for myself is that being in Scripture and prayer along with reading good books goes a long way to helping me live in the real world with a degree of peace and less anxiety. I’ll add to that in my case listening to good background music while I’m reading and praying, in my case classical music, preferably instrumental so as to not interfere with the words I’m reading. Paul seems to be making something of the point that there’s always something we can do about the issue at hand, that is pray, and that there are important things we should fill our minds with.

Some of us may need counseling and medication along the way. I have done that myself. Pointed prayer and thoughtful consideration and meditation on the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, the enjoyable, the challenging, all sorts of things to occupy our minds, that together can go a long way over time to help us be less anxious. And we need to emulate those who have a genuine measure of peace and goodness in their lives, picking up from each other anything that is helpful in the way of Christ.

the wise learn from their mistakes

Do not lie in wait like an outlaw against the home of the righteous;
do no violence to the place where the righteous live;
for though they fall seven times, they will rise again,
but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

Proverbs 24:15-16; NRSVue

If you live, you will make mistakes. Depending on different predispositions, people will be prone to different weaknesses, and none of us immune to any error. Some might be tempted to anger, lighting into others, others- you name it. My number one problem has been anxiety and the fretting which goes with it, which has led to all kinds of mistakes. I think without a doubt a commitment to study and work Proverbs into my life would have helped immensely. When one does that, they have to take all the words seriously, if not entirely literally given the different context of time and place in which the Bible was written.

The text here in Proverbs is directly speaking about the wise being victimized but getting up again and again. But I think it can be applied in general as well to mistakes made. The wicked might want to bring them down, but they’re put on notice here that the righteous are resilient.

Wisdom will help us want to learn from our mistakes and help others, especially our loved ones and those younger than us to learn from us so that they don’t make the same mistakes in their lives. Of course, those who are not pursuing wisdom will pay no attention and even when they do hear it, it’s likely to make little to no difference in their lives.

But haven’t most of us been lax when it comes to wisdom somewhere along the road? Hopefully not in the worst kinds of ways, though that can happen to any of us. But we’ve failed too, in the words of the proverb above, fallen even seven times. But we get up and keep on going. The rising again from such falls spoken of in the text surely includes a careful consideration of what happened and how such a fall can be avoided in the future. And Proverbs is a marque book to help us in that way along with the rest of Scripture as we endeavor to do so together as followers of Christ.

keep at it: “the value of diligence”*

Send out your bread upon the waters,
for after many days you will get it back.
Divide your means seven ways, or even eight,
for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth.
When clouds are full,
they empty rain on the earth;
whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
Whoever observes the wind will not sow,
and whoever regards the clouds will not reap.

Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything.

In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6; NRSVue

Qoheleth, “the Teacher” in the wisdom book of Ecclesiastes talks about “the value of diligence” (NRSVue heading). And not just any diligence, but the best one can muster both in terms of quality as well as quantity. Diligence is bad or of much less value if it is not informed by wisdom.

Throughout Ecclesiastes the value of work is praised. You keep at it, even with all your heart, and as we read in the above passage, you don’t let up on it. There’s no doubt that there’s plenty, more than enough to do.

What do you do well? And what actually are you supposed to do, whether or not it is your forte? We have to keep at it, humble as it more often than not is. In wisdom and learning wisdom along the way. Good will surely come out of it, even if that good is only the honor one deserves for being diligent.