Reading… and Thinking

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.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
   fear the LORD and shun evil.
This will bring health to your body
   and nourishment to your bones.

— Proverbs 3:5-8 (NIV)

The first part of this passage is well known. It’s on bookmarks, wall plaques, and Christian greeting cards. We apparently love to quote this passage…to others. But looking at the lives of a lifetime’s worth of acquaintances, and looking at my own life as an example, I have to wonder how much any of us really mean it as it applies to ourselves.

Generally speaking, we first lean on our own understanding, until we are desperate. Then we’ll turn to God. Because, we are wise in our own eyes. We think we can work it out.

Perhaps we need to think through what it actually means to “trust the Lord”. In this passage, we are told it means:

• Not relying on our own understanding. We can’t see very far – our understanding is incomplete. God has the perspective of knowing all things. But, do we trust Him? This is a very fundamental issue of faith.
• Submit to Him. This is what Jesus did: “Your will, not mine be done.” Did it seem that going to the cross was a path that had been made straight? Clearly this isn’t a guarantee of a smooth ride all the way. This is a fundamental issue of obedience.
• Don’t be wise in your own eyes. You aren’t as smart or as capable as you might think. This is a fundamental issue of humility.
• Fear the Lord and shun evil. Are these two different things, or two ways of saying the same thing? The fear here isn’t terror – it is awe, reverence. As Jesus tells us, we can’t serve two masters. If we revere God, we won’t have anything to do with evil. If we dabble in evil, then we don’t really stand in awe of God. This is a fundamental issue of morality, and what prompts us to live a moral life.

It all starts with faith, that there is a living God, that He cares about us, that He cares how we live our lives, and that there are consequences of how we live (either way). Such faith will lead us to obedience, to a proper recognition of our place, and ultimately to living the kind of life that God wants to see.

How about the health and nourishment promise? There certainly are believers whose health is not good. I think that our writer has a longer view in mind – he’s looking at it from God’s perspective. Whatever may happen in this life, there is going to be a resurrection and the faithful will be given immortal, eternally perfect bodies. That’s what I call real health! We only have to look to Jesus: he trusted the Father, went to the cross, and was raised free of all the weaknesses of the mortal body. He can never die again. And he is the “firstfruits” of those to be raised from the dead. The same awaits all the faithful from all the ages.

To bring it down to ourselves, whether or not we trust in the Lord, in the everyday details of life, has eternal significance for each of us personally!