Proverbs 3:5-6 says,  5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

One of the things that I find interesting about this passage is that it immediately talks about not leaning on your own understanding right after it instructs the reader to trust God. How is trusting God related to not leaning on your own understanding? I’ve been contemplating this and believe there are some interesting connections. When I think about the reasons that I have for not trusting God completely, different things come to mind.

1. How do I know he is trustworthy?

2. Will he really come through?

3. What does him coming through look like?

4. What if I don’t like what he does?

5. Does he really care about the details of my life?

I could go on and on but I’m sure you get the point. Trust is not easy for most people especially when you know what it feels like to get let down. What is interesting is that the “reasons” that we have for not trusting God are all based on our own understanding. It’s our perception of reality, of events, of scripture and of whatever else that causes us to doubt God. I believe this is why the passage above immediately mentions not leaning on our own understanding after it calls us to trust God completely. When we start to think through why we should or should not trust God, we will probably get caught up somewhere. Our minds are finite and God is infinite which essentially means we can’t figure him out. You will never understand your way into trusting God completely. There will have to come a point when you DECIDE to not lean on your own understanding and begin to simply trust him because he’s God.

Now, it’s not like God hasn’t given us some really good reasons to trust him. He died for you. He loves you. He always has been and always will be faithful to you. The Bible is emphatic in saying that God is completely trustworthy. All that being said, however, your understanding is flawed and it will never lead you to a complete trust in God. You will always be able to conjure up “reasons” as to why you should not. At the end of the day you will have to decide if you are going to lean on your own understanding or trust the God who loves you dearly.