Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6
When I worked for Milliken & Co., I went through many leadership courses. In one such class, we learned the importance of trusting one another. I am sure you have seen or experienced the exercise about which I am alluding. It is the one where a blindfolded person stands facing away from his or her cohort who has formed two lines. Then, when the person is ready, they fall back into the arms of their trustworthy “team.” If the instructor is wild and crazy and wants to make things interesting, they may suggest the “faller” fall from a chair or desk. Many parody videos show what may go wrong. The team may get distracted or begin arguing, etc., as the faller falls and does not catch him or her. The faller may not understand the instructions, or the instructor not explain well or loud enough for the faller, and he or she falls forward instead of backward. You get the picture. The lesson is how important trust is, not only for the individual but for the team. One misstep, one distraction, one loss of focus can cost the company big-time or a person his or her life.
The writer of our proverb today commands trust. We find the proverb placed in the context of listening to a father’s voice in all the sweet persuasiveness of promise to his son. Before this, he instructed him to seek and search after wisdom and explained how invaluable blessings come with it. Now he calls his son to make it a practical way of life. Of course, the father ultimately symbolizes the Father – Jehovah. And the son represents each of us. As Jehovah’s children, we are to gain wisdom and understanding. However, an implied problem presents itself. Who has trustworthy wisdom, and where do you find that person? Verse five answers those questions.
What we find here is an implication of priority. The priority is exposed. Others may see it, but you will know it because it is what you value most. The keyword is trust! It is like a “key” that opens the door to God’s bountiful blessing. The word in Hebrew gives us a unique picture. It means to “lie face down, to be in a helpless position.” It is a picture of a person entirely stretched out on his face before God. The message of his or her posture is absolute helplessness and dependence upon God. It indicates that he or she ultimately yields themselves to His will. How completely? Well, the following phrase tells us.
There are many images that Scripture uses to describe a person, such as mind, body, soul. However, none is used as often as “the heart” to describe the “complete” person.
This past week, I went to a conference I try to attend each year in Jackson, Mississippi, and flew there from South Carolina. When I fly, I am most thankful for the pilots, flight attendants, and even the security personnel. What I am most grateful for are people no one thinks about and not often seen. They are the air traffic controllers up in the towers. They are the center of the entire flight system. Without them, chaos would ensue, planes would be off-course, and many crashes would occur internally. I think that is a good description of Scripture’s use of the word for “the heart.” Most often, “the heart” is used figuratively to refer to the “control center” of our being.
Therefore, as a healthy human heart is at the center of the body and essential for physical life and health, a healthy spiritual heart is at the center of one’s being. It is vital for a healthy soul, serving as the “fountain” of all moral attitudes and actions. Our spiritual heart controls our actions and determines our habits, which in turn determines our character. Notice, it is not a person’s wisdom or understanding that produces righteous character in the heart. It is Jehovah’s wisdom and instruction. And we find His wisdom and teaching in His Holy Word.
Over the next few weeks, I want to consider the importance of God’s Word in our lives. We will meditate upon the confidence we should have in what Jehovah teaches us. As one commentator says, “But our trust must not only be entire, it must be exclusive. No other confidence—no confidence in the flesh—can consist with it.” Our trust in the Bible must not only be entire, but it must be exclusive. Here we must check ourselves. Here we must ascertain whether we have that childlike confidence in such a Father as He, to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that what He says in Scripture is true, and right, and good. And whatever wisdom humanity or the world teaches us are nothing more than false fancy idols.
Andrews PCA 