These are two of my many favorite verses in the bible, but over the last few weeks they seem to have taken on a more personal meaning in my life. They were not just merely words that I simply repeat, but instead they are words that I had to put into action.
There are some key words in these verses that I would like to define by looking at the Hebrew translation.
Trust: means to be confident or sure, to be bold or to hope.
Heart: is widely used for the feelings, the will and even the intellect, likewise for the center of anything.
Lean: To support one’s self- , lie, rely, rest- oneself
Acknowledge: To ascertain by seeing, recognition
Direct: to be straight or even, to be right
Paths: a well-trodden road
Solomon was one of the wisest persons that ever lived, and the book of Proverbs can be seen as pearls of wisdom. Solomon is encouraging us not to trust in self, or others but instead to trust in the Lord. To capture the essence of what Solomon was saying I would rewrite these verses as: Have confidence or hope in the lord, with all your will and intellect and do not try to rely on your understanding of things. Instead in everything recognize who the Lord is and He will put you on the well- trodden road.
So many times we try to explain things that happen in our lives according to our simple or natural way of thinking, which most times are so limited and flawed. We try to make conclusions from what we can see forgetting that what we see is only a snap shot of a bigger picture that far exceeds our range of vision.
At the moment I am at the point where I truly have to “put my money where my mouth is”. I cannot understand why a 28 year old young man, gainfully employed, owns his own home, a car, just received a full scholarship to one of the best schools in the country, just fallen in love, having no physical complaints went to bed one night and never woke up. I do not understand, why a couple suddenly loses there only two children in a horrible accident, not even being able to recover their bodies.
I do not know about you, but it just does not make sense in my understanding. This is where I have to have the confidence that God knows sees and understand things that I do not know, see or can even begin to understand. This is where “In all thy ways” became much clearer to me. It is not just depending on God to have the understanding in some but in all things, big or small. The picture of a person having to take a journey blind-folded and who must rely on being led by the hand in order to get to his destination suddenly pops in mind. That person must trust the one who is leading him and is seeing, and just follow closely. It is futile to ask why are you turning this way versus that way, because of course with blindfolds on they cannot see what lies ahead.
So whatever situation you are going through, God is faithful and is able to bring you through it. Is it your marriage, a bitter divorce, loss of your home from a fire or foreclosure, disappointment in people, betrayal, loss of a job through downsizing, rebellious children, sudden death of a relative? God is Faithful and He has a way of turning things around so that He will get the Glory and shame the Devil. God foreknew that these situations would come and although they caught us by surprise, God was prepared and already has a plan in place to work these situations out for our good.
So as bad as it seems and as painful as it gets Like I am doing at the moment, TRUST Him with all your heart, let Him directyour pathsones that have been well trodden, He has been down them others also have been down them, so can you. Trust Him and watch Him turn our Pain into Praise, our Confusion to Peace, our Sadnessto Joyand our Mourning to Dancing
Vilma