Wisdom ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 3 is titled "Wisdom from Trusting God."- my favorite version of our focus passage is from The Message Bible (middle above). I feel like it just speaks so plain and common to my simple mind.

Solomon kicks it off in verse 1 telling his child to NEVER forget the things I have taught you.

Let's start with some definitions, so we can keep them on our mind as we study......

Trust = Assured reliance - Dependence - Place confidence in - To rely on the truthfulness of - to hope or expect confidently.

Understanding = Mental grasp - The power of comprehending - Knowing - One's belief about something based upon what is known.

Seek = To go in search of - To try and discover

Trust God from the bottom of your heart - MSG

Trust in and rely on the Lord with all your heart - AMP

Trust God........Rely on the truthfulness of God.

Let me ask you something - is there anyone in your life that has always - always been truthful? Always been dependable? If we are all honest, there isn't one and we are not that person either.....try as we may, we will still fail and so will our people.....even the ones we thought never would.

But you know Who is always truthful, always dependable? - Our Father.....that is who He is, He can't be any other way. Look at His faithfulness over the ages - look how He loves and guides His kids. I encourage you to read through the Bible in a year, over and over every year....its a rich journey and you will see new things with each trip.

Two people come to mind immediately - Noah and Mary.....they trusted and look how God used them!

Look at your own life......REMEMBER how He has been faithful and kind to you.....hasn't He proven Himself trust worthy?

Side note - I believe God has already given me my word for 2025......Remember. It just keeps coming up with so many notes that I take and so many stories I read in the Bible. I am excited about that journey!

Don't try to figure out everything on your own - MSG

Do not rely on your own insight - AMP

Do not depend on your own understanding - NLT

Lean not on your own understanding - NIV

The MSG - mmmhmmm.....yeah that's the one! Don't try to figure out everything on your own.....because you never will! - I don't have the mental grasp - I can't comprehend most things.

My own understanding - well, I am 50 now and what I know is that I don't understand very much at all. I feel like I spent decades thinking that I did know it all and doing things my own way.....which didn't go very well. But here I am now and what I do know and do understand is this......

God is trustworthy!

God is not a man, so He does not lie.

He is not human, so He does not change His mind.

Has He ever spoken and failed to act?

Has He ever promised and not carried it through?

Numbers 23:19

God is faithful!

But the Lord is faithful;

He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

2 Thessalonians 3:3

God never changes!

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! - Hebrews 13:8

God loves us!

"For this is how God loved the world:

He gave His one and only Son,

so that everyone who believes in Him

will not perish but have eternal life"

John 3:16

We must decide to put away our own understanding - what do we know anyway?! - Do you see humility sneak in here again? Aren't we arrogant and prideful when we think we understand and move on our own?

Leaning on our understanding is like leaning on a broken crutch! - Waltke

God sees the big picture that we will not see this side of Home......I think of the Casting Crowns song, Already There -

One day I'll stand before You

And look back on the life I've lived

I can't wait to enjoy the view

And see how all the pieces fit.

God is a glorious mystery - that's exciting to me! That used to terrify me, because I had to know what was going on and why, I had to understand.....but we aren't meant to understand everything. I think one day we will understand that it is a blessed gift that we don't see things clearly right now.

This passage sums it up, don't you think? -

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts." -

Isaiah 55:8-9

We must choose to trust God and HIS understanding!

ESV - In all your ways acknowledge Him

Recognize His authority - Acknowledge with thankfulness

NIV - In all your ways submit to Him

CSB - In all your ways know Him

NLT - Seek Him and His will in all you do

MSG - Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go

AMP - In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him

Acknowledge - Submit to - Know - Seek - Listen for His voice - Recognize Him with childlike, unwavering confidence!

The surrendered heart delights in God's direction and in God's path. - The Enduring Word

This is one of the shiniest gems I found while studying this verse, I will leave you with this to marinate on.....

"It is on God not on thyself, that thou art commanded to depend. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool......self-sufficiency and self-dependence have been the ruin of mankind ever since the fall of Adam. The grand sin of the human race is their continual endeavor to live independently of God." - Clarke