Trusting God, Not Our Understanding - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

by David A. DePra

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Prov. 3:5-6)

This is a powerful verse, filled with promises from God. And the fact is, if a person actually believes what it says here, their life will become drastically altered. They cannot live the way they used to live.

It is so easy to plod along in life as a Christian, equipped with our Bible verses and doctrines, convinced that we have great faith in God. From time to time God does allow us seasons of relative freedom from trials of faith. But eventually, if we walking with Jesus Christ, we are going to come face to face with the basic question of life. That question is this: Do we REALLY believe? I mean, do we believe to the point where we are willing to risk everything on the faithfulness of God?

It is an absolute Truth: He who trust Him wholly finds Him wholly true. But when you are in the thick of it, and inundated with every kind of contradiction and turmoil, it sometimes doesn't seem like it. It may seem like God is indifferent, apathetic, and unreachable. Yet rather than be cause for giving away faith, it is precisely during those times that we MUST believe. It is THEN -- in the crisis -- that we will either move forward, or fall back.

God is, in these two verses, asking us to stake everything upon His faithfulness to us. He is asking us to absolutely sell-out to Him regarding the most important things in our lives. And we are not here talking about a religious, "said faith," or some kind of passive assent to the Bible as being true. We are talking about active, costly, and sometimes terrifying faith -- when life seems to be falling apart around us.

Trust in the Lord

This passage from Proverbs 3 is actually a four-fold description of a "walk by faith." And it is a progressive description -- that is -- each of the four steps leads to the next.

The first thing we are told to do is "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." Now, notice the point being made here: With ALL your heart. Why that emphasis? Is it possible to trust the Lord with "part" of our hearts?

Well, yes. In the ultimate sense, it is true that we either trust God or we don't trust Him. The Lord either has all of our heart, or none of it. But that is only AFTER all of our choices are made. Most of us are in the middle of a process wherein we are choosing whether we will trust the Lord with all of our heart. And God is seeing to it that we are pushed to the point of making those choices.

Herein we see the purposes of God. Have you ever wondered why God, at times, seems almost relentless in His testing and trying of you over a particular situation or condition? Have you ever said to God, "What possible good can be coming out of this? I've been through all of this before. Why again?" It could be that God wants to invade and occupy ALL of your heart?

Don't misunderstand. It isn't that you ever refused God. It isn't that you deliberately closed off part of your heart from God. No. In fact, there are areas of our hearts which we don't even know are THERE. There are vast regions of our being which we know absolutely nothing about. They are like an unknown country to us. We have yet to discover it.

Of course, what all of this really means is that there are vast regions and aspects of Jesus Christ that we have yet to discover. There is always much more to Christ than our present perception. And until God is able to invade those hidden areas of our heart, and expose them to the Light, we will remain stagnant spiritually.

The fact is, we don't have the slightest idea of what we are made of. Not the slightest. We don't know what we need. We don't know where we are spiritually. We don't know where we are headed. And it is good and right that we don't. That is why God tells us to trust HIM. HE knows.

God wants ALL of our hearts. And He is so faithful that He will not stop until He gets them. He will push and push, test and try, bless and disturb, indeed, turn our lives upside down if necessary, to gain possession of ALL of us. And thank God He does, for we are the beneficiaries. There are eternal issues at stake here.

Presumption vs. Abandonment

What does it really mean to trust the Lord with ALL of our heart? Well, it means to unconditionally abandon ourselves to Him. We burn all the bridges and risk everything on His faithfulness.

Now, this is not to be confused with PRESUMPTION. I am guilty of presumption when I "trust" God for things He has never promised. Or "presume" He is doing something He isn't doing. In other words, my mind gets ahead of what God has said and draws unwarranted conclusions.

The causes of presumption are self-will, unbelief, or perhaps simply ignorance. Our guard against presumption is sound teaching and an open heart.

Abandonment to God is never presumption. That's because we can never go wrong abandoning ourselves to God. In the case of abandonment, we "presume" God is there for us -- even if we don't know where He is. That is NOT presumption, however, because God has already promised us He would never leave or forsake us.

How can I know the difference between presumption and abandonment? It is a process to come to know the difference. But there are general rules. Presumption carries an air of a closed case about it. Abandonment always leaves room for God. The attitude of presumption carries a "demand" in my spirit that I am right about something, and won't accept any other answer. But abandonment to God carries a certainty ONLY about HIM. The rest of what I believe may be fairly certain to me. But again, I realize the Truth isn't dependent upon MY grasp of it. I leave things open to God. Presumption adjusts everything to fit what I want, or what I fear. Abandonment allows God to adjust me.

In the final analysis, God has made things quite simple. He has said to trust Him with all our heart. To do that is NEVER, EVER presumption. But once we cross the line and begin to dictate the specifics of what God is going to do as a result of our trust, then we had better be careful. We had better be sure we have heard from God. Otherwise we could be guilty of presumption.
With ALL Our Heart

To trust God with ALL of your heart means that you operate under the belief that God is, right now, in charge of your life. It means that you believe that there is nothing which can happen to you that has not first been to Him. It means that despite the absence of signs and wonders, and despite the absence of any assurance from God, that you believe He cares and IS working His purpose.

This isn't always as easy as it sounds. It IS easy when things are going well. Then it is easy to say, "Yes, the Lord is faithful. Yes, He provides." But when things fall apart, and circumstances conspire to paint God as indifferent, unmerciful, or even mean, then the TEST of faith is upon us. Will we then believe? Will we say, with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will trust Him."

To trust God with ALL of your heart means that you no longer belong to yourself. You are saying, "God, do your will, and not mine. I am not smart enough to know the eternal issues involved here. I am not wise enough to see the beginning from the end. I am like a little child. You are my Heavenly Father." God wants us to trust Him with all of our hearts. And He is in the process of constantly deepening this faith in us all the tiime.

And Lean Not

The second thing God tells us to do is actually something He says NOT to do. He says, "Lean NOT upon your own understanding." And if you look at the verse closely, God portrays "leaning upon our own understanding" as the alternative to trusting God with all our hearts. In other words, to "lean upon" my understanding is to trust it, rather than God, as the source of Truth.

Now notice the incredible thing God is telling us to do here. He is saying, "There are going to be times when, if you rely upon your mind, you will conclude I am unfaithful or indifferent. You will not be able to think your way into any other conclusion -- based on the facts as you know them, and based on how your emotions are reacting. But I am telling you that your mind and your emotions are lying to you if they deny My faithfulness. I AM faithful. Trust ME, and do not rely upon what you think, grasp, feel, and react."

What a requirement! God is saying that we are to put aside, indeed, utterly abandon any suggestion that He is unfaithful. It does not matter what tragedy or trial comes upon us. We are to instead trust Him no matter what.

This can be terrifying. There have been times when the more I thought about something, and weighed the facts that I knew them, the worse I felt about them. I knew God was there --- but what if....? I just couldn't see how God could be faithful if this stuff was going on. Yet it WAS going on, and God IS faithful. The problem, therefore, is my grasp of the situation. And there is no possible way to bridge this chasm between my understanding and God except by FAITH.

Now notice: God is not saying we must never seek to know. He is not saying that at all -- for other places He promises us that we will grow to understand. No. Rather, the key here is TRUST. God is telling us that whether we think we understand or not, we must never TRUST our understanding. We must trust HIM.

Trusting Our Understanding of God

To trust MY understanding would be to insist that the way I see things must be the Truth -- i.e., must be the way God's sees them. There is a subtle pride and unbelief wrapped up in this. There is also a subtle demand in it -- that God must "make sure" we are right about Him. If He allows us to be wrong we suggest it is His fault, and a result of Him letting us down.

God has never promised we would always be right about Him. Rather, He has promised He would always be right about us. He has also promised us to lead us into all Truth -- part of the process being the necessity of showing us how wrong we are about a great many things!

God allows us to make mistakes because the mistakes are in us to make, and He wants to expose them. That is His faithfulness. It doesn't mean He likes sin or error. But it is a fact that we must be exposed for who we are before we will be humbled and brought to the place of spiritual bankruptcy. Then we will not only be set free, but we will be able to truly understand God.

The fact is, God is so faithful that even if we make mistakes of discernment -- big mistakes -- He will still bring His will to pass in our lives if we trust Him. Again, the issue is NOT whether we make the correct decision everytime the first time. It is whether we are trusting God. If we are, God will use even the wrath of man to praise Him.

Faith

Many times in a trial what we think we need is information. "If God would just tell me this or that, then I'd be able to rest in Christ." No. Faith is never the product of me knowing something. It is the product of me BECOMING something, in Jesus Christ. Because I have surrendered to God without knowing, I grow to know Jesus. And in time, I will be made fit to know anything else God wants me to know.

The Truth of God in Jesus Christ cannot be attained through study, thinking, reasoning, logic, or any kind of intellectual exercise. No. Truth comes by revelation to a heart which is yielded to God. And it comes through any number of vehicles in life. But once God reveals His Truth to our hearts, it will seek to renew our minds. At some point we may then grow to express the Truth God has given us through study, thinking, reasoning, and logic. We may express it through our human vehicle unto the edification of others. But WE did not reach up to heaven and grab the Truth. The Truth reached down to us.

Actually, when the mind is able to express the Truth, there is not much strain involved. That's because the Truth is incredibly simple. It is logical and sane. There is no shadow or turning in it. But we can only grasp it if WE have been reduced to simplicity. Only if WE are in the process of becoming as little children. Then we may understand. But we will not trust our understanding of even the Truth. We will trust the One who IS the Truth.

In All Your Ways Acknowledge God

The third thing God says to do is "in all your ways acknowledge Him." This is the OT equivalent of I Corinthians 10:31: Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

I "acknowledge God" in "all my ways" when I take Him into account. I seek to do His will, rather than my own -- even if I am not clear about what His will is. Again, this is faith. I take the next steps in life NOT knowing where I am going. But I trust the One leading, even if I can't presently discern where He is.

Acknowledging God in all my ways means that I do not live for myself. I do not live in any sort of independence from God. There is no division in me between what is mine, and what is God's. I am unconditionally surrendered to Him.

What we see here is that I must live doing more than just "making room for God." Rather, I must live allowing God to make room for me. I am not in charge. He is in charge.

Jesus Christ acknowledged God in all His ways. In the book of Acts, Peter says, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. (Acts 2:25)

Here we see a picture of Christ always keeping His face open to God. No hiding. No hidden agenda. Always available to God. Christ walked believing God was at His right hand, upholding Him. When we believe that, there is nothing we can do without acknowledging God.

And He Will Direct Your Paths

Do you want to be led of God? This passage from Proverbs is telling us how. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. And THEN -- He will direct your paths. You shall end up in the right place at the right time -- and more importantly -- in the right spiritual condition.

We often get this whole thing backwards. We think that FIRST God should direct our paths. Then we would be able to acknowledge Him as we walk that path. Then we would have understanding -- and be able to trust the Lord. But no. God has it the right way. First, we must trust. Then He will lead.

Why? Because God is working an eternal purpose. He wants us to become conformed to the image of His Son. A fundamental aspect of this is that He build in us FAITH. Faith, as we define it here, has an eternal correspondence which will be released to fullness in the eternal ages. We see only the seed here. God sees the fullness of it eternally.

God will direct our path. But that doesn't mean we'll know He is doing it. Notice: This particular passage doesn't say that God will direct US to the path. No. It says that God will direct the PATH to us! Much of what God does He does in ways which are not dramatic, miraculous, or even noticably HIM. Yet He gives us exactly what He promises to give us: His will. Both for this life and the next.

God knows exactly what He is doing. There is no confusion on His part -- even if WE are confused. There is no indecision on His part -- even if WE are indecisive. There is no indifference on His part. He cares about what we care about more than we care about it. And there is no possibility that God has left us or forsaken us. It does not matter how much it seems like it. There is a purpose to everything God does, or doesn't do.

Now, all of this would drive us crazy -- if we were left to our own understanding. But it won't drive us crazy if we do as God says:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. And He will direct thy paths." This passage is God's receipe for our living and walking with Him in this age as His sons and daughters.

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