Proverbs 3:5-6,34

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; (6) In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:34 Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.

What a marvelous promise we have from our Father, that if we will trust in His character, purpose, and plans completely, amidst all uncertainty, He _will_ direct us! (Ps. 37:5) What a light in the darkness!

The Lord desires that we put our trust in Him. This is the relationship that He has desired from the beginning, that we would realize Who He truly is and be completely willing to submit ourselves to His care. To trust someone is to be submitted and to know that they will do what is best. Typically we want what is best for us, but the Lord will do what is best period. Only He is in a place to see what is the best and only He is in a place to deliver that. We cannot hope to do what's best in and of ourselves, because we are not all-knowing and all-powerful and all-loving. There is so much uncertainty in the vapor of our lives. Since we are not these things, doesn't it make sense to trust the One who is?

Notice that the trust He seeks from is is "with all your heart." The funny thing about the Hebrew word for "all" is that it really means "all." God wants to trust Him completely, whether or not we benefit (Job 13:15), whether or not we understand, whether or not we have a plan or opinion. To trust Him is to know beyond a certainty that His way is the right way. We need to trust Him with in our spirit, our mind, and our body. It's also important to realize that to truly trust, is to have a trust that will result in obedient action. (James 2)

When we put our trust in our Lord, we must remember the One we are trusting. What character He has to trust in! God is perfect, powerful, merciful, full of Grace, loving, patient, kind, and defines all that is good. And yet He is so much more, He is eternal and we will have eternity to get to know just a small portion of Who He is! It should be so easy to trust One such as that! Through what Jesus did on the cross we see that this perfect God also has perfect purpose and perfect plans. He gave His children the right to choose Him, and paid for it with the life of Jesus. Can there can any no doubt as to the trustworthiness of our God? No!

He asks us to "lean not on our own understanding." What a wonderful umbrella of protection and love! We who are so finite and selfish and sinful and have such a small and self-serving understanding. He gives us the privilege of being called His children so that we might lean on His understanding, His eternal, powerful, and perfect understanding of the situation we are in, of the situations going on around us. He is asking us to realize ("acknowledge") that He is the one with the understanding and ability. If we are willing to trust Him in this way, we will surely have the wonderful honor of walking in a path that He lays out for us.

Like a perfectly drawn map through a minefield, He shows us exactly how to walk before Him. He has given us the map of His Word, the example of having walked the path Himself, through Christ, and has given us the Holy Spirit to walk with us every step of the way as we step out in faith. If we will trust Him, will He not guide each and every footstep? If we trust Him will He not be faithful to His own promise? Most certainly, He will be faithful, because He loves us and because that's His very perfect and unchanging nature.

Then in verse 34 we are reminded that if we would have things our way, if we would scorn His way and His character and His understanding and His plan, what else would be left but for us to be scorned by Him? Lest we forget the terrifying reality of this, let us remember what Jesus went through in Gethsemane. Upon Him was lain the sins of the world and the Father could no longer look upon Him. He was completely scorned and rejected by God because Jesus became sin that sin might be conquered! (2 Cor. 5:21) This rejection caused Jesus to reel in anguish, which we, by the sacrifice of Christ and Grace of God, will never have to endure!

Yet if we will humble our selves, He will give us grace. Grace is an undeserved gift! We don't deserve anything but to be punished, but if we will recognize the greatness of our God and have no thought of ourselves, God will give us freely what we need. And indeed, the beauty of our God's love is that He has already given us this completely in His Son (Eph. 1:3) and His finished work on the cross (John 17:4). He was raised to new life so that we might have new life!
God is giving us life in exchange for trust, what an awesome God we have!

Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Pro 3:5 -
Trust: Pro_22:19; Job_13:15; Psa_37:3, Psa_37:5, Psa_37:7, Psa_62:8, Psa_115:9-11, Psa_125:1, Psa_146:3-5; Isa_12:2, Isa_26:3, Isa_26:4; Jer_17:7, Jer_17:8; Eph_1:12
and: Pro_3:7, Pro_23:4, Pro_28:26; Jer_9:23, Jer_10:23; Rom_12:16; 1Co_3:18-20, 1Co_8:1, 1Co_8:2

Pro 3:6 -
In: Pro_16:3, Pro_23:17; 1Sa_4:11, 1Sa_4:12, 1Sa_30:8; 1Ch_28:9; Ezr_7:27, Ezr_8:22, Ezr_8:23; Neh_1:11, Neh_2:4; 1Co_10:31; 2Co_8:16; Phi_4:6; Col_3:17, Col_3:23
and: Pro_16:9; Psa_25:8, Psa_25:9, Psa_32:8; Isa_30:21, Isa_48:17; Jer_10:23; Jam_1:5
(references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge)