“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
This, of course, is a very well-known verse that many Christians have committed to memory. Like most of Proverbs it is straight forward, to the point, and easy to understand. While things are going well it’s relatively easy to trust in the Lord and not place our trust in our own reason. However, when things get tough, when there is suffering, when you need to act in difficult situations, the blessed truth contained in these verses becomes much more difficult to practice.
When we suffer, the temptation to rely on our own wisdom and our own resources to solve our dilemma becomes incredibly strong. The more intense the suffering and the more difficult the situation, the stronger the inclination is to abandon and disobey the Word of God in favor of our own ideas. But those who remain steadfast are promised that the Lord will direct their path.
One of the greatest examples of this truth is Abraham. Abraham trusted in God and did not lean on his own understanding when God asked him to pick up and move to Canaan. That was a wonderful example of faithfulness, but it is nothing compared to His faithfulness in sacrificing his son Isaac.
In Genesis 22 God tells Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. In this incredibly perplexing, painful, and tough situation, it would have been easy to question the Word of the Lord and totally rely on his own understanding. Abraham might have thought, “Surely, this isn’t right. God made a mistake here. Why would he want me to kill Isaac whom he miraculously gave to us?” Similar questions went through Adam and Eve’s mind when they were told not to eat the fruit. But we don’t have to guess what was going through Abraham’s mind. Hebrews 11:19 tells us that he actually believed God would raise Isaac from the dead, thus foreshadowing the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Abraham did not lean on his own fleshly understanding but placed his trust in the Word of the Lord even when that word was hard and meant suffering. Rather than question the character and motives of God like Adam and Eve, Abraham trusted that the Lord was righteous, good, holy, faithful, trustworthy and had the power to raise the dead. Because of this, Abraham is the father of all those who have faith in God. He is our father in the faith and a powerful example of Proverbs 3:5-6.
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn