“DO NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING!”

 Proverbs 3:5-6                                  (ESV)

“5 Trust in the LORD with ALL YOUR HEART, and “DO NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING”. 

6 In ALL YOUR WAYS acknowledge HIM, and HE will make straight your paths.”

Growing in our FAITH is something that is hard for this mind to put into words.  In 1994 I opened an office began selling insurance and a friend of mine developed a FAX COVER SHEET that had Proverbs 3:5-6 on it, so I have been exposed to these Scriptures for AT LEAST 26 years, but I continue to be changed to reflect HIS likeness as I mature in HIM.  As I physically mature, my health has already started to display the aging process, eyes aren’t as good as they once were, ears can’t hear as well as when I was younger, bones and joints ache more, and several other signs that I am getting older are manifesting themselves!  

But also I am SEEING things a LOT differently than when I was younger.   Formerly, I saw Scriptures in the LIGHT of how they could make me a “good success” (Joshua 1:7)!  However, as I grow and mature SPIRITUALLY I realize that “this world” is more like a “pressure cooker”, developing me into a dish that my CREATOR SPECIFICALLY has in HIS PLAN for my life.  HIS WORD is “...living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12) constantly whittling away the “dross”, refining the GOLD for HIS GLORY!

We don’t have the capabilities to choose the paths that will honor and Glorify CHRIST.  Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us that HIS WAYS are not our ways, so our minds cannot imagine the things that HE has in store for us (1 Corinthians 2:9)!  For me, even though I have a Brain that has damage from 2007, I still THINK that I am able to figure out what is the best thing for me to do in the tight spots HE has placed me in.  Walking by FAITH has a way of HUMBLING us to admit that we are precious tools to draw HIM GLORY, and NOTHING ELSE!  

Developing a “DO NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING” mentality is a process that can be painfully tedious and laborious!  The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4:8 that he considers EVERYTHING A LOSS to be able to TRUST IN JESUS to LEAD him!  Acknowledging that we are incapable of making decisions leading us to HIS PLAN is the first step to “DO NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING”!  Living longer in “this world” is revealing to me to “DO NOT LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING”, for HOS WAYS are FAR better than anything I can dream!!!