Proverbs 3:1-12 NLT
My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying. Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine. My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.
In this passage, and throughout the Bible, the writer refers to the reader as ‘my child’. Returning to a position where we don’t have everything figured out on our own seems to be a common theme throughout scripture.
Listen to this passage again from the mindset and the position of your heart of returning to the perspective of a child, with much to learn, not having everything figured out.
My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying. Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine. My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. (Proverbs 3:1-12 NLT)
‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart do not depend on your own understanding’ pretty much sums up what this is saying.
Is there an area in your life that you have been leaning primarily on your own understanding? Can you do what this passage suggests, ‘seek him in all that you do and he will show you which path to take’? Letting go of the preconceived idea that you are required to have this all figured out on your own is foundational in living with the abandon of childlike innocence, living with a healthy sense of dependency and trust in your Father who goes before you.
Let’s pray: Father, help me to surrender my natural way of looking at things, that I have to have everything figured out. Help me to lean on You, help me to seek You in all that I do as I trust you to show me which path to take. As above, so below.”