Proverbs 3:5-6
I was in Princeton, New Jersey today and I had a wonderful morning being reminded of the occasionally-cliched-verse, Proverbs 3:5-6 at my friend's church, Westerly Road Church. The pastor, Pastor Matt, presented the verse in both a wonderfully intelligent and applicable way.
Proverbs 3:5-6 reads, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." In the sermon, Pastor pointed out that it would have been typical for a proverbial writer to compress complex meanings into carefully chosen words, since unlike us, Solomon was such a careful and concise teacher, using language like a carving knife instead of the chopper that we butcher English with.
The proverb works pretty simply and can be divided into three parts-
a.) the general exhortation that kind of works like a thesis statement or action
b.) the action itself
c.) the promised outcome
In the word "acknowledge", he pointed out that it had the synonymn of "know", the same usage as when "Adam knew Eve"- with intimate and personal knowledge or experience of the other person. But what does it mean to 'lean not on your own understanding' and instead 'acknowledge Him in all your ways"? Just what does it mean?
Pastor Matt suggested this as a very practical tool to use- before each day begins or ends, take just one minute to perform an exercise. Let it be the FIRST THING you do each day, or even at the end of each day:
Imagine yourself in a house, and moving from each room to another. When in each room, summarise the responsibilities and roles and issues that are at the heart of it, and surrender them to God, recognising His authority and ownership over the room. Starting at the living room- it's a social place where you host guests and friends- well, commit your friendships to Him and surrender them over. Moving to the bedroom, surrender your sexuality and your romantic relationships/marriages (?), your personal sins, lust etc. Moving to the bathroom, surrender your vulnerabilities, your physical defects and ailments, your health to Him. Moving to the den, surrender your family and your leisure, your hobbies, passions and interests. Moving to through the doorway and garage, surrender your work and your professional life over to Him. You get the idea- but the essence is to cycle through the aspects of your life and picture CHrist as owning them, thereby freeing yourself up to His authority.
Another way of thinking about it may be in the area of relationships. Starting with your most intimate relationship- your role as a child of God in this earth. THen your role as a husband. Then your role as a father. Then as a son. Then as a minister in some capacity of service of God. Then as friend. Then as a worker in whatever profession. Then as a soldier. THen as a citizen. You get the drift.
One final closing point- the heart of Proverbs 3:5-6 is that it is not a command, but an invitation to enjoy His peace and "straight paths". Sometimes we overmilitarise or demonise the words of God as His demands and pressures on us. This could not be further than the truth. He invites us to trust Him and exhorts us to have faith and take heart in His words.
The story that Pastor Matt told, borrowed from our dear friend John Stott went something like this- an Eastern European couple moved to Western Europe and received their first wedding invitation. It read, "You ar cordially invited to the wedding of so and so, at such and such a time. Pls RSVP." The couple fretted for a long time and the husband asked his wife, "Vife, vat is dis RSVP?" "I dont know husbvand." After a long time of pondering and code-breaking, the husband threw his hands up in the air and proclaimed his epiphany. "I know vat it means! REMEMBER SOME VEDDING PRESENTS."
The couple had confused the invitation with a demand/command. As it with us and God, let us not take His gracious invitation as an impersonal order from a commanding officer. That is not who our God is, since it was from that cross that He called us to "trust Him".
Proverbs 3:5-6 reads, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." In the sermon, Pastor pointed out that it would have been typical for a proverbial writer to compress complex meanings into carefully chosen words, since unlike us, Solomon was such a careful and concise teacher, using language like a carving knife instead of the chopper that we butcher English with.
The proverb works pretty simply and can be divided into three parts-
a.) the general exhortation that kind of works like a thesis statement or action
b.) the action itself
c.) the promised outcome
In the word "acknowledge", he pointed out that it had the synonymn of "know", the same usage as when "Adam knew Eve"- with intimate and personal knowledge or experience of the other person. But what does it mean to 'lean not on your own understanding' and instead 'acknowledge Him in all your ways"? Just what does it mean?
Pastor Matt suggested this as a very practical tool to use- before each day begins or ends, take just one minute to perform an exercise. Let it be the FIRST THING you do each day, or even at the end of each day:
Imagine yourself in a house, and moving from each room to another. When in each room, summarise the responsibilities and roles and issues that are at the heart of it, and surrender them to God, recognising His authority and ownership over the room. Starting at the living room- it's a social place where you host guests and friends- well, commit your friendships to Him and surrender them over. Moving to the bedroom, surrender your sexuality and your romantic relationships/marriages (?), your personal sins, lust etc. Moving to the bathroom, surrender your vulnerabilities, your physical defects and ailments, your health to Him. Moving to the den, surrender your family and your leisure, your hobbies, passions and interests. Moving to through the doorway and garage, surrender your work and your professional life over to Him. You get the idea- but the essence is to cycle through the aspects of your life and picture CHrist as owning them, thereby freeing yourself up to His authority.
Another way of thinking about it may be in the area of relationships. Starting with your most intimate relationship- your role as a child of God in this earth. THen your role as a husband. Then your role as a father. Then as a son. Then as a minister in some capacity of service of God. Then as friend. Then as a worker in whatever profession. Then as a soldier. THen as a citizen. You get the drift.
One final closing point- the heart of Proverbs 3:5-6 is that it is not a command, but an invitation to enjoy His peace and "straight paths". Sometimes we overmilitarise or demonise the words of God as His demands and pressures on us. This could not be further than the truth. He invites us to trust Him and exhorts us to have faith and take heart in His words.
The story that Pastor Matt told, borrowed from our dear friend John Stott went something like this- an Eastern European couple moved to Western Europe and received their first wedding invitation. It read, "You ar cordially invited to the wedding of so and so, at such and such a time. Pls RSVP." The couple fretted for a long time and the husband asked his wife, "Vife, vat is dis RSVP?" "I dont know husbvand." After a long time of pondering and code-breaking, the husband threw his hands up in the air and proclaimed his epiphany. "I know vat it means! REMEMBER SOME VEDDING PRESENTS."
The couple had confused the invitation with a demand/command. As it with us and God, let us not take His gracious invitation as an impersonal order from a commanding officer. That is not who our God is, since it was from that cross that He called us to "trust Him".
posted by leb at 12:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home