Lean Not on Your Own Understanding

Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3. I have

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

said this many, many times, and I will say it

many more times. If you've not read the Proverbs,

you need to read the book of Proverbs. There's

31 of them, so you can start the first day of

the month and you can finish it up in about a

month. And there's a lot of good wisdom there.

And for me at least, and maybe for you too in

your experience, when I read through the book

of Proverbs, it's kind of like a test for me

in some way because it'll tell me about all the

stuff the wise person does and should do. But

it'll also tell you all the stuff that the fool

does and should not do. And I wish that more

times than not I could put a check mark in the

wise column. But too many times I end up saying,

golly, I'm the fool. You know, we don't like

to think of ourselves as fools. But God's word

is true and it's good. And if we read through

scriptures and it says one thing, and that's

what our life lines up with, then that's the

truth. And so Proverbs is a good test for us.

It's a good gauge for us as to where we rise

on the wisdom meter. Are we close to the top

or are we closer into that foolish zone? Now

you've probably, if you've read Scripture much

or heard Scripture much, it's a good chance that

you've heard Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 and

Proverbs 3:5

6 quoted at some point. Maybe you have not ever

heard it in your life. Today may be the first

time you ever hear Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5

Proverbs 3:5

and 6. Praise the Lord. It is such a good verse.

And there are some scriptures that really don't

need a whole lot of explanation. And some of

you are saying, well good, you won't talk very

long today. You can preach and get on out of

here. And it really doesn't need a whole lot

of explanation. But it is a good scripture for

us to consider and think about. And it's a good

reminder. I think it's important for us to continually

read the Word of God. Now, maybe you've read

the Word of God. Maybe you sat down one season

in your life and you started in Genesis and you

read through Revelation and you said, well, I've

read that book. I know what it says, but... The

word of God is so good that we need to continually

read it. We're always learning something. God

can always speak to us through his word. And

quite frankly, there's a lot in there. And sometimes

we forget it. Sometimes we just need to be reminded

of even verses that perhaps we've heard many

times. Sometimes in our life, we just need that

fresh reminder, that word of encouragement or

that word of instruction or that word. of correction,

whatever it may be. And maybe this is a verse

that you've heard before, or maybe not, but maybe

today we can find some strength in what this

scripture says. So we're going to read these

couple of verses, then we'll pray, and then we'll

talk for just a moment. Proverbs chapter 3, verses

Proverbs 3:5

5 and 6. Proverbs chapter 3, that's in the Old

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

Testament, right after the book of Psalms, kind

of in the middle of your Bible. Proverbs chapter

Proverbs 3:5

3, verses 5 and 6. Trust in the Lord with all

your heart and do not rely on your own understanding.

Think about him in all your ways. He will guide

you on the right paths. Let's pray. God, we thank

you for this word. We thank you for the truth

of this word. And I pray, dear Lord, that you

would help us to follow its instruction. God,

I pray that you would help us to be a people

today who would trust you. Maybe there are some

in here and they've never trusted you in their

life. Maybe they're going through this world

and they're struggling and they're seeking something

and they don't know what it is, but God, I pray

today that they would know that it's you that

they need. Maybe there are some that are yours

today and they, Just need to be reminded of this

truth, dear Lord, because life is so hard and

it is full of difficulties and struggles and

pains and hardships and tough decisions and bad

days at work and a lot of stuff, dear Lord, that

it's just hard to make it through or understand

what's going on. But I pray, dear Lord, that

this verse would be a call to us today to remind

us to trust in you. God, I pray that you'd take

away any fear or pride that's within me. I pray

that you would hide me behind the cross, that

I would preach and teach in a way that brings

glory and honor to you. Let your Holy Spirit

be among us today, free us of worries and distractions.

In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen. When I was a

young kid, I don't even know how old I was. I'm

going to guess about four or five years old.

We had a pastor of this church at the time. His

name was Brother Frank Traylor. Some of you remember

him. Some of you were here at that point in time.

And he was the first pastor I ever remember in

my life. But one Sunday morning, he had this

big thing that he wanted to do. Now, he usually

didn't do anything that I remembered as a kid,

too out of the ordinary. But I was young, so

I don't know. But one Sunday morning, he asked

for my assistance. And we came to church that

Sunday morning, and right here in this spot,

set a table about this big. It was about this

high. And he wanted me to come up and stand on

that table, which I did. I was excited to get

to come up front and center. And I came, and

I stood on this table, and he talked about, I

don't remember what the scripture was. It may

have been this scripture. I don't know. And he

talked about trust, that we need to. have trust

in our life, that we need to trust the Lord.

And he said, I want you to stand on the table

and I want you to fall backwards and trust that

I'm going to catch you. And I did just that.

I stood on the table and fell and he caught me.

And a simple illustration that was, but it was

effective because I remember it 38 years later,

what it means to trust. What it means to trust

is that is that you have to have faith in something

that you don't see. That's what faith is. Faith

is trusting in something that you do not see.

Now, we come here every Sunday to praise the

Lord. Now, we don't see the Lord sitting in a

chair. We don't shake his hand, but we know that

God is real, or we believe that God is real,

or we trust that God is real. Or maybe you're

not even sure if God is real today. Maybe that's

why you come every Sunday. Maybe you're still

trying to figure out, like, is God really there?

Does he really exist? Is all this stuff really

true? Well, keep seeking. If that's you today,

then you need to keep seeking the word of God.

And that's what God calls us to. Now, we have

all the proof that we're ever going to have in

the word of God. We have all the proof that we're

ever going to have. in the life and the crucifixion

and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's

the proof that God has given us. And we're called

to trust that, to have faith in that, even though

we don't see it. And that simple illustration

that Brother Frank did all those years ago was

something that stuck with me. He said he was

going to catch me, but was he really going to

catch me? I had to. Trust him. We trust people

all the time. You trust people when you go out

to eat. You trust that they're going to cook

your food properly, that you're not going to

get food poisoning. In just a little while, you're

going to leave these doors. You're going to go

get into your car, and you're going to trust

that all the cars you're going to pass from here

until you get to your next destination are going

to stay in their lane. You're going to trust

that everybody's going to do what they're supposed

to do, that they're not going to run the red

light. Some of you have been to a doctor or will

be going to a doctor at some point. And they're

going to do some surgery on you. And they're

going to say, here's what I'm going to do. I'm

going to put you to sleep. And then I'm going

to get all kind of crazy snips and pliers and

knives and saws. And I'm going to cut you open.

And I'm going to cut this. And I'm going to do

that. And I'm going to set your heart out. And

I'm going to fix this. And I'm going to patch

this up. Or I'm going to put a new one in. Or

whatever it is. It's amazing what technology

can do in the medical field. And many of you

have experienced that. They say, I'm going to

put you to sleep. sleeping. I'm going to do this.

And you have to trust that they're going to do

what they say. You're going to have to trust

that that doctor knows what he's doing. You're

going to have to trust that you're going to wake

up. And so there's many ways in our life that

we have trusted this week, probably more than

you can think of. There's a lot of people that

you have trusted this week. And if we trust all

these people around us, if we trust our children

and our spouses, if we trust those who we look

up to, if we trust our doctors, then how much

more so should we trust the Lord? And sometimes

it's hard because life is hard. Now, if life

was good, and we always had an abundance of money

in our bank account, and our health was good,

and we never had any issues, our family life

was good, if all of these things were always

good, then we wouldn't ever even have to preach

from this verse because we would just trust God

and would never think twice about anything. But

that's not how life is. We have to trust God

because... You don't know if you're going to

have your job next week. You don't know if you're

going to get a paycheck next week. You don't

know if your car is going to be running next

week. You don't know about that struggle you're

having with family. You don't know about that

diagnosis you got at the doctor. You don't know

about your loved one who's struggling and who's

suffering, who's in pain. You don't know what

the future holds. And so it's hard because we

say, okay, God. What are you doing, God? Why

do you allow this to take place? Why are you

allowing this to occur? And that's when it's

hard to trust God. And that's our life. You may

have a good season. You may have a bad season.

You may be in a great spot right now. You may

really be struggling with something right now.

And if you're not struggling, then praise the

Lord. Just put you a check mark by this verse

and just tuck it away and hold on to it. Because

one day you're going to need it. But maybe today

you do come in here today and you're struggling

in one of those ways that I've said are one of

the many ways that we hadn't even scratched the

surface of all the ways in which we may suffer,

in which we may be struggling in our life. And

maybe this verse is what God wants us to hear

today. A call to trust Him. That God cares about

us today. That He is not, forgotten you today.

Sometimes it feels as though God has forgotten

us today or that God does not have our best interest

in mind, but I want to tell you that that is

a lie from the devil. That God does love you,

that God has not forgotten about you, that God

does have your best interest in mind, but there's

also another truth I want to tell you and that

is life is hard. And God could spare us from

everything And sometimes he does spare us. Sometimes

he does deliver us. And sometimes he allows us

to walk through the fire. Like Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego. Boy, that's a good story if you

never heard it. They're living for the Lord.

They're standing up for the Lord. And they get

tossed into the fire. And who is in the middle

of the fire with them? The Lord. There's three

people that get tossed into the fire. The people

looking on say, wait a minute, I thought we threw

three people in there. Why is it that we see

four people in the fire? It's because the Lord

was with them. That was the closest they had

ever been to the Lord was in the middle of the

fire. And some of you can testify to that today.

That maybe the closest you've ever drawn to the

Lord, the most you've ever trusted in the Lord

was a result of the fire that you went through.

That hardship and that struggle. that pain that

you've gone through physically or just with life

and it's been a fire and you've just wanted to

give up and throw your hands up and some of you

are there today maybe. You're in the middle of

that fire and you feel like, man, I'm fixing

to get burned up. But I want to let you know

that the Lord is with you today in the middle

of the fire. Boy, if you would just trust him,

if you would just seek him, I'm not telling you

that he's going to... keep you from going into

the fire. But I'm going to tell you that if you're

in the fire, he's going to be in there with you.

And you might discover that your faith grows

more in the Lord in the midst of the fires than

in the good seasons of life. And maybe that's

why God allows us to go through the fires. He

wants to make us and mold us and strengthen us

and harden us and use that fire to get the impurities,

just boil them right out of there. Because, man,

we come through those things sometimes so much

stronger than we were going in if we would just

trust in the Lord. And so it's hard to trust

in the Lord, but who else are we going to trust

in? If you're not trusting in God today, who

or what are you trusting in? And we can make

a long list of things that we trust in. But I

want to ask you this, is it helping you? What

are you trusting in? Is it helping you? Yeah,

maybe it's giving you some momentary relief,

some momentary comfort. It's getting your mind

off of your struggle for a moment. But is it

really helping you? It's not. You know it's not.

I know it's not. We all have those things. So

many times we trust in the wrong thing. And we

wonder why we can't find any comfort and peace

and help and guidance. It's because we're trusting

in the wrong thing. But the scripture says, trust

in the Lord with all your heart. So some of you

may say today, okay, I trust in the Lord. I believe

that God exists. I believe that God is good.

Life is still hard. I trust in the Lord. But

do you trust in the Lord with all your heart?

Maybe you do. But then again, maybe you don't.

Maybe you trust in the Lord with some of your

heart. Well, God, I trust you, and I know you're

pretty good, and I know I'm praying to ask you

to do this thing, but, God, you're not really

doing it as quick as I want or in the way that

I want, so I'm going to also help you out a little

bit, God. I'm going to keep praying to you that

you'd do this, but just in case you can't do

it, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to start

making arrangements to get it done my way too,

just in case. Now, we would never say those words

to God, but we do those actions to God. We'll

pray and we'll seek God. But then we really don't

trust in the Lord with all of our heart because

there's still a part of our heart that's trusting

in our own abilities or trusting in somebody

else or trusting in something else. What does

the proverb say? Trust in the Lord with all your

heart. And here's the key to the call here. And

do not rely on your own understanding. Now this

is where it's tough for us as human beings. It's

to not rely on our own understanding. Because

we have been born and we have been raised and

we have been taught. What you see, you can believe

what you see. What do you see? That's what you

go by. What you see, what's before you. And sometimes

the things we see before us don't make any sense

to us. And since they don't make any sense to

us, we just begin to assume or we begin to question

whether or not God knows what he's doing. Well,

God, I want to trust you, but God, none of this

makes sense. God, I see what your word says.

I hear what the preacher says. I see what other

brothers and sisters in Christ say about you,

God. But I know what you say and I know what's

going on. And what my eyes see do not line up

with what your word says, God. And we have to

be careful that we don't fall into that trap.

Because the scripture calls us to trust in the

Lord with all of our heart and do not lean on

our own understanding. When I think about God,

I think about the big picture. I've used this

illustration. I've wore it out. That's the problem

when you have a preacher that's preached at a

place for 11 years. You've heard all of his good

illustrations. So I'll say it again because you've

heard it already. But I think about the plan

of God. is a puzzle. Now, when you get a puzzle,

you get a box, and on the front of that box,

you see the picture of what the puzzle's going

to be. Now, you open the box up, you pour out

a thousand pieces onto your table, but you've

got some guidance. All the pieces individually

don't look like a whole lot. But over time, you

can kind of study those pieces and you see the

final picture. You see the finished product.

You know what you're working toward. And even

if it's kind of frustrated, you keep on working

on the puzzle and twisting those pieces because

you know that they have to fit because you can

see what the finished product is supposed to

be. But our life is kind of like having a bunch

of puzzle pieces without seeing the big picture.

Now God, he sees the big picture. God knows exactly

why everything that's occurred in this world

has occurred the way it has. He knows exactly

why he allows this bad thing to happen or this

good thing to happen or this person to get the

promotion or this person to get fired or this

person to be healthy or this person to be sick,

this person to live long and this person's life

to be cut short. God sees the big picture of

why he allows every one of these things to occur

in some way. So God knows what he's doing. Every

piece in your life, as hard as it may be, the

good pieces and the bad pieces, to us, we don't

see how those pieces go together, but God knows

exactly how to put the puzzle together. But for

you and I today, we sit on this pew and we're

looking at this piece and this looks bad and

there's no way that this piece This is ugly and

dirty and bad and painful. There is no possible

way that this peace could do anything good or

make anything beautiful. And we come to that

conclusion based on our own understanding. But

here's what God says in the scripture. My ways

are higher than your ways. My thoughts are higher

than your thoughts. Our minds are not capable

of understanding why God does what he does. We

just can't do it. We can ask God why and maybe

he will tell you, probably not. He doesn't tell

us why he does the things that he does. There's

things that some of you are probably going through

today and you want to know why. You don't understand.

And I wish I could tell you the answer that you

want to hear. But I can only tell you what the

scripture says. Trust in the Lord with all your

heart and do not rely on your own understanding.

It's hard sometimes because life is tough and

you don't know why that God has allowed it. But

I want to tell you today that God is good. He

is good. And it may be hard to hear that in the

middle of our struggles and our pain and our

suffering, but I want to tell you today that

God is good. And sometimes we need to be reminded

of that truth. We need to hear it even when we

don't feel like hearing it, that God does care

for you. So trust in the Lord with all of your

heart. Do not rely on your own understanding.

Think about Him. In all your ways. Boy, that's

a good call for us today. To think about God

in all of our ways. Do we do that? Maybe we do.

Maybe every decision we make, we think about

God. God, how is this going to glorify you? God,

what do you desire me to do in this situation?

God, how do you want me to act? How do you want

me to respond? How do you want me to live? God,

I want to think about you in every decision I

make in work, in church, in my family. God, I

think about you in every purchase I make, in

everything I do, God. I think about you in all

of my ways because, God, I want to serve you

and glorify you. And maybe you wake up every

morning and you do that and you do it throughout

the day. But then again, maybe you don't. Maybe

you think about God in some of your ways. Maybe

you think about him in some of your ways. But

maybe you think about yourself some too. You

think about what you want. What you desire. How

you're going to handle the situation. How you're

going to respond to that person who does you

wrong. What you're going to tell them next time

you see them. You think about how you're going

to be rich and famous. You think about how you're

going to make money and how you're going to use

it on yourself. And you think about you a lot.

Maybe. Maybe you don't. I don't know. Maybe we

don't think about the Lord's ways hardly any.

Maybe we just think about our ways and we do

things our ways until, oh, guess what? Our ways

don't work out too good. You know who we call

when that happens? The Lord. Duh. Maybe if we'd

have just called on Him first, we would have

saved ourselves a lot of trouble. But some of

these lessons we learn the hard way. All of us

probably will attest to that. Boy, we should

have done what was right to start with. Think

about Him in all of your ways and He will guide

you. Own the right paths. So what happens when

we're the fool? We start thinking about ourselves

and all of our ways. And we go down some bad

paths. We make some bad decisions. We do some

bad things. We say some bad things. We act in

some bad ways when we live according to our will

and our desires. And some of you today are walking

down that path, and boy, you are down a bad path,

and you just, it keeps going from bad to worse.

One bad decision after another bad decision.

Man, we get in a bad shape. And it's because

we're not trusting in the Lord with all of our

heart. We're trusting in ourselves. We're seeking

ourselves. We're doing what we desire instead

of seeking what God desires. And that gets us

down a bad place. And sometimes we say, God,

I want to be in a better place. God, I don't

want to be where I'm at in life. I want things

to change. I want my life to be better. God,

I need to know what to do. I need to know where

to go. I need to know what choice to make in

this decision that's before me. How do we know

the answer to those questions? Where do we have

that guidance from? It comes when we trust the

Lord with all of our heart. When we think about

him in all of our ways, he will guide you on

the right paths. Some of you today may be saying,

okay, I'm ready to get on the right path. I'm

ready to get on the right path. Easy enough.

Think about the Lord in all your ways. Trust

Him with all of your heart. And He will guide

you on the right path today. There's only two

paths that we can choose and travel down. There's

the right path. There's the narrow way. There

is Jesus Christ. There is the word of God. There

is the truth of God. There are the commands of

God. And that's one way to say, okay, God, this

is the path. I see that Jesus Christ is the path.

I see that there is no forgiveness of sins. I

see that there is no eternal life apart from

Jesus Christ. I see that there is no peace, that

there is no joy, that there is no comfort apart

from Jesus Christ. God, that is the path I want

to take. That's one path. That's a path you can

take today. Some of you may be on that path.

Sometimes we stray a little bit from the path.

Sometimes we need passages like this to yank

us back, to get us back on the path, going in

the right direction. Maybe there are some of

you today that's traveling another path, that's

traveled a path of sin and rejection of God and

disobedience to God's Word. And that path leads

to destruction. Some of you have experienced

that. You may be experiencing it today. There's

some of you who have been down that path, but

you got back on the right path. And praise the

Lord, here's the good news for you today. Is

that through Jesus Christ, you can get on the

right path at any moment. That you don't have

to keep going down the wrong path. That you don't

have to keep living for yourself. That you don't

have to keep living for the ways of the world.

But that God calls you today to trust Him. That

God says this world is going to let you down.

This world will never give you the peace and

the comfort and the strength that you so desperately

need. This world will never give that to you.

But God says, I know you can't see everything

I'm doing. I know you don't understand everything

that I'm doing. But would you just trust me?

Would you just trust me? I'm standing here with

open arms. And I want to tell you that I'm going

to catch you. I want to tell you that I'm here

for you. No matter what things look like, I just

want to tell you that I've sent Jesus Christ

to bring this message of good hope. To take care

of everything that needs to be taken care of

for you. So that your sins could be forgiven.

And I'm standing here. And I'm calling out to

you today. And you see my words. And you've seen

my son. And I know that your life is tough. But

I want to tell you that I love you. And I'm here

for you. If you would just fall into my arms

today. If you would just trust me. That's God's

call to us today is to trust him. Have you trusted

in God today? If not, you need to respond to

his call. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we come to you.

We thank you for these good words. God, maybe

there are some in here and they have never trusted

in you. Maybe they know about some of your scripture

and they know about Jesus. But maybe they've

been living their life their way for a long time,

and man, it's got them down a path that's just

rough, dear Lord. And everybody in here knows

that path, God, every single one of us. We know

that path. We've traveled that path. And there's

some that's gotten off of it, dear Lord. There's

some that have trusted you and trusted in Jesus

Christ. But God, maybe there's some today that

have never, trusted you maybe today god they

are in the middle of the struggle and the pain

and the heartache and the hardships of life i

pray dear lord that they would hear you calling

that they would fall into your loving arms today

that they would fall into your arms of grace

and love and mercy and gentleness They would

know that there is forgiveness of their sins

if they would only ask that through Jesus Christ's

death and resurrection that they can be forgiven

today. God, maybe there are some here today and

they're just kind of wrestling with you, dear

Lord. They don't understand what you're doing.

They want to follow you, but there's a part of

them, dear Lord, that they're still doubt. God,

I pray. That you would be with that person today

if there's one here in that situation, dear Lord.

That they wouldn't give up on you, God, but they

would continue to seek you. Continue to dig through

your word. God, maybe there are some here today

and they're yours. They've trusted you. Maybe

they've been on the right path, but maybe they've

started to wander in one way or another. Maybe

there are some here today, God, and they trust

you. They know that. Your God, they know that

Jesus Christ has come for them, but God, maybe

there's that one area in life that they're really

struggling to trust you, to give it over to you,

dear Lord. Maybe there's some worry or some fear

or some doubt or uncertainty, God. I pray that

wherever they are, that whatever struggle they

have in life, that they would trust you today,

God. That they would stop trying to understand

something that's beyond our comprehension. But

just trust to know that what you're doing and

what you have done and will do in their life,

God, is according to your will. That you have

not forgotten about them. That you have not abandoned

them today. But just let them trust you. God,

as we have this song of invitation, if there's

somebody in here that... wants to trust you today,

I pray, God, that they would come forward as

we sing. Maybe there are some that just want

to pray where they are. God, I pray that if there

are any souls that do not know Jesus Christ,

that they would trust Him today and that they

would come forward as we sing and make that commitment

to Jesus that they are making today public so

that we can rejoice with them. And I ask these

things in Jesus' name. Amen.