REFLECTIONS ON THE PROVERBS
(Comments on passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs that have jumped out at me in my studies through the years.)

Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.

Relying on our own “wisdom” ends in disaster. I know! God is the reliable source for wisdom, insight, and guidance. That’s why we should precede our decisions with seasons of prayer, Bible study, and gathering good information and advice.

Proverbs 3:6: In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

God forgive me the many ways I have failed to acknowledge you in my life! I have caused myself untold trouble and wasted effort in my life by following crooked paths of my own design, rather than following the straight and narrow way laid out by God.

Proverbs 3:7: Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

This is a call to repentance! (Repentance means to turn away from rebellion against God and to turn to following God.) Being wise in [our] own eyes is certainly a prescription for disaster. God wants us to be confident, I think. But our confidence should reside in an awareness that the actions we’re undertaking in life are rooted in Him, not our own limited insights and wisdom. One of my major problems in life has to do with my trusting what I think, rather than what God wants! I become conceited regarding my ability to think, failing to remember that my ability to think comes from God. Galatians 5:26 says, "Let us not become conceited..."