Trust vs. Understanding
Blog – 8-8-18
I read something this morning that rocked my world. It was in my “Jesus Calling” devotional, which I love by the way. It’s SO good.
Each devotion is written as if Jesus was talking directly to you, and today’s reading said, “Understanding will never bring you peace. That’s why I have instructed you to trust in me, not in your understanding.”
Don’t we do that? We think if we understand something we will somehow feel better and it will make it right. And we usually feel better for a little bit, but then something else crazy happens and we get back to the “if I could only figure this out I would be happy” mode. At least that’s how I tend to operate.
The Bible is pretty clear on this issue. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us:
“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.”
I’ve read this verse tons of times before, but to be honest, I’ve missed the importance of the words “lean not on your own understanding” up until today. I’ve read it, but I haven’t let those words sink deep into my soul. I haven’t realized the powerful truth that is held in those words until now.
Leaning means we put our weight on something, we trust it to hold us up, sustain us. When we lean on our own understanding, we basically take faith out of the picture. We, in effect, are saying we have to understand something in order to believe it, and there’s so much about faith that simply can’t be understood. Things like why does God heal some people and not others? How does the whole Trinity thing work? Why do good people die young?
Leaning on our own understanding negates the whole “trust in the Lord” part of that verse. We simply can’t do both. We can’t say we trust in the Lord but then spend all our time trying to figure things out. We can’t continue in the mindset that if we can just figure out the problems in front of us we will somehow overcome them and believe that we are trusting at the same time. The awful, hard-to-swallow truth is we can’t think and understand our way to peace.
True peace only comes from trusting and resting in Jesus, whether we understand or not.
I’ve been trying to figure out where the sense of unrest I’ve felt this summer is coming from. I’ve questioned every part of my life, every part of my faith, every part of my journey. I’ve been hoping and praying for understanding, thinking somehow that knowledge will change things.
I realized today that what I should be looking for is trust.
Trust that God has it. Trust that He is in control. Trust that He will and has already made my path straight. Trust that I am loved. Trust that this season of waiting is for a purpose. Trust that things I don’t understand and things that I wish were different are all part of His perfect plan.
I realize with intense clarity that I simply must quit trying to figure out things like why my friend’s husband left after 46 years of marriage? Why is another friend going through incredible turmoil right now? Why hasn’t God healed yet another friend? Why do dreams I know God put in my heart seem to be on hold for a season? Why does life seem so hard at times?
And when I think about it, God is actually giving us a huge break. He’s saying to us, “Child, quit trying to figure everything out. Quit trying to understand your way to peace. Simply trust and leave the rest to me.”
So for today, anyway, I choose to quit trying to figure everything out and choose simply to trust.
Hugs and love,
Jill