Knowing God

Every moment of every day in this world is an opportunity to know Him.

How precious it is to know that the God who created and actively rules over the entire universe and all the earth has adopted us as His sons and daughters and takes a fatherly interest in everything to do with our lives. The book of Proverbs is written as advice given by a loving and wise father to a growing and almost adult son. Chapters 2 and 3 both begin with such a personal address: “My son, do not forget my teaching” (3:1). Traditionally, we have seen Proverbs as coming from the mind and pen of King Solomon. This is true enough. But we as Christian readers will benefit only if we remember that this book of wisdom comes ultimately from our heavenly Father, guiding us to live a wise life. Of all the words that He speaks to us in this book, perhaps none are more famous than Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Four lines, three commands resulting in a timeless promise—let’s unpack them one at a time.

Command #1: Trust in the Lord completely. This command gets to the heart of our entire relationship with God. It is by faith in Christ alone that we are reconciled to God and adopted as His children. Trust and faith are synonyms. But the Hebrew word translated here as “trust” is powerfully picturesque, literally meaning “throw yourself facedown in total abandon.” Cast off all restraint to give yourself entirely to God with every fiber of your being, holding nothing back. It usually has the connotation of security and serenity, assuring us that all our needs will be met and we will be completely protected from all dangers. God is constantly yearning for His children to reach this state of peaceful stability in His powerful, loving arms.

Command #2: Reject prideful independence. “Do not lean on your own understanding.” God will allow no rivals. He does not want to be part of a scheme of self- salvation, self-protection, or self-provision, self-reliance. All idols must be cast aside. One of the greatest idols is our own understanding. God made us in His image, with minds able to study and evaluate the world around us. That is good. But when that capacity raises itself up to unseat God in the control center of our lives, it becomes a deadly idol. We can think that we know better than God about everything we face in life. Our minds analyze our circumstances and come up with plans for deliverance from danger, followed by provision for prosperity. When the Word of God comes to contradict our thoughts, we can be prideful and rely on our own perspective. This verse commands us to be humble, to realize that the mind of God is infinitely high, broad, deep, and perfect. The evidence of His thoughts is around us in creation—the vast cosmos with its sun, moon, stars; the realms of earth—sky, oceans, rivers, mountains, plains, fertile fields; the creatures that inhabit those domains—eagles, whales, lions. The mind of God crafted them all. And infinitely greater than that, God has crafted a salvation plan based on His only begotten Son’s life, death, and resurrection. God’s thoughts soar as far above ours as the heavens are above the earth. So “do not lean” on your own way of thinking. “Lean” means “rely”—don’t rely on your mind, strength, righteousness, works. Put your weight totally on God in Christ.

Command #3: In all your ways know Him. Many translations say “acknowledge,” but the Hebrew is literally “know.” Seek an intimate, close relationship with God in everything you do—your private life, family life, work life, recreational life. In all the paths that you walk day after day, know Him, the only true God, and know His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus defined eternal life as knowing Him and knowing God. Every moment of every day in this world is an opportunity to know Him. The translation “acknowledge” helps us make a formal declaration of God’s constant presence and His sovereign ownership of ourselves, our possessions, our opportunities. But “know” also goes deeper, saying that in all these realms we want to know God through Christ better and better.

Promise: He will make straight your paths. This is the promise to those who obey the three preceding commands. If we trust in the Lord with all our hearts, and if we do not lean on our own understanding, and if we know Him in all our ways, then He will make our paths straight. What does that mean? Our paths are the moments of our lives, the way we live, the journey that we are on while we live in this world. The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. But the overall message of the Bible is of a journey to be traveled from this sin-soaked, suffering world to a heavenly world where God openly dwells on His throne and in which there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. Jesus is the “way” to that world (John 14:6). The straight paths promised here represent the sovereign power of God to level the ground before us, to make us walk inside the boundaries of His perfect law. It implies that we will be freed from the treacherous obstacles and thorns that sinners bring on themselves by their unrighteous choices. It implies not a pain-free life but a righteous life in a pathway of good works that God has prepared in advance for us to walk in (Eph. 2:10).

Therefore, not only will God keep us on His straight and narrow path to heaven, but He will also give us a life mission worthy of eternity. To thank Him for saving us by the work of Christ alone, let us invest our brief time on earth in building Christ’s eternally glorious kingdom. Having lived a life that is well pleasing to God, we will be directed safely through Christ to the new heavens and new earth, where righteousness dwells.

Article by Dr. Andrew M. Davis / Tabletalk Magazine

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Dr. Andrew M. Davis is senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Durham, N.C., and founder of Two Journeys Ministry. He is author of several books, including The Glory Now Revealed: What We’ll Discover About God in Heaven.