One of the first verses I memorized as a kid was 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.”
This was one of the first verses I ever memorized and is also one of the most frequently quoted in Christian spheres, so I’d grown numb to it. Sure, I could recite it in my sleep, but until recently, I hadn’t fully realized the power of its words—nor just how resistant I was to its message.
There’s no shortage of Bible verses encouraging us to trust in the Lord. But in these particular verses, we see another level of trust. Not only are we called to trust in the Lord—we are called to surrender trust in ourselves as a part of that.
I think it’s very intentional that these two sentences are together. Because too often we try to trust God while also leaning on our own understanding. We try to have it both ways. I’ve seen this play out in my life in so many different areas. To name a few:
I say I trust God with my life. . . but then I get frustrated when I don’t understand why I can’t change my circumstances.
I say I trust God with my family. . . but then I endlessly Google my son’s symptoms and convince myself of the worst (this is why my husband has literally banned me from WebMD).
I say I trust God with my relationships. . . but then I stress out when I don’t know how to handle a certain friendship.
I say I trust God in his timing. . . but then I rush ahead and take matters into my own hands when I don’t understand why he’s making me wait.
Motherhood has brought out this desire to understand on a whole new level. Throughout pregnancy and then during this first year of my son’s life, there have been countless things I have not understood. Are my pregnancy symptoms normal, or is something wrong? Should I be eating this? What on earth will the birthing experience be like?
Then once he was here, the questions multiplied, and the lack of understanding was tenfold. Why was he crying? Was I feeding him too much or too little? Was this cough just allergies or something worse? Should we take him to the doctor or not?
I could spend hours researching, reading, rethinking—some days I did—and still feel like I have no clue what I’m doing a lot of the time. Honestly, it’s overwhelming when you think about all of the things we cannot and will not ever understand. Can you relate to any of these experiences or examples? If not, I’m sure you could come up with a few on your own. After all, it’s human nature to crave answers for everything.
This struggle, this battle between trust in God and a desire to understand is not new. In fact, we first see it played out in the Garden of Eden, way back in Genesis 3. Verses 4-6 say:
“‘No! You will certainly not die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
Genesis 3:4-6 (CSB)
What led to the first sin in the history of humankind was neither greed nor hatred, jealousy nor lust, or any other classic sin you could name. It was a desire for knowledge. A desire to grow not in knowledge of God but rather in knowledge like God. That is a key distinction. Knowing God leads to an increase in trust because we see how good, faithful, and loving he is. But every time we try to know like God, we take another bite of the forbidden fruit. We resort to an imperfect reliance on our own understanding.
I used to think the opposite of trust was doubt, and in many ways, it is. But I think the picture that Proverbs 3 and Genesis 3 paint for us is that the opposite of trust is also control. When we try to control a situation, a person, or the future, it means we don’t fully trust the one who can control those things.
Too often, we trust God if and only if we understand what he is doing. But that’s not true trust then, is it? Trust is about believing God has our best interest in mind even when—especially when—it does not make sense.
So, do we want to know God or do we want to know like God? That is a question I must ask myself every day, and I invite you to ask yourself as well. And what we’ll likely find as we grow in our knowledge of God is that we do not have to lean on our own understanding (which is a good thing, because our understanding isn’t complete anyways!) Knowledge leads to trust—the more we know him, the more we see just how good and trustworthy he is. And the more we know him, the more we realize that not only are his ways higher than ours—they’re better than ours, too.
“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.’ This is the Lord’s declaration. ‘For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”
(Isaiah 55:8-9, CSB).
Application:
- List out the areas in which you’re tempted to rely on your own understanding, rather than trust God. Pray through each one of them individually, asking God to replace your need for understanding with a profound sense of peace and trust in his provision.
- Find a translation of Proverbs 3:5-6 that speaks to you and seek to memorize it this week—not just to check it off a list but to really meditate on each word. Recite this verse out loud every time you feel inclined to lean on your own strength and understanding.
Photo Credit: @emileecarpenterllc
Hannah Jessen Conway intentionally pursues themes of faith, motherhood, and mental health in her writing. She works in nonprofit marketing and is publishing her first children’s book in the fall of 2024, inspired by the birth of her deaf son. She’s a Jesus follower, wife to her college sweetheart, and mama of two boys. You can usually find her cheering on the Tar Heels, enjoying the North Carolina sunshine, or writing in a local coffee shop. Read more of her work at hjconway.com.
