Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
Sometimes it’s so hard to know which way to go. Every path before us looks promising. We want all the good we can possibly find. Choosing one path over another might cause us to miss out on a relationship, a job, or some other opportunity we wish we would have had. There is no way to know what the future holds. We can’t turn around and go back once we’ve committed to a direction.
How do we choose the best path?
Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord. He led you in all of your ways before arrival at the crossroads. He will lead you again. When discerning the right path seems impossible, the Lord will speak to you. Words from songs and Scriptures, friends and family will inform your heart.
The Lord will also prepare you. He knows the purposes to which he has called you, so he will teach you and shape you for the moment when you must choose a path.
He knows the way ahead when we do not. He sees everything from start to finish when we cannot. This is why we must not lean on our own understanding. It is incomplete, and therefore to a degree, inaccurate. God has full understanding. If we are in a relationship with him listening and obeying what we hear, we can tap into God’s understanding.
This is known as wisdom. When we see with God’s eyes and interpret our surroundings with God’s understanding, we are wise.
Trust in God and the wisdom of God naturally lead us to submit to God. Submission to God’s will and his plan is a privilege. We want to do it because we know his ways are the best ways.
Only through this acceptance of God’s plans will our paths be made straight. When we walk with God, confusion eventually dissipates. The fog of uncertainty gradually clears until we can see the way mapped out before us.
Romans 8:28 tells us that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
We can trust him.
We can wait on him to show us where to go.
We can submit our way to him.
Only then does peace come, and with it the richest and abundant blessings of a life lived for Christ.
You will make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11
