Do we truly understand our own way?

 Read Proverbs 20

 

Do this.  Don’t do that.  This action has this consequence.  This is good.  That is bad.  Wise is good.  Foolish is bad.  Better off poor than a fool or a liar. 

OK, Solomon, we get it.  Give us something more challenging.  Here we go.

A person’s steps are directed by the Lord.

    How then can anyone understand their own way?

Don’t I get to make my own decisions?  How can I not understand my own way? 

Let’s put this in the context of Proverbs 3:5-6.

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.

The promise of this proverb is that the Lord will direct our steps.  He will keep us on the right path. We have to trust him with our very being to realize this promise, but God will keep us on the right path.

I’m going to modify something that I have said before.  I have said that we understand our own understanding because it’s our own understanding.  Now, I should refine it to say, we think we understand our own understanding.

Here’s the dichotomy.  We don’t always understand God’s ways.  His ways are higher than our ways.  His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

But Solomon goes on and says that we really can’t understand our own ways either.  Of course, we think that we can.  They are our own ways.  How could we not understand them?

While we are creatures that think we understand almost everything in the universe; it turns out that we don’t know diddly on the big scale of things.

There is a whole scale of human wisdom that purports and I subscribe to that says the more that I know, the more I realize what I don’t know.

So, is Solomon telling us that we are all a bunch of dummies? Sort of, but not exactly.  He is saying that trust in the Lord is the only solid foundation for knowledge. For as much as we learn and understand and synthesize and think that we know, trusting the Lord to guide us is the only thing that we can know for sure.

The Lord knows the way.  Let me trust him.  He alone keeps me on the right path.

Knowledge is good.  Wisdom is good. Understanding is good. Trusting the Lord is certain.  Of all the wisdom and knowledge and expertise that we may acquire, trust governs.  If we want to stay on the right course, we must trust God completely. 

In so many ways, God directs our steps.  Will we accept his direction or rebel? 

Accept or rebel?

Live God’s way or rebel against him—there really isn’t a figure it out on your own option.  For all that we want to believe that we can figure out things on our own, we never really have complete knowledge.

We like to think that we are super smart creatures, but our true intelligence boils down to trust.  Will we walk in the way set by the Lord?

How do we know this way? By design.

The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord

    that sheds light on one’s inmost being.

Our spirit is designed to know God’s Spirit and thereby know God’s will—his steps for our life.  It’s not that we have a good chance of doing God’s will.  It’s that from the onset of creation, we have been designed to live God’s way.

I have my own personal mantra that I put forth sometimes.  It’s don’t complicate the simple.

Don’t complicate the simple.

It’s along the lines of the Law of Parsimony.  You probably know it as Ockham’s Razor. 

Our nature is to say this is what God says, but…

Solomon tells us this is what God says, now put away your other conditions.  No ifs, ands, or buts if you will.  God has already computed the consequences and sequels to what he has directed us to do.

Just do it.  God has factored in what we can and cannot understand and just told us the right answer. He has directed our steps without us having to resolve all the possible contingencies.

We are creatures who long to learn.  We long for God’s wisdom and knowledge and for understanding, but Solomon tells us that trust is what gets us through the day.  Learning to trust God is likely the wisest thing we can learn.

The only thing that we have to know and understand completely is to trust God.  Everything else will always be just a bit beyond our grasp.  It’s fun to pursue knowledge and wisdom, but the one thing that we can comprehend completely is to trust God with everything we have.

Here’s the kicker.  Solomon says that when we lean on our own understanding, we don’t really understand it anyway.  Quit fighting the Lord as he directs our paths.

A person’s steps are directed by the Lord.

    How then can anyone understand their own way?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  It’s just that simple.

Amen.