Trusting in God in the New Year: Proverbs 3:5-12

In my recent Christmas Eve sermon, I included a quote from Alexander MacLaren, a Scottish minister who was born in 1826. He explained how faith should really be defined as trust. I find it fascinating that even then, in the 19th century, that faith had already become a complicated word. It’s clear to me that over time, it seems to have lost even more of its meaning. Trust is a better understood word. So, with all that in mind, I want us to look closer at a particular passage in the Bible that talks about trust:

Proverbs 3:5-12 (CSB)“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. 8 This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones. 9 Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; 10 then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine. 11 Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline; 12 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.”

Especially since we’ve reached the end of another year, I think this is the perfect passage to meditate on. Let’s read it again, taking it verse by verse. Verse 5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.”

Knowing now what we do about faith and trust going together, what happens when we swap those words for one another? It would read: “Have faith in the Lord with all your heart.” How much faith does it say we should have? Faith with all your heart. That sounds like a whole lot of faith.

Instead of having faith in ourselves, instead of trusting ourselves, we are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. This is so important because, speaking from a practical point of view, what happens when we rely solely on our own understanding of something? For example, when we say, “My understanding of this is [fill in the blank],” aren’t we really saying, “From my perspective, my understanding is [blank]”? If something is “my understanding,” it’s usually subjective. Otherwise, we would say, “This isn’t just my understanding; it’s based on facts, and I know it to be true.”

Relying on our own understanding limits our perspective. It puts truth into a subjective, relative category. Truth isn’t subjective, though. Something is either true or not true. Everything else is an opinion or preference or possibility. Instead of relying on our own limited ideas about something, we are told to trust in the Lord with all our heart, and not to rely on our ideas.

Moving on to verse 6, the thought is continued. It says, “in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.” In a lot of translations, this verse says, “in all your ways acknowledge him,” but I really appreciate how the CSB correctly translates it as “know.” According to Strong’s Lexicon, in the Hebrew, this word is “yada,” and it means, “To know, to perceive, to understand, to acknowledge.” It also says, “In ancient Hebrew culture, knowledge was not merely intellectual but was deeply relational and experiential. The concept of ‘knowing’ someone or something involved a holistic understanding that included emotional and spiritual dimensions. This is evident in the use of ‘yada’ to describe the intimate relationship between a husband and wife, as well as the covenant relationship between God and Israel.”

This certainly brings a deeper meaning to this word; it’s so much more than merely acknowledging something or someone. I’m afraid that when we quote this verse and say, “in all your ways acknowledge Him”- we might think it’s enough to simply give a nod to God and go on our own way. Whereas if we say, “in all your ways know Him” then it’s clearer to us that in all our ways we are to know what God would have us do. That’s very different, isn’t it?

To know what God would have us do requires that we discover His will. That requires us to spend a great deal of time with Him and speak to Him and listen to Him. That requires us to dig into His word and find out what He’s said in the past and what He still intends for us to do today. That’s a lot more complicated than simply acknowledging Him as we make our own decisions.

Having said that, do you want to take a moment, like I did when writing this sermon, to stop and ask God to forgive you for the times you failed to do this? Maybe you want to pray what I prayed: Lord, forgive me and help me to trust You with all my heart, so I always take the time to know Your ways, and not rely on my own understanding of things.

The good news is, if you do this, “He will make your paths straight.” This is a conditional promise. He makes our paths straight if we find out His ways and follow Him. But if we do this, it’s a promise because it’s the result of following His ways. Picture a map that shows a route to a destination. If we find out God’s plan and follow Him, then we won’t be side-tracked. If we follow our own plans, we will most likely stray off His path and have to come back by way of a side route or detour. Think of the Israelites in the desert. They perfectly illustrate this to us, don’t they? They took 40 years, wondering around in circles in the desert because they didn’t trust in the Lord nor follow His ways. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to do that! I don’t want to wander around in deserts- I want the straight path. I want the path God has for me, for His path is so much better than any detours I might take.

Detours lead us into trouble and problems that otherwise could be avoided. See what it says next in verses 7-8: “Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones.”

Oftentimes, our detours lead us into sin, which harms us. This reminds me of the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray. He told them to pray, “lead us not into temptation.” We should pray that prayer every day, not because the Lord might otherwise lead us into temptation, but rather, we are praying that the Lord will lead us away from temptation.

If we stray off God’s path, following our own ways, we complicate our lives. I think these verses show, too, that our ways aren’t always good for us. We might end up harming ourselves. It could hurt us. That’s why it says that turning away from evil will heal our body and strengthen our bones. Turning to evil will hurt our body and weaken us. Metaphorically, all that walking in circles will be dangerous and exhausting!

But if we stop trying to be wise in our own eyes and we follow His ways, then we will be blessed. The next two verses tell us just how blessed. Verses 9-10 say, “Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine.”

Not many of us are farmers, but we can apply this directive to whatever we bring in. This means that whatever salary or income we make, we are to give from it to God. This is called tithing, and generally it has been understood that we are to give a minimum of 10% back to God. This comes from Malachi 3:8-10, which explains tithing. It says, “’Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me!’ ‘How do we rob you?’ you ask. ‘By not making the payments of the tenth and the contributions. You are suffering under a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing me. Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,’ says the Lord of Armies. ‘See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.’”

Unfortunately, a lot of Christians do not follow these instructions. Instead, there is much debate about tithing and if it’s still required or not. I don’t think Jesus abolished the tithe; if anything, He inflated it to make it be not just 10%, but to include all our finances. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says, “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

We see the early Christians speak about tithing, too. 1 Corinthians 16:2 says, “On the first day of the week, each of you is to set something aside and save in keeping with how he is prospering, so that no collections will need to be made when I come.” Here we see that there is no specific amount, but each person is to give in relation to how much they have.

2 Corinthians 9:6-9 explains this concept in greater detail and says, “The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously. Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. As it is written: He distributed freely; he gave to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”

That last statement is from Psalm 112:9. I think Paul is emphasizing that all believers should give generously to God’s work. If we hold back and are stingy, then it limits God’s ability to give back to us. To make that point, he uses the concept of sowing and reaping.  

I’ve quoted him before, but as my dad has always said, “People say, ‘I can’t afford to tithe,’ but I say, ‘I can’t afford not to tithe!’” He’s correct. Not tithing is taking our finances into our hands. It’s attempting to be wise in our own eyes. Tithing is placing our trust in Jesus’ hands. It’s a way for us to show the Lord that we trust Him to provide finances for us. And when we let go of our finances and give them back to God, He rewards us.  

In MacLaren’s Commentary, he writes, “The keyword of the Christian life is ‘sacrifice’-surrender, and that to God. That is to be stamped on the inmost selves, and by the act of the will, on the body as well. ‘Yield yourselves to God, and your members as instruments of righteousness to Him.’ It is to be written on possessions. Malachi necessarily keeps within the limits of the sacrificial system, but his impetuous eloquence hits us no less. It is still possible to ‘rob God.’ We do so when we keep anything as our own, and use it at our own will, for our own purposes. Only when we recognize His ownership of ourselves, and consequently of all that we call ‘ours,’ do we give Him His due. All the slave’s chattels belong to the owner to whom he belongs. Such thorough-going surrender is the secret of thorough possession. The true way to enjoy worldly goods is to give them to God.”

He also adds this important point, “This is the universal law, not always fulfilled in increase of outward goods, but in the better riches of communion and of larger possession in God Himself.” I like that MacLaren clarifies that oftentimes the increase God gives us is not material, but rather, it is more of Himself.

For sure, our “blessings without measure” will be given to us in eternity, as well. In Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, he says, “His superabundance, ‘above all which we can ask or think,’ is a first principle in the conception of God, as the Infinite Source of all being. But to say of God that He would pour out His blessing, until man could not contain it, is one bliss of eternity, that God’s gifts will overflow the capacity of His creatures to receive them. The pot of oil poured forth the oil, until, on the prophets saying 2 Kings 4:6, ‘Bring me yet a vessel,’ the widow’s son said, ‘There is not a vessel more.’ And the oil stayed. God’s gifts are limited only by our capacity to receive them.”

But I don’t think His blessings are reserved just for eternity. Malachi was speaking of the present. The same with Proverbs. As verse 10 said, “then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine.” God has promised to provide for us- that is why Jesus tells us not to worry. We can trust Him. As Barnes said, “God’s gifts are limited only by our capacity to receive them.” But not only that, God’s gifts are limited only by our capacity to trust Him. In order for Him to bless us, we need to stop trying to be wise in our own eyes and allow Him to lead us to His blessings.

I know that trusting the Lord with all our hearts is not always easy. It’s not easy to stop worrying. But the Lord has taught me to do this: when I’m feeling worried, I pray and hold my hands in front of me, palms facing up and flat. I then tell the Lord that I let go of my worry; I physically mime letting go of whatever concern I have. My open, flat hands signify that I am not holding tightly to whatever it is that I am worried about. If it’s finances, I don’t need to try and hold on to it. If it’s worry over a person, I don’t need to try and hold on to them. Whatever it is, I can let God take it. I can trust that whatever I have, it belongs to Him anyway. It’s not mine to grasp. Instead, I should hold on to the Lord. When talking about this to my son Everett, he pointed out that if we are holding on to the Lord, we can’t hold anything else in our hands at the same time anyway. He’s right.

If we are trusting the Lord with all our heart, not relying on our understanding of things, and following His straight path, then we can relax and know that God has got everything else covered. Instead of holding on to worry, we can hold on to God. If we do that, then whatever comes our way, it’s going to have to go through God first. He’s going to watch over us. We can let go of worry and trust Him.

Back to our text, I want to add this: when we give a tithe to the Lord’s work, it is a way for us to exercise - and grow - our trust. Why would we question whether we are “required” to tithe? Why wouldn’t we want to? It all belongs to God. By consistently tithing, it strengthens our reliance on God and reminds us that He is the one who provides.

The last section, verses 11-12, says, “Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline; for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.”

I think this goes together with the above verses, for it takes discipline to do these things. Discipline is self-control, after all. Discipline is choosing to do the right thing, even when we don’t necessarily feel like it. In fact, a disciplined person is someone who continues to do the right thing, even when he or she doesn’t feel like it. The Lord wants us to be disciplined.

As Hebrews 12:11 says, “No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Thankfully, God’s mercies are new every morning. Each new year is like that, too. If you are hearing this sermon or reading these words, and you realize that you have not been disciplined or have been relying on your own understanding of things, I am here to tell you that it is not too late to make changes.

Change is difficult. I’ve read before that people would rather die than change, but that is a harmful attitude to have. Without change, there is no growth. So, if we’re not changing, we’re not growing—we’re already declining. Change is essential to growth.

A couple of Sundays ago, we saw in 2 Peter 3:18 the instructions which say, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We have to be growing in grace and knowledge of God. If we don’t grow, we will become stagnant and our faith with die. In that sermon, I quoted from MacLaren who said: “If your belief is to be of any use to you, or to be held by you in the face of temptations to abandon it, you must keep it fresh, and oxygenated, so to say, by continual fresh apprehension of it and closer application of it to conduct. As soon as the stream stands, it stagnates; and the very manna from God will breed worms and stink. And Christian truth unpracticed by those who hold it, corrupts itself and corrupts them. So Peter tells us that the alternative is growth or apostasy.”

Since growth is not optional if we want to follow Jesus, what’s the best way to grow? It’s by spending time with God by praying and reading His word. Not only do we need to read it and memorize it, but we need to apply it to our daily lives. As we do, we will see that God can be trusted. He is faithful. Just as He was faithful to all the people the Bible tells us about, He will be faithful to us.

If you want to increase your trust in the Lord and walk on a straight path, let me encourage you: dive into the Word of God. Now is the perfect time to commit to reading God’s word every day. There are many Bibles that break the Bible up into 365 sections to be read each day. It only takes about 15-20 minutes to read. With just a little commitment and discipline, the Holy Spirit will change you and grow your trust in God as you daily read it.

In my daily Bible this past year, it includes a short devotional by Selwyn Hughes. In a recent one, he wrote, “As we read the Scriptures, we are touching something that has a current of power flowing through its pages- a power not put there by any man. The Holy Spirit has gone into it, so is it any wonder that the Holy Spirit comes out of it?”

That is true, and that is why in Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus says, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”

When we hear God’s word and act on it, we are building our house on the rock, not on the sand. The rock is Jesus, God’s Word made flesh. As we read His word, we will find healing for our bodies, strength for our bones, and our trust in Him will grow. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but if we draw near to God, He will sustain us through whatever storm we may face.

Pray: Heavenly Father, as we get ready for a new year, we pray that You would strengthen our trust in You. Help us to have open hands, trusting in Your provision. Help us not to rely on our own understanding, but to trust in Your wisdom and love for us. Please fill us with Your Holy Spirit as we read Your word so we can grow in trust and love for You. We ask this is Jesus’ name, amen.