PROVERBS 3:5-8

BIG IDEA: GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW HIS WILL FOR YOUR LIFE EVEN MORE THAN YOU DO.

INTRODUCTION

If I conducted a broad survey of what would interest the church most for a preaching series, I would guess that the number 1 response would be “End-Times Prophecy.” I will leave that for one of the other pastors to handle.

I would guess that the topic with the second greatest interest would be “Determining God’s Will for my life.” Seeing that it is easier than deciphering eschatology, I will adopt that as my topic for today.

Let me start with this premise: God wants you to know His will for your life even more than you do! He’s not playing hide and seek with you! It’s not a purposefully constructed game of subterfuge and concealment. God wants to reveal His plan for your life, and the way of wisdom is the way of discovering God’s will for your life.

Before diving into the text, let me dispel a few myths first.

1. Myth: God doesn’t want you to know His will.
   • God wants to reveal His plan to you.
   • It may take some work, but if you work at mining the Word for wisdom, you will find the way you are to walk.
2. Myth: God wants you to know everything about the future.
   • Sorry. It’s a myth. God reveals His plan for you one step at a time.
   • If you knew the final step, you would be unable to handle the next step.
   • God will not reveal the next step until you obey Him with your current step.
3. Myth: we must be sure before we make a decision.
   • Trusting God always requires an element of faith. Faith implicitly means you do not have 100% certainty.
   • The only thing you can be sure of is that God is always at work, even if you misstep.

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. BE NOT WISE IN YOUR OWN EYES; FEAR THE LORD, AND TURN AWAY FROM EVIL. IT WILL BE HEALING TO YOUR FLESH AND REFRESHMENT TO YOUR BONES. (PROVERBS 3:5-8)

“Trust” in Hebrew means to “rest one’s full weight on another.” Put your entire confidence in the Lord, and in every way, put Him first, and He will prepare a safe path for you. Lean wholly on God, and don’t trust your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5,6 are familiar. Many have memorized these verses, which are good verses to commit to your mind. But verses 7 and 8 are critical in understanding what verses 5 and 6 mean. Verses 7 and 8 paint a fuller picture of what verses 5 and 6 mean.

EXPLANATION

1. THE REBUKE OF HAUGHTINESS

BE NOT WISE IN YOUR OWN EYES;

This is the rebuke of haughtiness or pride. Trusting yourself instead of God is prideful. The opposite of trusting the Lord with all your heart is to be wise in your own eyes. Leaning on your own understanding is being wise in your own eyes. We like to think that we have it all figured out or can figure it all out. I mean, there’s a YouTube how-to video for everything, right?

Here’s the problem, we are not as bright as we think. If you want to make wise decisions, you must humble yourself and admit that you haven’t figured it out. If you’re going to make wise decisions, you need to fight the internal inclination that you know what is best for you.

THERE IS A WAY THAT SEEMS RIGHT TO A MAN, BUT ITS END IS THE WAY OF DEATH (DESTRUCTION). (PROVERBS 14:12)

HE WHO TRUSTS IN HIS OWN HEART IS A FOOL, BUT WHOEVER WALKS WISELY WILL BE DELIVERED. (PROVERBS 28:26)

Haughtiness is leaning on your understanding of the world, the future, and how things should be.

Humility is leaning on God and learning from God. It is a surrender of your will to His will. It is walking His way and not your own.

2. THE RESPONSE OF HUMILITY

FEAR THE LORD, AND TURN AWAY FROM EVIL. (PROVERBS 2:7B)

This is the response of humility. Fearing God does not mean just to be afraid of God. The fear of God is the practice of allowing God to assume His proper place. It is a respect acknowledging that He is Lord, Creator, the Only true God, the High King of Heaven.

The Bible says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the LORD, and He will lift you up.” This is a picture of a subject bowing their knee before a Sovereign King as a sign of their service and submission to the king.

In the Ancient world, when you bowed before a King, you would remain there until the King said, “Arise.” But there is something very different here. When you bow in submission to the Sovereign King of Heaven, He says, “Arise. You are not a mere servant but my son/daughter.” (Prodigal)

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. Fear God. Give Him the respect He deserves. If you want to know God’s will for your life, you must stop being god and let Him reign and rule. Does Jesus occupy first place in your life? Are you willing to submit to His will for your life, regardless of what that will is?

Then our text says, “Turn away from evil.” Turning from evil means consciously living according to God’s commandments and principles. This means, “If God said it, you will do it.” Proverbs 13:3 says, “He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandments will be rewarded.” Turn from evil. Do what the Word of God says. 

So many people want a formula for understanding how to determine the will of God for their lives. There is no “Determining the Will of God for Dummies” book.

However, our text gives you a straightforward pathway. Respect God. Refrain from evil. If there is a formula, it’s that. But listen, you may want a formula, but God wants a relationship.

So listen, if you want to know the will of God, do what God wants. Throughout His Word, he says things like:

1. Seek me
2. Know me
3. Follow me
4. Obey me
5. Listen to me
6. Love me
7. Put me first
8. Get rid of everything that gets in the way of me

It is a human tendency to focus on decisions. We worry and fret over decisions. We create lists of pros and cons. We’d like to ask for counsel and advice. We spend enormous amounts of energy on decisions. But I want you to shift your focus from decisions to direction. Instead of investing all your energy on making the right decision, focus on walking in the right direction.

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 PATHS STRAIGHT. (PROVERBS 3:5,6)

If you constantly move in the direction of God, your decisions will always be correct. Any decision that moves you away from God is a step in the wrong direction. When you move in God’s direction, He will remove all barriers. He will cover all the potholes. He will keep you from walking down dead ends. 

I am not saying there will be no detours or delays, but moving in the direction of God is always the right choice. He’s shouting to you today. “Know me. Follow me. And I will do the rest.”

3. THE RECEPTION OF HEALING

IT WILL BE HEALING TO YOUR FLESH AND REFRESHMENT TO YOUR BONES. (PROVERBS 3:8)

Unlike what some faith-prosperity teachers teach today, this does not mean you will never be sick. Sickness is a reality in this world. It serves a purpose to remind us of the fall, to reveal sin in our lives and to strengthen our dependence on God.

When you reject haughtiness and respond humbly, the text says you will receive healing. Cultivating humility is one of the healthiest things you can do for your body and soul.

Listen to the power of the words: healing, refreshment.

APPLICATION

The key here is TRUST THE LORD, not Yourself. 

Submit to God’s Word, even when we don’t like it, feel like it, or fully understand it.

Surrender to God’s Way. It’s better than your way.

What are examples of things you learned in a sermon, a Sunday School lesson, or your own Bible study that contradicted the way you thought? This could be about a belief. (God made you male or female.) This could be about your attitude. (The Bible tells us, “Children, honor your parents,”) This could be about a doctrine. (Baptism is for God’s glory, not your satisfaction.) 

CONCLUSION

When Micaela was very young, she had to have her tonsils and adenoids removed to avoid recurring infections. As the doctors prepared to take her back, she gave us a look. I have no idea what the words she said were, but her face communicated, “What are you doing? I thought I could trust you?” Her tear-filled face was white with terror. In my mind, it was like she said, “I thought you loved me? Why are you hurting/abandoning/forsaking me?” I could not reason with the child. I knew what was best. She didn’t. I knew it would hurt, but I knew that it would help. “Trust me, sweetheart. It’s gonna be okay,” was all I could mutter.

You can trust in God because He is trustworthy.

There are no promises He has ever broken.

There are no problems He has ever encountered.

He is unmatched in glory and undefeated in battle.

He is unrivaled in majesty and unparalleled in power.

His greatness is unequaled, and His grace unsurpassed.

Your best interest is always His interest. His will is always better than your way.

BE NOT WISE IN YOUR OWN EYES; FEAR THE LORD, AND TURN AWAY FROM EVIL. IT WILL BE HEALING TO YOUR FLESH AND REFRESHMENT TO YOUR BONES.God’s wisdom is a stream. Plan your life by it. Sink your roots deep into the soil, and draw on God’s wisdom.