You can listen to the sermon here:-
https://www.npbc.org.au/podcasts/media
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust The Instrument”
Who do you trust?
Many of us we will quickly say “I trust Jesus”.
That is a good answer.
But I’m thinking more broadly about the trust that you place in another person because they give you the knowledge or insight or direction that you need.
It will come as no surprise to any of you that I trust Corianna (my wife of 35 years)
I trust her for many reasons. One of those reasons is because of her impeccable dress sense.
Combined with the fact that I have no dress sense.
For some time in our marriage I was the person who was still wearing shorts and long socks, the ones that go up to your knees. I continued to believe and argue with Corianna that this was fashionable … until a group of ladies in our first church came and visited our house to specifically tell me that shorts and long socks is a fashion disaster.
Corianna just looked at me and said, “I told you”
I still felt I had something to contribute in choosing my own fashion – but regularly I would walk out of our room in the morning and she would say,
“You’re not wearing that are you” … it is not a question, but a statement of fact.
We are now at the point where I can admit – I have no fashion sense.
If ever you see me in mismatched clothes, or the wrong shoes, or wrongly dressed for the occasion, it is because I left the house early and Corianna wasn’t awake.
When you don’t have the right understanding, or you lack capacity, trusting in yourself is a fool’s errand.
It might not be such a disaster when it comes to a lack of fashion sense.
But it will be a disaster when it comes to a lack of spiritual sense.
With this in mind let’s turn to Proverbs 3:1-12
1 My son, do not forget My teaching,
but keep My commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them round your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favour and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to Him,
and He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
9 Honour the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the LORD’S discipline,
and do not resent His rebuke,
12 because the LORD disciplines those He loves,
as a father the son He delights in.
The writer of Proverbs identifies some tools, and attitudes, and insights we need which will enable us to be able to trust in the Lord.
One of the tools which enable us to trust in the Lord is found in Proverbs 3:1
Do Not Forget My Teaching
In the Hebrew Scriptures this teaching is often known as Torah.
The first five books of the Bible.
When we think Torah we may think, “oh … that is the law of God” books.
Certainly, they contain many laws – but the Torah is so much more than that.
The Torah starts at the Garden of Eden, where we read about the fall of mankind, and the promise of a Saviour.
The Torah then describes the tower of Babel, where mankind is scattered, and the establishment of the covenant with Abraham as the father of the nation of Israel.
The Torah then talks about Israel becoming slaves in Egypt, and God releasing them from slavery through the Exodus.
The Torah describes the journey to the promised land, including 40 years wandering in the desert. At the end of the Torah the nation of Israel is going to enter the promised land.
Among these big events there are many stories of rebellion and restoration.
Time and again the people … as individuals and as a nation … rebel against God.
Time and again, God forgives, and restores, and equips and blesses.
In among all of this are laws, precepts, commands and decrees.
That is Torah. That is teaching.
When Scripture says, “Do not forget my teaching” Scripture is saying “Don’t forget the big story.”
The big story that God has called us into fellowship with Himself and He is the God who continually says, “You are mine”.
Another tool which enables us to trust in the Lord is also found in Proverbs 3:1
Keep My Commands In Your Heart.
Keeping commands is not merely a matter of having a list.
Have I followed this command? Yes. Tick.
Have I followed this command? No. Cross.
The Pharisees used such an approach to the commands and Jesus’ assessment of their approach is that it makes them blind guides and hypocrites.
Following commands is not merely an outward action of achievement or compliance.
We bring the commands into our heart so that there can be true transformation.
The heart is the driver of our character, and convictions, and purpose, and worldview.
The heart is the centre of who we are.
It is in this place … at the centre of who we are … that we seek to keep the commands of the Lord.
So that our heart has understanding which flows out of a commandment system that reflects God’s directions.
Living in obedience because we have a heart connection to God who we are inviting to direct and lead in our heart.
Keeping the commands as an action that flows out of a relationship with God to whom we have given our heart.
A third tool which enables us to trust in the Lord is described in Proverbs 3:3
Let Love and Faithfulness Never Leave You.
Love.
Faithfulness.
Both of these words are very common, and very rich, terms used to describe the covenant that God has made with his people.
The word translated “love” can be translated:- mercy, kindness, loyal love, loving kindness.
It is almost the Old Testament equivalent of the New Testament word “agape”. The agape love that God extends to us in spite of our failure and unwillingness to respond, which results in the sending of Jesus to die at Calvary to pay the price for our sin.
Faithfulness is an action of reliability, fidelity, steadiness and truth. In terms of the covenant relationship, it reminds us that God always says what He means and He means what He says.
God will never go back on His Word.
Love and faithfulness.
We bind them round our neck.
The neck is the place for jewellery – the stuff you really want to display.
Binding … giving a permanence … to love and faithfulness around our necks means having a commitment to constantly displaying love and faithfulness in our lives.
Writing on the tablet of our heart.
In those days the words of important documents were chiselled into stone tablets so they would be permanent.
To write on the tablet of our heart is to permanently chisel the word of God into our lives.
Love and faithfulness are not merely decorations. They saturate our whole life.
They are on display.
The are permanent.
Not merely as a list of rules. But as a relationship.
Teaching. Commands. Love and Faithfulness.
They are all relationship words.
And in relationship we use these tools, and attitudes, and insights to enable us to trust in the Lord.
Then we get to the key verse Proverbs 3:5-6.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to Him,
and He will make your paths straight.
The heart … there it is again.
A heart which is in relationship with the LORD … trusting in the LORD.
Trusting by not leaning on our own understanding.
For many of us, we want to trust the Lord.
We have seen, many times, the outcome of what happens when we trust in the Lord.
We will even get up in the morning and pray … “Lord Jesus I put my trust in You.”
Yet
… we also have our experiences.
… and the knowledge that we gain from life.
So, there is our personal take on events and our wisdom that is available.
And it can be tempting to think that we bring an understanding that has value.
That we bring a leg to the table which is strong enough to lean on.
That is us.
But …when it comes to our spiritual life and the need to trust in the Lord … we need to fight the temptation to only see life from our perspective and experience.
Many years ago we lived in Darwin – and my Dad was involved in a aeroclub. Back then … well let us just say things were are little less restrictive.
So, it would regularly happen that children of aeroclub members could quite easily find themselves sitting in a spare seat in a small plane going along for a joy-ride.
I’m going to tell you about one of those times. I will stress that, when this happened, I was only 11.
Our plane was a small four seater single engine plane. I don’t remember what our destination was, but I do remember that we ended up flying through the middle of a typical Darwin tropical storm.
You can’t see anything.
You are being tossed about.
When you are 11 and you are in a situation like this … I was absolutely frighted.
There were 4 of us all together.
Dad was in the back with me … Dad been a licensed pilot for about 6 months.
The front passenger was a very good friend of the family … he was a skilled enough pilot that he was allowed to fly at night.
The pilot was one of the instructors … a man who trains other people to fly.
There was a lot of experience on the plane.
But I was still very scared and very untrusting.
I remember that I kept on asking questions like …
… how do you know you are going the right way?
… you can’t see so how can it be right?
… what if we hit the ground?
… what if we have been blown out to sea?
But they just kept saying – “We know it doesn’t feel right, we trust the instruments. We will be ok … we can trust the instruments.”
We did this for about an hour. Then at one point we came out of the bottom of this massive cloud … and right there … right in front of us … was the runway.
When we landed I got out and kissed the tarmac.
There are days when it feels hard to trust the LORD because we are so tempted to lean on our own understanding.
That is especially the case when we are going through the storms and difficulties and challenges of life.
It doesn’t feel right.
We don’t want this experience.
Moments when our emotions are confused, and we feel on edge and anxious.
Days when our spiritual life doesn’t seem to have direction and God is a bit silent.
Sometimes the actual path isn’t so obvious, or it is a bit overgrown.
We are so tempted to lean on our own understanding.
Not just through the storms, but in other situations as well.
There are the times when we lean on our own understanding because we have become wise in our own eyes.
(Proverbs 3:7)
Surely, we have something of value to contribute.
Surely, we our efforts are of some spiritual value or importance.
Surely, when we are with Jesus for a while, we will get the hang of it.
The Apostle Peter though like that didn’t he.
Just before Jesus is arrested Jesus tells the disciples they will fall away and abandon Him. Peter is adamant, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will” (Matthew 26:33).
But, just as Jesus said, Peter denied Jesus three times … and the rooster crowed.
Peter was wise in his own eyes and leaned on his own understanding.
His lack of trust lead to failure.
There are the times when we lean on our own understanding because we don’t honour the Lord with our wealth.
(Proverbs 3:9)
The Lord blesses us abundantly. Even when we might not have all we want we mostly have all we need.
As wealth accumulates we can fall into this place where we think we have made it happen … which leads us to think we have control.
Like the farmer in Luke 12 who had so much grain that he was planning to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. The same farmer who said to himself he can now enjoy many years of life taking it easy, eating, drinking and being merry.
He didn’t honour the Lord with his wealth, instead he was leaning on his own understanding.
He neglected to remember that our life can stop at any time.
He died that night and someone else enjoyed the fruits of his wealth.
There are the times when we lean on our own understanding because we are despising the Lord’s loving discipline.
(Proverbs 3:11-12)
God’s discipline is not easy to understand.
Discipline is that moment where God actively inserts Himself into our lives and does what is necessary to regain our attention because, in one way or another, we have wandered from the path of obedience.
God does this because He loves us and because He wants us to be spiritually mature.
The Apostle Paul experienced that discipline in 2 Corinthians 12.
God knew that Paul was the sort of man who could become conceited over the revelations which Paul was experiencing.
In order to prevent this conceit God disciplined Paul by giving Paul a thorn in the flesh.
It was such a big issue Paul prayed three times for it to be removed. And Paul would have kept on praying except that Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
When Paul leaned on his own understanding the thorn in the flesh was unnecessary. When Paul leaned on the Lord and trusted the Lord … the thorn in the flesh is a welcome act of discipline.
There are so many times in life when we lean on our own understanding.
In those times we need to stop and bring ourselves back to trusting the instrument.
The spiritual instrument.
The instrument that is there for those who don’t want to lean on their own understanding and who are looking for the straight path.
That instrument is called the Scriptures.
In the Scriptures we are constantly told that God wants to have an eternal relationship with us.
Even though we have sinned and fallen short.
Even though we were the enemies.
Even though we deserve eternal separation.
The Lord’s heart is for us to come to Him in repentance and trust in Him.
And just as it was in the Old Testament, so it is in the New Testament, that instrument becomes our foundation when we accept the relationship God wants to have with us.
That is why Jesus has been sent from God … for relationship.
That is why Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice for us … for relationship.
That is why Jesus defeated death and rose from the grave … for relationship.
Through Jesus we come into relationship with God, who personally speaks to us through the Scriptures, so that there is no need for us to lean on our own understanding.
As we read through the Scriptures, in a relationship with Jesus, we realise there is no decision in life that is too large, or too small, for God to be a part of.
So we acknowledge and trust God’s word which talks about finding, and living with, our partner in life … our spouse.
Knowing that the Scriptures give direction and guidance and biblical principles on how to live this aspect of our lives with
We acknowledge God as He reveals to us His purposes for our career and our daily ministry opportunities. How we are to live our daily life. How we are to serve.
All areas of life.
Trust in the Lord … don’t lean on your own understanding. Trust the instrument which tells us all about this relationship. Trust the Scriptures.
They will bring peace and life.
They will carry you through any storm.
We will be equipped by the Scripture, and have no need to lean on our understanding, as long as we know what Scripture actually says.
You can’t put your trust in God if you don’t read the Scripture to know how to trust and when to trust and why you should trust.
You can’t avoid leaning on your own understanding if that, because of your lack of Scripture understanding, your keep leaning back on your own understanding.
Here is my question.
Are you leaning on your own understanding?
If you are … could the problem be that you don’t have a heart relationship with Jesus.
You can’t lean on a relationship that doesn’t exists.
We need to be in relationship with Jesus first.
For those who are in relationship with Jesus, but who are still leaning on our own understanding.
Could the problem be that we don’t know the Scriptures?
We are not leaning … trusting the instrument … because we don’t know what the Scripture actually says and teaches.
In this case the solution becomes … spending more time in the Scriptures.
Scripture.
Read it. Meditate on it. Hear God is saying through it.
Trust … so that you will have no need to lean on your own understanding.
Prayer
