Ownership Owned

Ownership Owned

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths!" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

We are frequently the losers through failure to observe the order in which divine truth is set before us. For example, how obvious is the progression to be observed in, and how necessary it is that we should lay to heart, the fourfold injunction of Psalm 37:3-7).

First, "Trust in the Lord, and do good" (verse 3).

Second, "Delight yourself also in the Lord" (verse 4).

Third, "Commit your way unto the Lord" (verse 5). 

Fourth, "Rest in the Lord" (verse 7).

So it is in the book from which our text is taken. These "proverbs" are not so many maxims strung together at random, but instead, they are presented according to a divine plan. And the more they are prayerfully pondered, the more will the wisdom and love which lie behind their arrangement be perceived by the anointed eye. Proverbs 3:5-6 is a case in point.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart" (verse 5). This comes first because it is the primary duty. Without this, everything else is vain.

"Trust" in His loving-kindness. Can He who is love, withhold anything which is really for your good?

"Trust" in His wondrous power. Is anything too hard for the Almighty? No matter how critical your situation, "Trust in the Lord."

"Trust" in His unchanging faithfulness. Has He not promised? Then will He not perform? Has He not said? Then will He not also do it?

"And do not lean on your own understanding" (verse 5). This comes next to put us on our guard concerning the principal enemy of faith. Just as we cannot serve two masters - so we cannot trust in the Lord and lean unto our own understanding. It is a word of warning against the inveterate tendency of our evil hearts. To rely upon our own wisdom, to follow the dictates of common sense - is the chief obstacle in our way against wholehearted trust in the Lord.

Then comes the word, "In all your ways acknowledge Him" (verse 6). This goes much farther than trusting in the Lord with all the heart, though, of necessity, it must be preceded by that. Unless our hearts are completely occupied with God, the acknowledgement of Him in our outward ways will be nothing more than a perfunctory performance, which is of no value in His sight. That which the Lord requires and desires is the obedience of love. Confidence in the Lord, is now to be translated into conformity to His will. Our "ways," that is, all the details of our walk, are to make manifest our unreserved trust in the Lord.

To "acknowledge" the Lord in all our ways signifies:

1. To seek His permission for everything you do. Dare we be so presumptuous as to act without His permission? We are but creatures - He is God. We are but servants - He is our Lord and Master. We are but purchased property - He is our Redeemer, "You are not your own" (1 Cor. 6:19). Therefore, we are not free to please ourselves, but under deepest obligation to be in subjection to the divine will.

God's permission should be asked even when a thing is lawful and right. A striking illustration of this is furnished in the prayer which Christ taught His disciples, and that so many have been puzzled by it only reveals the wicked independence of our hearts. We refer to the clause: "Give us this day our daily bread." Numbers of times has the inquiry been put to us, "How can I sincerely ask this, when bread for the day is already at hand?"

Let us draw a homely analogy. Here are cakes and tarts in the pantry. Shall I child enter and help itself? Not if it has been properly brought up. Though the food is there, it should first ask mother's permission before taking any. In like manner, God requires that we first ask of Him, "Give us this day our daily bread? (Matt. 6:11), lest like thieves we take without His permission.

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 2)