One of the most popular, well-loved passages in all of Scripture is Proverbs 3:5-6.
“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.” (ESV)
There is much to love about those verses, and for good reason, too. Its message resonates deeply with our constant struggles of trying to figure out life on our own, and yet simultaneously reassures us that God is figuring out our life for us—before we know what to do, and beyond what we can see.
But even though Proverbs 3:5-6 is so well-known and so loved, most people are not familiar with its immediate context, those verses immediately before and after which amplify, enrich, and illustrate the meaning of Proverbs 3:5-6 so much more.
Take a look at the verses immediately leading up to Proverbs 3:5-6, verses 3-4:
“Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good success
in the sight of God and man.”
Before we even get to the famous Proverbs 3:5-6, there is an emphasis on “steadfast love” and “faithfulness” – and visual images about applying it to our lives. Throughout the Bible, however, steadfast love and faithfulness are not simply ‘Christian virtues’ that one ought to adopt—they are much more than that. Specifically, they are the two primary attributes of God’s character towards his people. In fact, as you read through Scripture (especially the Psalms) you’ll see “steadfast love” and “faithfulness” almost always paired together. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
The messaging leading up to Proverbs 3:5-6 then, is this: “Know who God is to you! Remember his steadfast love and faithfulness to you! That’s His heart! Do whatever you’ve got to do to inundate yourself in it! Bind it around your neck. Write them on your heart. Put it in a journal. Get a tattoo. Put a verse on your bathroom mirror. Put it on your dashboard. Do whatever you can do to live in light of this great truth – that God has steadfast love and faithfulness to you! Do not let yourself forsake those truths… because He certainly hasn’t forsaken you!”
Therefore, verse 5: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
How do we trust the LORD with all our heart? By first writing his steadfast love and faithfulness upon “the tablets of our heart” (v.3). And how do we not lean on our own understanding? By binding his steadfast love and faithfulness “around our neck” (v.3).
Writing something on the “tablets of our heart” means making it the permanent, most defining, most lasting message our hearts will believe and hold on to. Beware, anything written on a tablet is always difficult to etch out. And we really only have one choice: we will either etch lies upon our hearts, or truths. God is steadfast in love for you and faithful. He is strong and able. He knows, He sees, He hears, He understands. What we etch on our hearts will impact our emotions, perspectives, hopes, dreams, and sense of peace more than anything else.
Binding something “around our neck” means choosing what we will adorn ourselves with. A necklace, for example, is likely the very next thing someone will notice after looking at us, simply because it’s closest to our face. What is the very next thing that someone immediately notices after engaging with us? It’s probably whatever it is that we struggle to trust God with most, because it – more than anything else – will cut through our emotions and spill out of our mouths first. It is the next most noticeable thing about us.
To be sure, “leaning on our own understanding” functions like an adornment around the neck, too; however, it is less like a necklace and more like a noose. Trusting in our own understanding feels like we are being spiritually strangled, and it cuts off circulation to our brains so that we don’t think clearly—leaving us to feel even worse. His steadfast love and faithfulness, however, is an adornment. Like a necklace, it too can be the very next thing people notice about our peace.
Verses 3-4 enrich the meaning of Proverbs 3:5-6, but so also do the two verses immediately following it (v. 6-7):
“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.”
The main way we lean on our own understanding is by trusting only in what we can see. We are all wise in our own eyes. “Based on what I can see, this makes sense; this is how it ought to be; this is what I want.”
And when we live in this operating framework, we will likely do the opposite of what the verse calls us to do: namely, instead of fearing the LORD, we will fact-check the LORD. And instead of turning away from evil, we will likely compromise with sin and walk our way into evil. And the result will only be more spiritual sickness to our flesh and more exhaustion to our bones.
The Hebrew word for ‘flesh’ is more literally translated as ‘naval.’ In other words, when we do not trust God, our experience will be a constant, deep aching in our gut. But when we do, we can feel better, lighter, happier.
Likewise, when we do not trust God, we will continue to feel exhausted, heavy-laden, depressed—all over us, down to the bones. Have you ever before felt so bad that even standing up or sitting down actually hurt? Your joints, your back, your shoulders, your neck? “Refreshment to your bones” means the burden you are carrying is no longer weighing down on you. Trusting God means moving that heavy burden off of you, and on to Him… and finally feeling some reprieve and refreshment and rest, which will heal you, all the way down to the bones.
Trusting God is certainly not easy. The deeper the pain, the longer the healing. The heavier the burden, the harder it will be to let go, only because you’ve held on to it for so long. But the promise of Proverbs 3:5-6, along with its surrounding verses, is that there is a beauty, a healing, and a providence in trusting God that not trusting God cannot afford. And it’s always worth it.
God invites us to rest in his steadfast love and faithfulness…
…to lean not on our understanding, to be not wise in our own eyes….
…trusting that He will take care of the rest.
