Lean Not Unto Thine Own Understanding

Proverbs 3:5-7, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.”

I am as guilty as anyone of questioning God, becoming frustrated, wondering why He doesn't seem to answer my prayers. I was pondering this popular passage of inspired Scripture today and something caught my attention. The Bible teaches us, “LEAN NOT UNTO THINE OWN UNDERSTANDING.” We have all done that, unfortunately.

It is our human nature to try to figure things out, to understanding why things are the way that they are. That is quite normal. But with God, things don't work that way. It wasn't meant for mankind to figure out and understand God. What saith the Scripture? Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” This Scripture passage is so vital to understand.

Many people become frustrated, angry and even bitter toward God because they don't understand Him. They can't figure out their life. They don't know why bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. Nothing seems to make sense to them, and their human rationale suggests that God must be a cruel being. We've all been there at some time in our life.

The Lord fully knew that we would feel this way. Psalms 103:14, “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” That Bible verse was Pastor Jack Hyles' mother's favorite Scripture passage. Her name was Coystal Mattie Hyles (1887-1984). She was a remarkable woman, who raised a remarkable boy.

The Lord knew that we would feel frustrated and left in the dark, so He put Proverbs 3:5-7 in the Bible. Proverbs 3:5-7, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” The Bible commands you and me NOT to lean unto our own understanding. The Hebrew word for “lean” is shaan which means: “to support one's self.” The word “rest” in the Old Testament is also translated from this Hebrew root word. Thus, we ought not rest in our own wisdom.

The word “Trust” in Proverbs 3:5 is the Hebrew word batach which means: “to hie for refuge.” The word “hie” means “to step on.” Hence, to trust the Lord is to step on Him for safety. That is, to trust Him for salvation. You've simply got to believe that Jesus did it all for you.

When nothing in life seems to make sense, and we cannot figure out why God won't help us, and He seems to have ignored all of our prayers; we should just lean (rest) upon the promises of God in the Scripture. We should “fear the LORD, and depart from evil” (Proverbs 3:7).

Don't Use Religious Devotion As A Cloak For Your Carnality

Jeremiah 7:8-10, “Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?”

Matthew 15:7-9, “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

Our churches are filled with self-righteous Christians today. They are trusting Christ alone to save them, so they are genuinely born-again believers. Yet, they are foolishly playing church, going through the motions Sunday after Sunday, but their heart is far from God. They are walking in the flesh and not walking in the Holy Spirit.

It saddens me to see a church pastor, to whom people look up to for spiritual guidance as an example of faith, to be so carnally-minded that he shuns, mistreats and ignores hurting people. I have seen this time and time again from carnal pastors! The pastors of Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College are guilty of this wickedness. When I attended Campus Church in 2021, their ungodly senior pastor Jeff Redlin horribly mistreated me. They need to fire Mr. Redlin and bring in a genuine man of God who has compassion for people, which Redlin woefully doesn't. PCC has much blood on their hands for their victims!

Many ungodly wives who file for divorce, have their conscience hardened by their religious devotion. They go to church each Sunday. They tithe. They pray and read the Bible in daily devotions. These things are mere window-dressing that provides a cloak for her carnality (rebellion, pride, disrespect for her husband and wickedness). Divorce is the ultimate act of rebellion! God hates divorce, and so do I, and so should you if you love the Lord (Psalms 97:10; Jeremiah 3:20; Malachi 2:16).

By filing for divorce, someone is declaring to the world that they are more righteous than their spouse. They rationalize that they have the right to divorce, because their spouse is a bigger sinner than they are. But dear reader, I tell you on the authority of God's inspired Word, that you are just as much a dirty guilty sinner as anyone else! When married people get tired of the married life, they start looking for a way to get out and leave. So, they start searching for website that agree with their agenda. They start talking with ungodly liberal pastors who support divorce. This is what sinners do!

When confronted by God about his sins, Adam blamed his wife Eve. When God confronted Eve about her sins, she blamed the serpent. When God confronted the serpent (Satan) about his sins, he looked around for someone to blame, but there was no one to blame except himself. Humans always look for someone or something to blame for their bad, irresponsible and sinful choices in life, but we all have no one to blame except our self.

Some of the absolute worst Christians that I have known in my life, swept their wickedness under the rug by using their religious devotion as a smokescreen. Please don't do that! Put another way, many churchgoers cannot see the forest for the trees. They are so used to merely going through the motions of playing church, that they have actually become inoculated from walking with God. Literally, their religious life hinders them from finding a true walk with God.

You can know who truly walks with God, because they are bold to tell the truth (Acts 4:13). They are full of unconditional love for everyone, just as God loves everyone (John 3:16; Romans 5:6-9; 1st Corinthians 13). They genuinely care about people (1st Peter 5:7-8). A man who genuinely walks with God is bold to speak the truth, he cares, and he unconditionally loves everyone. The hallmark quality of a Christian who is right with God is caring. Sadly, most pastors don't care! The pastors at PCC's Campus Church don't care.

This is exactly what happened to the horrible church at Laodicea. Jesus said they were naked, blind, wretched, poor and miserable (Revelation 3:15-17). Yet, they foolishly thought they were prospering. That is Pensacola Christian College (PCC) today! They take in tens of millions of dollars. They have several thousand students and church members. They have the big head. So they are blind to their carnality. The problem is their carnal leaders. Pastor Lee Roberson (1909-2007) rightly said: "Everything rises and falls on leadership." It sure does! Churches these days are corrupt because they continue to hire the deadbeat, incompetent and bad graduates of horrible religious colleges like PCC.

Be real dear friend. Always be pure of heart.