Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord
TRUST
1. Trust defined: trust in; to have confidence in, to be bold; to be secure.
2. Everyone has confidence in something.
3. Examples:
a. You have confidence that those 18-year-old metal chairs are going to hold you up. (They don’t always!)
b. We have confidence in the car that drove us here.
c. We had confidence that the food we ate tonight was not poison.
d. We are all demonstrating confidence that this roof will not cave in on us.
4. WHY do we trust the chairs, our cars, and this roof?
a. Because we have tried them and found them to be true… trustworthy.
b. We have tried them over and over again… with the same results.
5. In the physical world, we TRUST things every day to work… cars, planes, refrigerators, alarm clocks, banks, computers, food, etc…
6. When we TRUST something, we put it to good use…
a. We BOARD that plane that we trust will take us to our destination.
b. We DRIVE that car where we want to go.
c. We EAT that chicken… and enjoy it!
d. We SIT in the chair and rest comfortably.
e. We GET IN that elevator and it takes us to the right floor.
f. In reality, we are entrusting our LIVES to such things every day!
7. If we did NOT trust in those things… our actions would be quite different.
a. There are people who will not cross a bridge or fly or get on an elevator.
b. What we trust and don’t trust has a big impact on the way we live.
c. What or whom we trust affects what we do.
d. Our actions are thus largely based upon what we believe and what we trust.
e. Therefore, the foundational facts upon which we place our trust is VITAL!
• If you place your trust in an airplane that is unreliable, you could lose your life!
• If you place your trust in a bank that is about to fold, you could lose your shirt!
• If you trust your child in the hands of a babysitter who is not what she claims to be you could lose your child!
• If you place your confidence in the advice of someone who is dishonest, you could get trampled!
• If you trust a doctor to operate on you, he could make a mistake!
IN THE LORD
1. Solomon tells his son WHERE his trust is to be placed… a solid foundation that will never let him down… never fail!
2. All of the things mentioned so far involve men. (Machinery; advice; etc.)
a. That could malfunction… their advice could be lacking wisdom…
b. Sometimes things we trust in the world fail us… with or without malice.
3. But ultimately, our trust should be in the Lord.
a. We still have to board airplanes, eat food, and lie under the surgeon’s knife… but our confidence is to be in the Lord.
b. Sure—choose the best doctor you can; fly the airline you trust; eat only in restaurants you trust—but ultimately, we have to place our trust in God.
c. Men can and do fail us. God never does.
4. How is it that we are able to sit in these chairs with confidence? Because we have sat in them many times and they held us up… and we have sat in many other chairs that held us up. We have tried them… proved them… and found them to be true.
a. We are to trust God like this too. “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
b. Rom.12:2 – “proving” what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God!
c. We come to KNOW God. We have proven God’s Word and His will to be right… able… reliable… God has never failed us. We KNOW Him. We KNOW we can trust Him. He is tried and true!
d. There are not many things in life that are truly reliable. (Jobs; people; finances; health; plans we make—all are pretty “iffy”.)
e. But God is not like that. God is a SOLID ROCK. You can trust Him.
f. That is just what Solomon is communicating to his son.
5. The better we KNOW God… the easier it is to trust Him in all things!
a. The more we know men—the harder it is to trust them.
b. But God is not man that He should lie… neither the son of man that he should repent!
c. Ps.118:8-9 – It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
d. It is better to trust in God because He never lets us down!
e. How do we know that? Taste and see that the Lord is good! He’s better!
f. We have to KNOW God in order to trust in Him. You cannot trust someone you don’t know… someone about whom you know nothing!
g. The more we come to know the Lord, the easier it will be to TRUST Him in the time of storm!
WITH ALL THINE HEART
1. Solomon not only tells his son WHERE to place his trust but also HOW to place his trust: wholeheartedly
2. ALL thine heart means an UNDIVIDED heart.
a. Lots of people trust in the Lord—but not with ALL their heart.
b. The Samaritans trusted in the Lord… but they also trusted in Baal and Chemosh!
c. Jesus warns us about trusting in two masters! (Matt. 6:24)
• The eye (what we gaze at) should be single! (6:22)
• The opposite of a single eye is an evil eye! (6:23)
• Jesus describes a man whose eyes are looking in two directions… because his allegiance is divided…
• His allegiance to GOD is divided… he does not love the Lord or trust the Lord with his whole heart—just half his heart!
d. Ps.62:9-10 – Trust not in riches but in God. He is the One with real power!
3. With God it is all or nothing! He does not tolerate competition. He wants our heart… ALL of it.
a. He wants us to trust Him with ALL our heart…
b. He refuses to share allegiance with another.
c. If the Lord be Lord then serve Him… trust Him… and only Him!
d. I Kings 18:21 – How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.
e. Who or what do YOU trust? Is it the Lord? Do we trust Him with half our heart? ¾? Or with ALL our heart?
f. When we face a financial crunch… when we face bad news from the doctor… when we face opposition… our confidence and trust must be in God 100%.
AND LEAN NOT UNTO THINE OWN UNDERSTANDING
1. Riches and strength are enemies to putting our confidence in God. But intellectual pride is an even greater enemy to trusting in the Lord!
2. Solomon warns his son about intellectual pride: lean NOT on your own understanding!
a. Don’t think you are so smart! (This often plagues young people…)
b. Many young people know everything already. I did as a teenager.
c. Remember, it was pride of intellect that caused Lucifer to fall! (Ezek.28:17)
d. Pride was the “condemnation of the devil.” (I Tim.3:6) It is the reason many young people fall… “Who needs advice? I know everything!”
e. Trusting in SELF will keep us from trusting in the Lord. You can only have ONE master!
f. Prov.28: 26 – He that trusts in his own heart is a FOOL!
g. God has given us His Word to lead and guide and direct in ALL of our decisions in life.
• Anyone who departs from the wisdom of this book is a fool!
• Anyone who trusts in his own heart—wisdom—demonstrates that he does NOT trust in the Lord. That is folly.
• Ps. 147:5 – God’s understanding is infinite! How does our intellect compare?
h. Jer. 17:9 – our hearts are so deceitful, we cannot know them! How foolish to trust in a heart like that!
i. Mark 14:27-31 – The Lord said that ALL of them would be offended in Him. Peter—who trusted in his own heart—and was NOT trusting Christ said “Not me Lord!” Who was the first to forsake the Lord? Peter!
j. Jer.9: 23-24 – Let not the wise man glory (or trust) in his wisdom… but let him glory in the fact that he knows (relies upon) a God with infinite understanding!
• Who would you trust to invest all your hard earn savings? A man who is deceived or someone with infinite understanding?
• Who would you want to operate on you? Someone who is riddled with intellectual pride (I don’t have to study those medical books!) or a physician with infinite understanding?
• Doesn’t it just make SENSE to trust God?
k. Jer.10:23-24 – “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. 24O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.”
h.) In any decision we make—big or small—we need to examine it in light of God’s Word… we need divine guidance.
i. Unfortunately, many folks examine God’s Word in light of their own understanding… and their own understanding is given preference OVER God’s Word. Disaster!
3. Phil.3:3 – we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh!
a. Paul knew better than to trust himself!
b. Trusting in the flesh… trusting in self becomes an idol… another master!
c. Jer. 17:5 – you cannot trust in SELF AND GOD! Cursed is the man who trusts in man!
d. Jer. 17:7 – BLESSED is the man who trusts in the Lord.
4. Either we walk by FAITH (trusting God) or we are walking by sight (trusting in that which we can see—the earthly, physical things—including self—human talents, riches, power, wisdom)
a. We can kind of stumble through our Christian life assuming we are walking by faith. A test will PROVE to us whom we are trusting!
b. Every day, we need to PRACTICE trusting God and NOT leaning on our own understanding.