Do Not Lean on Your Own Understanding: God Will Make Good on His Word
Imagine how Jesus' disciples must have felt the day after His crucifixion. That Saturday must have been the darkest day of their lives. With Jesus' body lying lifeless in the tomb, all the disciples' hopes of reform and a better life were ripped to shreds.
For years, they'd been fantasizing about how Jesus, the conquering Messiah, would free the Jews from the oppression of Rome and give them a new political system.
Now, instead, the Romans had brutally nailed their beloved Leader to a cross, murdering Him… Israel's enemy had triumphed again!
However…if the disciples had understood Jesus’ predictions about His death and resurrection, they wouldn't have been so heartbroken.
No, they would have rejoiced in God's glorious plan for humanity—a plan that was unfolding before their very eyes. And they would have been blown away that Jesus had handpicked them to play such an essential role in it!
The problem was it didn't click. The disciples had failed to wrap their minds around the spiritual truths Jesus revealed to them during His earthly ministry (Luke 24:44).
So now, the day following the crucifixion, they were looking exclusively at their circumstances and not the assurances Jesus had graciously given them while He walked with them.
Even after receiving the news that Jesus had risen from the dead, many of the disciples still refused to believe (Mark 16:10-14). They guarded themselves with cynicism, not wanting to get disappointed again.
You and I aren't much different, are we? Like Peter, James, John, and the rest of 'em, we easily cave in to fear when we can't make out what God is up to. We read Jesus' explicit promises in the Bible, but we stress and worry when things don't look as we’d imagined they would. And like them, we often retreat into the comfort zone of disbelief.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart," Scripture says, "and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Most of us are familiar with these verses. But how many of us can raise our hand and say we know how to LIVE them?
To be clear, not leaning on our own understanding doesn't mean we should check our brains at the door. The Bible teaches no such thing. In fact, it teaches the opposite. The same book of Proverbs, which instructs us not to lean on our understanding, repeatedly stresses the importance of using wisdom in decision-making.
For example:
"Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding" (2:2).
"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel (12:15).
"Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding" (14:33).
"How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver" (16:16).
"Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it" (16:22).
"He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will find good" (19:8).
To not lean on our own understanding means we put less weight on our understanding—what we see in front of us, hear, feel, or even think—than on what God has revealed to us in His Word. It means we recognize that even the most brilliant person's perception isn't going to reflect reality with one hundred percent accuracy.
But it does NOT mean we take "blind leaps of faith." Faith is never blind…not the kind of faith it talks about in the Bible.
It's unbelief that is blind (John 9:39-41). The disciples were blinded by unbelief the day after the crucifixion: by doubt, disappointment, and dread of the future.
Faith, on its part, sees spiritual realities very clearly. Faith trusts in what it has reason to believe is true. That's the definition of biblical faith!
At this moment in time, you and I can only make out a tiny part of the picture. We only see the here and now. And we only see the part of our lives that involves us and those around us.
We can't see how God is orchestrating today's events for our long-term good, ultimate glorification, and the benefit of others—even future generations (for one, the story of Joseph in the Old Testament is a perfect illustration of this truth).
That Saturday, the disciples were leaning on their own understanding. They were shortsighted. They were looking exclusively with their eyes. They saw a corpse in the grave and certain, imminent persecution.
In no time at all, they’d gone from faith-filled to faithless.
But Jesus didn't let His disciples down, did He? What a spectacular morning it was that Easter Sunday when He rose from the grave, having defeated death and Satan!
And when the disciples encountered their Lord again—now in all His heavenly splendor—they found that everything He’d shared with them was true!
All their doubts evaporated. Once again, they were singing God’s praises. Mourning was turned into dancing when Jesus made good on His word and walked out of that tomb… Hallelujah!
How about you today? What are the circumstances that have gotten you down?
Will you trust God's promises over your perception, putting ALL your hopes in Him?
Will you believe before you see with your eyes?
L.B.
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