Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know Him, and he will make your paths straight.
English translations of this familiar Scripture passage most commonly render the opening phrase of verse 6 as, “in all your ways acknowledge Him.” Most literally it reads, “in all your ways know Him.”
“In all your ways know the LORD,” and He will make clear to you the ways you should go in your life journey here below. It is in knowing the Lord and trusting entirely in Him rather than ourselves that the right decisions, directions, responses, courses of action for us will be found.
This doesn’t mean that God will give us insider information about what our temporal future holds; He certainly knows and could reveal this. Rather, it means that our decisions are fundamentally to be based on values of godliness and righteousness instead of trying to control outcomes; we are to do what is right by the Lord, and leave the outcomes to Him to decide. What a relief! But also, at times, how fearful!
We all struggle with giving up control and trusting, but here again, our solution is to “know the LORD.” The more we truly know Him, (and ourselves!), the more willing and eager we will be for His leadership of our lives.
The coronavirus pandemic has presented us with substantial uncertainties. It has been a dominating, unprecedented situation, and we have been placed in circumstances we have never before encountered. Moving forward, we will all likely be looking at life and the future somewhat more tentatively.
But we can move forward confidently, for the key lies not with medical discovery, scientific progress, governmental action, economic engineering, or any other human contingency, but, as ever and always, with knowing the Lord. And the Lord has made knowledge of Himself–His self-revelation, so available to us, to any who desire to know Him. “So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD” (Hosea 6:3)!
Open His Word! Converse with Him in prayer! Purposefully encounter Him in Christian fellowship (whatever the forum). Engage with Him in worship! Experience Him in Christian obedience and service! Observe Him in His creation. Above all, receive Him in Jesus Christ!
Jesus says, “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to you and dine with you, and you with me” (Revelation 3:20).
How will you today respond to Jesus’ knocking, and press on to know the Lord?