Lean not unto thine own understanding.

Proverbs
{3:1} My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments
{3:2} For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
{3:3} Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart
{3:4} So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

**
We studied this yesterday a little bit. The next couple verses don't have the word 'truth' in them but I wanted to touch on them any way.

{3:5} Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
{3:6} In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

**

Lean not unto thine own understanding.

We can try as hard as we want to.
We can glimpse into the understanding as we seek to walk with God.
We can do all in our power to find clarity with all the answers, but we won't find them fully, ever.

The whys and hows of God are mysteries.

Scientists can rip apart the smallest part of a human being in an effort to find all the answers. We can read in the newspaper, or hear on the news that 'another great discovery' was made in the advance of mapping the human genome, we're one step closer to understanding, but you know what it's lies. No, not that the advances aren't being made because they are. What is a lie is that we're closer to understanding. Every discovery made only produces more and more questions. We want to understand, we think by explaining away things we master them, that we gain some control over them. Having to rely on anyone but ourselves goes against the grain of our pride. We *should* be able to have control. We *don't* want to rely on any one else to decide our fate. We do have that control in the power of our choice but beyond that we have to have faith in God.

We can't lean unto our own understanding.

When life turns upside-down and we cry out that we just don't understand why all that is happening is happening, we want understanding but God want us to trust in Him beyond our understanding.

'Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all they ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.'

That covers so much of how to live in God.

Trusting with all our heart- as a child trusts, never suspecting their parent could hurt them in any way and even if they do, the child will time and again forgive a parent and love them, trusting them once more. Leaning not unto our own understanding. We can't understand the ways of God, they were by faith and truth beyond our comprehension. We have to have God in our lives in every way possible. There isn't one single part of our lives we shouldn't have God in, not a single one. In all our ways we have to acknowledge him.

Lean not unto thine own understanding.

Our cries of not understanding are in fact understandable, in just knowing we *can't* understand. Such a wonderful paradox, but so true and so relieving being able to trust in God and not our own limited understanding.

May God help us to acknowledge Him now and always and trust in him not ourselves or our own understanding.

Amen.