Proverbs 20:24 speaks plainly to our FOMO, to the anxiety to retain control and to sweat all the details of life:
A person’s steps are directed by the LORD.
How then can anyone understand their own way?
Who has the final say, who holds the reins, whose plans are going to be realised? Not ours. Our steps are directed by the one who gave his own Son for us and will, with him, freely give us all things. Our days are ordered by the God who is light and in whom is no darkness at all. We need have no fear as to his competency nor his commitment to our good.
The need to trust him is underscored by the fact that we simply do not have the insight and depth of wisdom that are necessary to truly understand ourselves - our motivations, our foibles, the impact upon us of both nature and nurture, the radical disturbance of sin upon the soul.
Just a few verses earlier, Proverbs 20:5 alerts us to that when it recognises “The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters.” Every one of us is a profound mystery, not simply to others but even to ourselves. We are beings with depths that can only be scoped by supreme wisdom - “one who has insight draws them out”.
We cannot understand our own way nor our own hearts, not truly and fully. It isn’t capitulation to put our trust in the one whose love never fails and whose wisdom has no lack.
But humility isn’t passivity, surrendering to the void of unknowing and being carried by the currents of circumstance. Proverbs 3:5,6, so beloved by many, expresses exactly the posture we ought to adopt:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”
Trust in the one who has covenanted to be your God; don’t lean into or upon your own insights. But in all your ways - in all your goings, as you walk and make your way through life - go with the flow of his faithfulness (submit to him). You won't be discarded at the last.
Our lives have so many variables. We’re often desperate to be in control but there are far too many things that are not within our grasp, that we cannot shape or bend to our will. Nor do we need to do so in order to properly thrive and to live with confidence and composure. Our times are in his hands, hands that were pierced for our redemption. He directs our steps and for that we can be truly thankful.
************
God holds the key of all unknown,
And I am glad;
If other hands should hold the key,
Or if He trusted it to me,
I might be sad.
What if tomorrow’s cares were here
Without its rest?
I’d rather He unlocked the day,
And, as the hours swing open, say,
‘My will is best’.
The very dimness of my sight
Makes me secure;
For, groping in my misty way,
I feel His hand; I hear Him say,
‘My help is sure’.
I cannot read His future plans;
But this I know:
I have the smiling of His face,
And all the refuge of His grace,
While here below.
Enough: this covers all my wants;
And so I rest!
For what I cannot, He can see,
And in His care I saved shall be,
For ever blest.
(Joseph Parker, 1830-1902)
Trust in the one who has covenanted to be your God; don’t lean into or upon your own insights. But in all your ways - in all your goings, as you walk and make your way through life - go with the flow of his faithfulness (submit to him). You won't be discarded at the last.
Our lives have so many variables. We’re often desperate to be in control but there are far too many things that are not within our grasp, that we cannot shape or bend to our will. Nor do we need to do so in order to properly thrive and to live with confidence and composure. Our times are in his hands, hands that were pierced for our redemption. He directs our steps and for that we can be truly thankful.
************
God holds the key of all unknown,
And I am glad;
If other hands should hold the key,
Or if He trusted it to me,
I might be sad.
What if tomorrow’s cares were here
Without its rest?
I’d rather He unlocked the day,
And, as the hours swing open, say,
‘My will is best’.
The very dimness of my sight
Makes me secure;
For, groping in my misty way,
I feel His hand; I hear Him say,
‘My help is sure’.
I cannot read His future plans;
But this I know:
I have the smiling of His face,
And all the refuge of His grace,
While here below.
Enough: this covers all my wants;
And so I rest!
For what I cannot, He can see,
And in His care I saved shall be,
For ever blest.
(Joseph Parker, 1830-1902)
