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Proverbs 3:5 says to trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. That doesn’t mean to always sit back and expect a miracle from Him, though there are times that it may be more feasible to wait for the Lord when you’ve reached the end of your rope or those of loved ones. God expects you to do what you can, before He deems it necessary to give you a hand. As God says in Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Note that He doesn’t say we don’t have to lift a finger.
What is it that we really fear when a fit of fear grabs us? It isn’t of anything concrete. If you were to walk in midtown Manhattan amidst buildings that are undergoing renovations and you see a concrete block falling that may hit you on the head, do you not really fear the outcome if you remain standing under the falling block, rather than fearing the block itself? If you saw a concrete block lying on a sidewalk, would you be afraid of it that that point? If you’re hiking in the woods and you see a bear running toward you, are you really afraid of the bear, or are you not afraid of the outcome if the bear were to attack you? Would you be afraid of that bear if you saw him in a cage at the zoo?
In fear, the outcome is the thing, and it isn’t hard to perceive that Psalms 23 says the Lord will shepherd you through that fear. In Joshua 1:9, Joshua probably experienced some degree of fear before he went against the enemies of the Hebrews when he was charged with clearing the way for the Promised land, when the Lord says to him “...Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Note that God in Joshua 1:9 doesn’t say ‘Stay where you are, I’ll go for you.” When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, the Lord expected Adam to till the earth; and he expected Eve to help him in other matters; he did not expect them to lay around for God to do all the work. In that respect, God expects us to do what we can.
As God controls the future, He controls the outcome of things, The things we do and the decisions we make all lead to outcomes. For us, outcomes exist to the extent of uncertainties. If we use a knife to cut a sandwich in half, there exists a certainty the sandwich will be cut in half. To that extent, no uncertainty exists, and an outcome is not an outcome, it is a foregone conclusion. But if we accept that there’s a chance of an outcome resulting from an earthquake which presents us from using that knife, and we’ve encountered an outcome head-on, will God control the outcome so it doesn’t interfere with our cutting the sandwich, or will He let the earthquake take its course? The reflexive impulse of fear may set in, until we remember what God told us in Isaiah 41:10—God is with us.
And what of the outcome? It may seem disastrous at first. The earthquake may destroy our home, but as it says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” So in the end, we are still alive, and we might, say, enjoy an insurance settlement that enables us to live in a bigger home. Or, we might perish in that earthquake, to find ourselves in Heaven, who knows?
But to love God is to trust Him, as Proverbs 3:5 calls on us to trust Him and to put our understanding aside. We do not understand everything. We certainly don’t understand the Lord’s mysterious ways, as our thoughts are not His Thoughts. Our understanding conjures up fears, but our trust in God puts those fears aside. And at the end of the day, whatever outcome exists as a result of our actions will turn out to be a good outcome for us.
What is it that we really fear when a fit of fear grabs us? It isn’t of anything concrete. If you were to walk in midtown Manhattan amidst buildings that are undergoing renovations and you see a concrete block falling that may hit you on the head, do you not really fear the outcome if you remain standing under the falling block, rather than fearing the block itself? If you saw a concrete block lying on a sidewalk, would you be afraid of it that that point? If you’re hiking in the woods and you see a bear running toward you, are you really afraid of the bear, or are you not afraid of the outcome if the bear were to attack you? Would you be afraid of that bear if you saw him in a cage at the zoo?
In fear, the outcome is the thing, and it isn’t hard to perceive that Psalms 23 says the Lord will shepherd you through that fear. In Joshua 1:9, Joshua probably experienced some degree of fear before he went against the enemies of the Hebrews when he was charged with clearing the way for the Promised land, when the Lord says to him “...Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Note that God in Joshua 1:9 doesn’t say ‘Stay where you are, I’ll go for you.” When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, the Lord expected Adam to till the earth; and he expected Eve to help him in other matters; he did not expect them to lay around for God to do all the work. In that respect, God expects us to do what we can.
As God controls the future, He controls the outcome of things, The things we do and the decisions we make all lead to outcomes. For us, outcomes exist to the extent of uncertainties. If we use a knife to cut a sandwich in half, there exists a certainty the sandwich will be cut in half. To that extent, no uncertainty exists, and an outcome is not an outcome, it is a foregone conclusion. But if we accept that there’s a chance of an outcome resulting from an earthquake which presents us from using that knife, and we’ve encountered an outcome head-on, will God control the outcome so it doesn’t interfere with our cutting the sandwich, or will He let the earthquake take its course? The reflexive impulse of fear may set in, until we remember what God told us in Isaiah 41:10—God is with us.
And what of the outcome? It may seem disastrous at first. The earthquake may destroy our home, but as it says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” So in the end, we are still alive, and we might, say, enjoy an insurance settlement that enables us to live in a bigger home. Or, we might perish in that earthquake, to find ourselves in Heaven, who knows?
But to love God is to trust Him, as Proverbs 3:5 calls on us to trust Him and to put our understanding aside. We do not understand everything. We certainly don’t understand the Lord’s mysterious ways, as our thoughts are not His Thoughts. Our understanding conjures up fears, but our trust in God puts those fears aside. And at the end of the day, whatever outcome exists as a result of our actions will turn out to be a good outcome for us.
