Proverbs in 31 DaysSample

In Proverbs 3, we see Solomon’s continued instructions on how to live a wise and righteous life. On the surface, it might seem as if this chapter is all over the place, but we can actually pick up on a pattern that is threaded from the beginning to the end of Proverbs 3. Throughout this chapter, Solomon outlines sets of instructions followed by the benefits of following those instructions. Some of these instructions involve submitting to wisdom, receiving God’s discipline, and how we should interact with the people around us that God has placed in our lives.

Towards the beginning of this chapter, we see one of the most recognizable passages in all of Proverbs. Let’s re-read these often-memorized words of Proverbs 3:5-6:

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to Him,
and He will make your paths straight.

If you have spent much time in church at all, you have probably heard those words before (and maybe even heard a sermon or two about them). Most of us want to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. But how? How do we do it when the seemingly powerful voices of the world around us are consistently nudging us to lean on our own understanding?

First, we have to acknowledge how little of the big picture we’re able to see. As much as we wish our understanding of the world was even remotely equivalent to God’s, 1 Corinthians 1:25 says, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” Our understanding is often driven by how we feel, not necessarily what we know to be true about God.

Secondly, we submit to Him in all of our ways—both the large and small. If we wake up each day and submit each appointment, meeting, conversation, and interaction to God (no matter how significant or insignificant it might seem), we develop the muscle of living faithfully. The more we learn to live faithfully in the small parts of our lives, the more natural it will become for us to live faithfully in all parts of our lives.