PROVERB PRACTICALS  

 

Proverbs 3:5,  Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding.

The word "trust" is from a Hebrew word which means to flee for refuge; to flee for protection. So to trust is to move from a place of danger to a place of safety. Trust indicates an urgency of action. It is not something to be put off, for time is wasting and danger is increasing as time presses on.

Isn't this ever true in life as time marches on and you are not saved? Do not the ones who go through life without Jesus Christ continually head toward the abyss? Did not the Lord Jesus Christ say that the plucking out your right eye or the cutting off your right hand was less of a loss than your whole body being cast into hell?

This Proverbs father is serious about this instruction. Trust in the Lord, son! Flee from danger to a place of safety, and the Word tells you where to find that safety. The father is as quick to instruct as he wants his son to be as quick to trust. There is no quandary here or consideration of various options. No! The father tells his son there is only one place to find refuge, and that place is in the Lord.

This is where faith comes in. Faith accepts the source of that refuge and protection. By faith I am persuaded that only in the Lord is the place of refuge and protection. My mind assents to this. Faith then is the engine that causes the movement required to trust.

The Old Testament scriptures present occasion after occasion of this kind of trust and it is always described as escape from many places of danger to one place of refuge. David spake of this trust in 2 Sam 22:2,3, ….. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; ….. in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour;

My first engineering job was that of a railroad bridge designer. I did not begin to design bridges the first day because I did not know how to design a bridge. You might ask, "How did you get your engineering degree if you didn’t know how to design a railroad bridge?" Well I learned the same things that all college students learn, simply the tools of the trade. I didn't know much that was practical! After college is when you learn the application of the tools of the trade, and most times that is learned on the job. So the first few months I was assigned portions of designs so I could learn the components of bridge building. Eventually, by these experiences I learned to design a complete bridge. The time came when I was given the task of designing a bridge an entire bridge, and I applied the things I learned in college.

My boss exercised a limited faith in me, knowing that experienced bridge designers would check my work. I worked diligently on that bridge with the understanding that if I wanted to design greater bridges I must perform well in little bridges. The bridge was eventually built somewhere in Louisiana.

But the highlight of my bridge design career was when the grizzled old bridge builder foreman called the office and complimented the design, telling my boss that all the components had fit well and he was proud of the finished product. This was not a normal thing for a foreman to be passing out compliments especially to engineers. This bridge foreman communicated his faith in the bridge he had built and that I had designed. He knew good bridges when he saw one, and he said he saw one in this bridge. But what would my boss have said if the bridge builder had not wanted to take a locomotive with all its heavy cars across the bridge? What demonstrated that his faith in that bridge was true faith? Why, it was his willingness to cross the bridge with the heaviest load the railroad permitted and to know that that bridge would do its job. That faith was a true faith that caused movement of the gigantic locomotive across the bridge..

Having faith in the bridge designer, the bridge builders, and the bridge materials will lead to faith in the bridge, but unless that faith persuades leads you to be on the heaviest train to cross that bridge it is worthless. You may say that you have faith, but if that faith does not lead to trusting you might as well throw out that kind of faith.

If the train never crosses the bridge, that bridge might as well be dismantled and sold for scrap! The bridge is useless! If your faith never leads you to the place of refuge that the Lord provides, your faith is vain. Faith that never leads you to rely on the Lord in all your ways is useless, for it accomplishes nothing. Faith must bring trust if God is to accomplish anything in your life. God has a plan for you but it requires crossing the bridge.

"PROVERB PRACTICALS" Article in "The Projector" for Proverbs 3:5, over the bridge