TLIC FAMILY. PROVERBS. DECEMBER 28: OWN.

THINK TOGETHER.

Have you ever had a “good idea” that turned out to be a bad idea?

READ TOGETHER

Proverbs 3:5-6. ⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. ⁶In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

As we get close to the new year we are revisiting two of the greatest verses in the Bible – Proverbs 3:5-6. These two little verses are a summary of the whole Bible. They tell us the whole meaning of life, to trust God and let him direct us.

Of course we know that the reason we can trust God is because of Jesus, and we know that the way God directs us is through Jesus living in our hearts. And that’s why we can do the second part of verse five: do not lean on your own understanding.

One thing we know for sure is that we don’t know anything for sure. That is with the exception of Jesus and his love for us. Jesus loves me this I know is one of the few things we can know with our whole heart. Everything else that we think we know we probably don’t really know for sure.

We can be “sure” that our friend said something mean about us, but then it turns out that they didn’t. We can be “sure” that we studied enough for the test, but then it turns out that we failed the test. We can be “sure” that what we did was the right thing to do, but then it really hurt someone’s feelings. We can be “sure” that the little lie we told is no big deal, but then it gets us in trouble and makes others stop trusting us.

In life we can be sure of two things: 1) Our own understanding will almost always be wrong or at least fall short, and 2) God loves us and knows more than us so we should trust him instead.  The proof? Jesus and his death for us on the cross.

Because of Jesus we know we can trust God’s ways.

With Jesus we can lean on God’s understanding, not our own.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Do a family trust fall together (or watch some failed attempts on YouTube). How hard is it to trust each other? What makes you “lean on your own understanding?” Ask: Do you have trouble trusting God at all? Why?

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus, your understanding of things is way better than mine. I want to lean on you every day. Help me to always know that you love me no matter what. Amen.