Trust in the Lord...

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

and He will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart:

Trust seems to be an action which is so much easier said than done. I've resorted to my dictionary again, but the amazing thing is, trust is first defined as a noun, then as a verb (action). As a noun, trust is defined as a "firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something." So trust is directly tied to a person or thing, and it is dependent on the character or quality of who or what is being trusted.

The Lord, our God, is to be trusted with a firm belief in the reliability and strength of who He is. There are tremendous amounts of truths written in the Word which show the faithfulness of our God. Also, "all" in Greek means "all". Therefore, whatever the situation, the entirety of our hearts needs to be devoted to trusting God.

Do not lean on your own understanding:

How tempting it is to think that we know it all. Pride tells us we can figure out a solution on our own, or we can overcome a situation on our own strength. However, the reality is everything that has been revealed and communicated to us has first came from God. Our own understanding, logic and comprehension is limited by our human condition.

Also, we were just instructed to "trust in the Lord with all [our] heart". This requires us to trust - that even when it doesn't make sense in our own minds and understanding - we lean in to God, trusting Him to see us through.

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In all your ways acknowledge Him:

There's that word "all" again. "All" in Greek still means "all". This includes anything and everything that we say and do. In Colossians 3:17 it states, "and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (NKJV, my emphasis).

To acknowledge is to "accept or admit the existence or truth of". Or according to this article, Webster's dictionary defines acknowledge as "to recognize the rights, authority or status of". So when we accept the authority of God in all of our ways...

He will make straight your paths:

Another translation says "and He will direct your path". I've heard a lot about the word "paths" recently. This making of straight paths is not a question of free will, because God has given us freedom to choose. But when we choose trust in the Lord with all our heart... when we choose not to lean on our own understanding... and when we choose acknowledge Him in all we say and do... He will make our paths straight. He will guide us. And that's a promise.

I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. 

I will advise you and watch over you.

Psalm 32:8 NLT

I instructed you in the way of wisdom; 

I have guided you along straight paths.

Proverbs 4:11 TLV