Confide in Jehovah with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own intelligence;
This verse sets two rival supports side by side: the LORD, and a person's own grasp of things. Commentators read it as a choice between two ways of living, and they ask what "all your heart" means in daily life.
One writer sets the choice out as two paths, and points to where the wrong one started:
Two paths lie before man — to trust God, or to trust himself and his own wisdom for his happiness. This is exactly where Eve failed. She did not confide in God, did not trust Him and what He had said, for her happiness. She leaned on her own understanding, thinking she could secure it better by doing what seemed advantageous to her. So it is with every sinner. He thinks he can secure his own happiness better by doing his own will than by listening to God. Trust in God is the first positive, active principle of life and wisdom.
The command is only as good as its object. One commentator points to the privilege in it. Israel had such a God to trust, and He asked for that trust:
How blessed for the Israelite that he had Him to trust in — and that He even asked for that trust! He was in no way told to trust himself. He was only a creature whose breath is in his nostrils; what is he worth? It was wise to stop leaning on man, wiser still to trust in the LORD.
The words "all your heart" set the measure. One writer explains what "all" means here:
Our understanding is very faulty in many things. If we depend on it, we will be badly misled. The only safe alternative is to trust in the Lord with all our heart — that is, fully and without reserve. He will certainly not deceive us, and there is no possibility of His making a mistake.
The second half of the verse says something about how man was made. One writer links it to two other warnings in the Bible:
Cursed is the man who trusts in man, says the prophet (Jeremiah 17:5), and he who trusts his own heart is a fool (Proverbs 28:26)... God has made man dependent on Himself. So no one should think he can take up eternal problems and solve them by his own natural intelligence. If he tries, he is as certain to go astray as if going astray were the one desire of his heart.
Trust that stops at the large decisions has not obeyed the verse. Writing to someone starting out in life, one writer shows how far this trust should reach:
Do not think that any detail of your new life is too small for God to guide you in. The choice of your business, your future home, your companions — all should be entrusted to Him. He will honour such confidence, and lead you in the very best path. For it would be foolish to think that a loving and all-wise Father would or could do anything else.
Guidance is not a technique for getting answers on demand. One writer looks at John, one of Jesus' closest followers, and links guidance to living near the Lord:
John did not go and take a place near Christ to know His secrets; he had a place near Christ, and then the secrets were given to him. You cannot go to Christ with your questions, as John did, unless you are living near Him. It is simply "trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding." You must live near the Lord, or you cannot count on His guidance.
- Two paths. Every life leans on one of two supports — God, or self. Eve chose the second, and so does every sinner who thinks his own way will make him happier than God's word.
- All. The measure is the whole heart: full, with nothing held back. Our understanding is faulty at many points; He never deceives and never makes a mistake.
- Not self. God set man in dependence on Himself. Confidence in your own natural intelligence for eternal questions guarantees going astray.
- Every detail. Nothing is too small to entrust — work, home, friendships. A loving and all-wise Father could not lead you anywhere but the best path.
- Nearness. Guidance follows closeness. Live near the Lord, and the promised direction becomes something you can count on.
in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will make plain thy paths.
Verse 5 tells the heart where to lean. Verse 6 takes that trust into the street, the office and the daily calendar. So what does it look like to acknowledge Him in all your ways, and how does the promised direction reach us?
One commentator sets the two verses side by side as the first and second working principles of wisdom. He points back to Eve in the garden to show the opposite.
Two paths are before man — to trust God, or to trust himself and his own wisdom for his happiness. This is just what Eve failed in. She did not trust God, or what He had said, for her happiness. She leaned on her own understanding instead... Trust in God is the first positive, active principle of life and wisdom. The next is acknowledging Him in our ways. We let His will and authority shape them, not our own will and wisdom, and we do that openly (v. 6). He will surely direct our steps. No human wisdom can guide like that.
"All your ways" is wide on purpose. It reaches into the corners of life where God is left out. The second half of the verse answers with a God who takes an interest in the obstacles in front of us.
We owe it to the LORD to acknowledge Him where He is easily ignored or forgotten — in each detail of daily life, and in all of them. And it did bear present fruit, for He could not forget, who never slumbers or sleeps. "And He will make straight your paths." He is Lord of all, no less than He is the Eternal. He concerns Himself with every obstacle and difficulty for those who want to walk by His will without turning aside.
Many treat God as a consultant for crises only. The verse asks for something steadier. Another Scripture explains why.
It is written that "it is not in man who walks to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23). And again we read, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths." We are not just to turn to the Lord in some great emergency. We are to wait on Him as a habit, in the details of life, great and small. Acknowledging Him, we shall find that He guides us; then we shall be able to say, "I bless the LORD who gives me counsel."
Acknowledging Him is not only inward. One writer draws out the spoken side of it.
Not only should we recognise His guidance, but we should be glad to acknowledge it in all our ways and by word of mouth also. We ought to SAY, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." And notice, please: we OUGHT to say it. It is not something we may say and then find that God approves. It is something we must say if we want to give Him His proper place in our lives.
Changes of circumstance are the test — a new job, a new friendship, a new tie.
At every change it is our privilege and our safety to depend on God and to do the will of the One we belong to... "O God, we belong to You. Guide us in all our ways," should be our cry. A young man starting in business, or young Christians forming friendships and new ties, should let one great fact control them: they were bought with a price.
How does God make a path straight? Writers point first to Scripture, and to asking.
But the direction must come from the word of God. Sometimes we do not know what to do — we want to do what is right and we don't know what is right. Well, you lack wisdom, don't you? And "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God." It shall be told you, "This is the way, walk in it."
That does not mean finding a verse for every errand. So how do we know what to do?
It is not, by any means, a question of having a literal text of Scripture for every movement or every act... The answer is: wait on God, with a single eye and a sincere heart, and He will make your path as plain as a sunbeam.
- Acknowledge — the trust of verse 5 becomes the obedience of verse 6. His will shapes our ways, not our own, and we say so openly.
- All — the small details where He is forgotten, and the big changes that decide a future.
- Habit — not a rescue call in a crisis. We wait on Him in matters great and small, and say "if the Lord wills" out loud.
- Means — direction comes through His word, and through asking God for the wisdom we admit we lack.
- Result — He makes the paths straight and takes on every obstacle. Wait on Him with a single eye, and the way is as plain as a sunbeam.