Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Pr 3:5–6.
I will try to articulate my thoughts on this scripture as well as I can. My focus is on the words “your own understanding”. That seems to be the hinge of the scripture for me, at least in my own understanding (irony understood).
God created this world and all that exists within it with precision and beauty. Even mankind was created without flaw and in the image of the creator Themselves. His ability to do such things cannot be understood by the minds of men no matter how hard we try. At some point we just have to say, “I don’t understand it but I acknowledge and accept that it’s true.” Otherwise we would be paralyzed in our own uncertainty and ignorance.
We must realize the character of God, first and foremost. Once we begin to understand His character we slowly begin to understand His will and His actions. Not entirely understand them but at least we can connect the dots and look at the things that He has done and connect the dots back to His character. Most of the time it makes sense. Now, the question is do we need to be able to understand and reason through everything in order to have confidence in it? Not if we know enough about God’s character to take Him at His word.
In times when details are absent and reasoning falls short, trust that God knows everything there is to know about your circumstances. Time is no barrier and secrets are non existant to Him. He is omniscient and when asked He will be willing to tell you which direction to go and where to step.
I want to close with this. Adrian Rogers said this about praying to God and petitioning Him in prayer: “Sometimes, when God has a gracious purpose, God delays.” Be patient, He is listening, He may just have a better way and He is waiting for everything to line up.