"Leaning, Leaning, Leaning on...?"

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding."

This is no doubt one of the most memorized verses in the Bible. Many a young person has claimed this as their life verse and rightfully so. It is the last part of that verse that I have been thinking about lately. And it has to do with the word "lean". I think to help understand what it means to lean you can change the words around a bit. Lean on the Lord with all your heart and do not trust in your own understanding. To lean on is to trust, to trust is to lean on.

Several years ago Karen and I had the opportunity to go to Italy and see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. People come from all over the world to see this leaning tower. I guess it is a good thing it is leaning because there are buildings all around it that are perfectly straight and no one pays any attention to them. I even walked up to the top of this tower and like Galileo (a real scientist) thought I would drop something off the building, like an apple, to see what I could discover. I discovered that the people on the ground apparently did not appreciate my quest for knowledge. (that is if hand signals mean anything.) Just think about it, here is a tower famous for one thing, it leans. But as you look at the tower and at pictures of this tower you notice something. It is leaning toward other buildings but it is not leaning on them and there is a very big difference.

As we think about our verse I think this helps us see what the writer is saying. Trusting God is not leaning toward Him, it is leaning on Him. To lean ON something or someone is to place our entire weight on them and without them we would fall flat on our face. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, is not an invitation to lean toward him. That is not trust. What is true in such cases is that we are leaning in the LORD's direction but are holding ourselves up .

What are some things people lean on?

• Lean on their own understanding
• Lean on their friends
• Lean on their education
  
• Lean on their jobs
• Lean on their bank accounts
• Lean on fame and popularity
• Lean on the government
• Lean on their success
  
• Lean on the economy
• Lean on pills
• Lean on the church
• Lean on doctors
• Lean on credit cards
  

The situation for many is that they are leaning toward God but in reality are trusting or leaning on these things to help them, sustain them, and meet their needs. And our prayers often reflect this. We pray and ask God to help all the things we are leaning on to come through for us. It is prayer directed toward God concerning the things we are really trusting in. "God please don't let these things let me down!" It is because of this that so many people are discouraged, anxious and confused in their Christian walk. They do not understand what it means to trust in (lean on) the Lord with ALL their heart.
Trusting God is not leaning in his direction - it is placing all of our weight, all our hopes and dreams, our family, all our needs on Him and if He does not come through we fall flat on our faces. There is no plan B. He is our everything, we are trusting in Him alone to sustain us. We are trusting in Him alone to save us. We are casting all of our care upon Him, trusting Him, leaning on Him. The good news is God promises to do just that. He cares for us. Do not look in God's direction on Sunday and spend the rest of the week leaning on your own understanding. God will never lead you astray, our own understanding will lead us astray every time. Remember, The Just shall live by Faith.

" Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path."
" My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus" Phil 4:19

Read Matthew 6:25-33 to see some wonderful promises God gives us about our everyday needs.

May we be found "Leaning, leaning, leaning on His Everlasting Arms"