Many Christians today choose our focal verse as their “Life Verse”. Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Book of Proverbs, to:

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

It is no wonder that this is the “Life Verse” of many Christians. But this was also the “Life Verse” that an ancient parent shared with his child. We know this because of our context:

Proverbs 3:1-4 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4 so shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

This ancient father was telling his son of a Law that he was to follow. He told his son, “If you heed this law – this Life Verse I’m going to give you – you will have a long and peaceful life. This Life Verse is the secret to mercy and truth – if you break it, you will lose both. Memorize this. Bind it around your neck – let it effect your senses of smell, touch, sight, and hearing. Bind it to your heart and you will be blessed”.

Who was this ancient father? Proverbs 1:1 tells us that these are “the proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel” (see also Proverbs 25:1). Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. As he wrote these proverbs, these were truths that he discovered through his walk with the Lord. King Solomon wrote these proverbs to his son who, had Rehoboam heeded them, Israel would never have seen civil war.

The Happy Life Is The Surrendered Life

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

I loved listening to Adrian Rogers when he was on this earth, and I still listen to his God blessed recorded sermons today. Adrian once said:

“We live in the day of guided missiles and misguided men. We get places quicker than we used to, but we still don’t know where we’re going!”

Amen brother! People today are frantically searching for happiness. Years ago, many thought they would be happy when same sex couples could be legally married. Once the non-Biblical definition of marriage was made the law of the United States, people still weren’t happy. Others thought that happiness would come when heterosexual people could turn the wonderful intimacy of what should have been in the wedding bed into something as common as a handshake. We live is an age where sexual morals are extremely lax. Are people happy? No. Others thought the legalization of drugs like marijuana, happiness would come. Are we living in a happy place? No, people still aren’t happy. People, we should be happy. Sin is in – and yet we are not happy. Why?

The Bible tells us that while we are:

Romans 7:5 … in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

The things which the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world (Ephesians 6:12) push as happiness cannot bring happiness – not lasting happiness. These things bring death. The Bible says:

Romans 6:23 … the wages of sin is death

Sin is that which emphasizes the pleasure of the flesh. Sin emphasizes me over thee. Sin produces self love, but lovelessness toward anything that is not self. Sin says in the Garden of Eden:

“Yea, hath God really said, you shall not eat of every tree of the Garden? It will not harm you! God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1, 4-5, author’s paraphrase).

Mankind was fooled in the beginning, and is being fooled the same way today. As humans we were made to be MORE than what Satan wants us to be. We were made to be children of God. We were made to walk with God. This is the only thing that will bring genuine and perpetual happiness: to

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart…

Let’s unpack this. What does the word “Trust” mean? This is the Hebrew בָּטַח bâṭach, {pronounced baw-takh’}, which means “to run to, to take refuge in, to hide yourself in, to confidently lean on or put your confidence in”. The sense of this word is to let the Lord take your full weight – to give Him all that you are. It is the life that says “not my will, but Thine, O God, be done”.

The more you rely on yourselves for blessing in life the less your blessing will be.

If you want to have a life at one with God then you must rely on Him, seeking His guidance through His Word in your whole life. This is the essence of true saving faith. Many people today say, “I believe in God”. Yet if you genuinely “believe in God”, then you bâṭach, {pronounced baw-takh’} Him. Our trust is not to be in ourselves or in others, but

Trust in the LORD

Who is “the LORD”? This is the Hebrewיְהֹוָה Yhwh. The original Hebrew had no vowels, so when we say this word (which sounds like air blown through the lips) we often add vowels to the name, making it either YAHWEH or JEHOVAH. The technical name for God’s name is Tet·ra·gram·ma·ton. One source notes that “All modern denominations of Judaism teach that the four letter name of God, YHWH, is forbidden to be uttered except by the High Priest, in the Temple. Since the Temple in Jerusalem no longer exists, this name is never said in religious rituals by Jews.” The name YHWH means “He Who is” or “I Am that I Am”.

God is the Creator of all things. God, the Creator of all things, is also the only Savior of all things.

Psalm 3:8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD ( יְהֹוָה Yhwh) …

Only the Eternal I AM can save the creation that He made. “Salvation belongeth unto the LORD”. No one else can save but YHWH.

Psalm 18:2 The LORD ( יְהֹוָה Yhwh) is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

God is the only Savior of His Creation. Even more definitively we read:

Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am the LORD ( יְהֹוָה Yhwh); and beside me there is no savior.

God made all things. When Adam sinned, he sinned against the eternal Creator. When we sin, we sin against the Creator Who is without beginning or end. The offenses of sin against God are not erased by time nor by penance. And all are equally sinners. The Bible says:

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

We all miss the mark. The YHWH has said “beside me there is no savior.”. There are no other gods we can seek out. There is no way that even I can save myself. There is but one way to salvation, and that is through YHWH. When our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world to minister, Jesus told us:

Matthew 9:13 … I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

The Apostle Paul would later write:

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And again, 1 Timothy 1:15 … Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners …

But has not YHWH told us that ONLY YHWH CAN SAVE? Yes, He has. So has Jesus lost His mind? No, for Jesus Christ is LORD. One day when talking with the Pharisees, Jesus told them:

John 8:56-58 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Jesus took the eternal and holy name of God – a name that the Jews were frightened to say out loud – and applied that name to Himself. Jesus Christ is YHWH in human flesh. God the Son, He was with God the Father and God the Spirit from eternity past. The Apostle declares of Jesus:

Colossians 1:15-17 {Jesus Christ} is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

“God was MANIFEST or made visible IN THE FLESH, was justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). Jesus Christ is YHWH revealed. It is to Him, He said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). YHWH has:

Hebrews 1:2-3 … in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

Jesus Christ is YHWH revealed. Jesus is the “Son of Man Who hath power on earth to forgive sins” (Matthew 9:6). Jesus Christ is God’s only Savior, YHWH’s only representative. It is Jesus Who – dying for the sins of the world (John 1:29) – alone has the power to forgive sin. Bob Beasley wrote in his book Proverbs 3:5&6, The Distilled Essence Of The Christian Life:

“Christ’s Godhood is total. He can’t be divided. He is the Lord God, the second person of the Trinity. He is both Savior and Lord, without division of mixture, and we need to receive Him as both Lord and Savior in order to be assured of our salvation.”

It is not how good we are that makes us saved, but how good Jesus is. The Bible says:

Titus 3:5-7 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; [6] Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; [7] That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Salvation is a gift we receive from God when we rest full upon Jesus, the visible YHWH. We trust Jesus Christ alone to save us.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 not of works, lest any man should boast.

We are saved to serve our God. We are saved to serve Jesus. We do not give Jesus a PART of our heart – but ALL of our heart. The saved live to serve the Lord who saved them.

The Saved DO What God Says

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

When Abraham, the Father of Faith was saved, he gave us a pattern by which we live. When God called Abraham, He told that old man:

Genesis 12:1-3 … Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

God did not tell Abraham where he was going – just to go. Abraham went. God promised Abraham a child. When Abraham was 100, God answered that prayer. Then one day God told Abraham:

Genesis 22:2 … Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Abraham did not question YHWH. YHWH said to do it, so he did it. Ultimately God would provide a substitute for Abraham’s son. But note this:

Saving faith follows YHWH.
Saving faith follows the Lord.

Believers in Christ, saved by faith, are to “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding”. God wants our all. What He says, we must do. Someone asked Jesus one day “who shall be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus:

Matthew 18:2-4 … called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, [3] And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. [4] Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus was quite clear. Unless you, as a little child, obey the Lord and do as He says, “ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven”. Do not believe that you can pay lip service to Jesus as Savior, and refuse to heed Him as Lord. He has not left this option open to anyone. A person is saved by trusting in the Lord with all his heart – and salvation is proven when we trust in Jesus for our daily direction.

The Saved Look To Jesus First!

Proverbs 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

The word translated “acknowledge” is the Hebrew יָדַע yâdaʻ, {pronounced yaw-dah’}, meaning “to receive knowledge or instruction from”. The genuine Christian follows not the direction of the world, but the direction of the YHWH, the LORD. Jesus asks us:

Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

The saved are to follow Jesus and His direction if they wish to be blessed. Jesus said:

Luke 6:47-49 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 he is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Whether your life goes through tragedy, and survives, depends entirely upon your willingness to follow the Lordship commands of YHWH in the flesh. Solomon put it this way:

Proverbs 3:7-8 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. 8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

Read your Bible. Seek God’s face in prayer. Do what the Lord Jesus tells you to do. Don’t just HEAR Him, but OBEY Him. Believers, you are on great and holy ground when you heed and obey the Lord Jesus. We have YHWH’s promise:

Isaiah 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

The Lord wants to bless His children by faith. He wants to give us wonderful lives now, and greater lives into eternity. God said:

Psalms 32:8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

God does not send an angel to guide us. He guides us “with mine eye”. Our Savior has “numbered the very hairs of our head” (Matthew 10:30). “fear the Lord, and depart from evil”. If what you want to do is not in accordance with the Word of God, the Bible, then run from it. Solomon also added:

Proverbs 3:9-10 Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: [10] So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

When God in Christ saves a person, He saves their pocketbook and their wallet as well. All that we have is a gift from God. Life is a gift from God. Eternal life is a gift from God. Shall we withhold anything from our Jesus? He withheld nothing from us. The Scripture says:

Philippians 2:7-8 {Jesus} made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus Christ withheld nothing from you and I. He was beaten, bruised, and bled out for our salvation. Shall we who are saved by faith in Him withhold 10% of our increase? Shall we withhold our testimony, our witness from the world for which He died?

A faith that withholds anything from Jesus
is a cheap faith indeed.

If you withhold full obedience from Christ, and are never disciplined for it, then your salvation is a “fig newton of your imagination” (that expression came from Dr. R.C. Sproul). If you are saved by faith in Jesus, you are saved to serve. Solomon told his son – and us:

Proverbs 3:11-12 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: [12] For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

The writer of Hebrews quotes this same text, and follows up with:

Hebrews 12:7-8 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

If you fall into the world, if you walk through this life professing Christ but never following Him as Lord, you can expect to be disciplined of God. It is NEVER all right to go against God’s Word. You are saved to serve.

Are you saved?

If Rahab had not obediently put the scarlet thread out of her family’s window (Joshua 2:18), she and her family would have died along with all of Jericho. Obedience is not optional. If Daniel and his friends had not worshiped YHWH rather than compromise with the world, then Daniel would have been a happy meal for lions, and his friends kindling in the King’s oven. Obedience is not optional. Bob Beasley notes:

“Daniel and his three friends trusted in the LORD with all their hearts, even in the midst of life and death situations, and leaned not on their own understanding of their difficult circumstances. … we need not fear because our God is trustworthy even in death.”

Do you know Jesus Christ? Is He your Lord and Savior? If not, today is a great day to call upon Him – and be saved! May God the Holy Spirit take His Words deeply into your hearts. Amen and Amen.