“Lean Not Upon Thine Own Understanding”

by Micky Galloway

“Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart, And lean not upon thine own understanding: In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths.” This quotation is from Proverbs 3:5-6. We either believe this is true or we do not. The “understanding” is a natural faculty of man and is that which distinguishes him from all other creatures. Such things as the sea and moon and stars are governed by laws of which they know nothing. They have no understanding and follow their paths wholly unconscious of the operations they perform. The beasts of the field and the fowls of the air have an instinct which often surprises us. But while it is wonderfully exact as far as it goes, it is limited; and admits no evidence of understanding. These things are no wiser now than when they went to Noah for shelter and to Adam for names. Job said, “But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (Job 32:8). By means of this endowment he can look backward and forward. He can examine and judge. He can choose to refuse or accept. He can consider principles, and duties in their circumstances, and actions in their moral bearings. There is no power that God will use to arbitrarily take these from man.

The ability of understanding, from the lowest degree of reason to the highest reach of intellect, is the gift of God, and should be cultivated by us as men and as Christians. We should rejoice in an age that is so favorable to all kinds of information. It is a sad reproach to many, that in the midst of the availability of such knowledge they are found so ignorant. It must be the result of carelessness or indifference.

Though we strive to improve our understanding, we are not to lean upon it. Obviously if there was no danger of doing this the warning would not be given. Men are often proud of their knowledge and often exalt it over others. Certainly, most of us would not want to be charged as being a fool! This regard of our own understanding seems indeed to be a kind of equalizer of the human race; and the only thing with which all are satisfied. They lean upon their own understanding in preference to the understanding of others. They lean upon their own understanding in preference to the understanding of God Himself. Note: Proverbs 2:6 , “For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth (cometh) knowledge and understanding.” Should they consult with an advisor it would be in hope of obtaining a confirmation that their understanding is right. Should one’s advisor differ from his own conclusion, he would often break the relationship rather than to consider that he is wrong.

Many quote Scripture, in the hope that they may find something to justify their own notions and ideas (cf. II Peter 3:14-16). Whatever knowledge they may possess, they must surely be destitute of the practical wisdom that grows out of “reason of use” (Hebrews 5:14). We are told that Alphonsus, the astronomer, having apprehended some seeming irregularity among the heavenly bodies, was daring enough to say, “Had I been by the Creator when He made the world, I could have given Him some good advice.” Such profanity makes a righteous man shudder! Yet many have fallen, in some degree, into similar error. Many find fault with God in His manner of governing the world, the church, the family, the individual. Many have been ready to direct the Spirit of the Lord, thinking they are His counselor, attempt to teach Him. How many there are today, who will say “this command of the Lord is unnecessary,” because their understanding cannot grasp a reason for doing it!

Let us not presume to understand things that are beyond our reach. “The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). The Lord Himself said, “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). Solomon said, “For who knoweth what is good for man in (his) life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 6:12). What would we be now, if things were always according to our own understanding? How frequently we have been wrong, both in our hopes and fears. In many things we can now clearly see, that what we so eagerly desired in the past would have proved to be to our own hurt or ruin, and that which we were so anxious to escape has turned to our best interest, so that we can say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I may learn thy statutes” (Psalms 119:71).

Feelings are not reliable. These may reveal secrets in one’s character of which he himself is not aware and may fill him, not only with surprise, but often with dismay and disappointment in himself. When Elisha predicted with tears the atrocities and cruelties that Hazael would commit, he shuddered at the thought, and exclaimed, “But what is thy servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” The man of God only answered, “Jehovah hath showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria” (II Kings 8:13). Hazael’s elevation of himself transformed him into a monster. Therefore, it is that a man is measured, not by the success he attains in this life, but by the kind of a man that success makes him.

Men cannot “lean upon their own understanding” without going wrong! As David leaned upon his own understanding, he said, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines” (I Samuel 27:1). He did not know that this was one of the worst mistakes he could have devised. It tended to alienate the affections of his countrymen, to justify the reproaches of his enemies. It put him out of the divine protection, and to lay him under obligation to a benefactor he could not oblige without betraying the cause of his God. Accordingly, he was soon drawn into a disgraceful dilemma with Achish when he was ordered to go and fight against his own people Israel. When he was released from this embarrassment and went back, he found that in his absence his property had been destroyed, and his family carried away captive (cf. I Samuel 21:10-29:9). Likewise, Lot “leaned upon his own understanding,” and chose the plain of Jordon, which was well watered, like the garden of the Lord. By this decision he separated himself from the faithful. He eventually moved into the town of Sodom itself; and, dwelling among them, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. He lost his house and home. His lost his wife, she became a pillar of salt for looking back (cf. Genesis 13-19). Lot learned a hard lesson too late that he could not “lean upon his own understanding.” Jeremiah said, “O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).

Why will not men today learn the lessons from the past? These are so graphically pictured, and given “for our admonition” (I Corinthians 10:11)! There are those who “lean upon their own understanding” and say that God gave some commands that are not necessary to the salvation of one’s soul. Others reason that the church which Christ died for is not sufficient to do the work God intended the church to do. These presume to set up a “middle man” to do the work God said the church should do. May we say with David, “Therefore I esteem all (thy) precepts concerning all (things) to be right; (and) I hate every false way” (Psalms 119:128). May we say with him, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths.”