Lean Not To Your Own Understanding

There is a holy danger in the human mind, beloved — a danger so subtle that multitudes have stumbled into ruin while supposing they walked wisely. Solomon, the wisest man who ever drew breath apart from Christ, lifted his pen and warned his son: "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Mark the words "with all thine heart." God will not be content with a divided affection, a portion of our confidence, a reserved corner of the soul where our own reasonings still reign. He demands the whole heart, the whole trust, the whole surrender. The flesh recoils at this, for the carnal mind ever desires to keep its own counsel and lean upon the broken reed of human wisdom.

To "lean" upon a thing is to rest your whole weight upon it. When a man leans, he commits himself; if the support fail, he falls. And here is the appalling truth: our own understanding is a support that WILL fail. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12). The natural man, unsanctified and unwashed, reasons his way straight to the pit while congratulating himself on his prudence. This is why God offers us not better advice, but a better heart. The blood of Jesus Christ does not merely cover the sinner; it cleanses him. And the second definite work of grace — sanctification — reaches down to the root of that proud, self-trusting, carnal nature and burns it out, that the believer may at last trust God with an undivided heart.

Consider what whole-hearted trust truly costs the soul. It costs the surrender of every plan we have cherished, every ambition we have nursed, every opinion we have guarded as though it were truth itself. It is one thing to acknowledge God in the sanctuary on the Lord's day; it is another to acknowledge Him "in all thy ways" — in the marketplace, in the home, in the secret counsels of midnight when no eye but His beholds us. Separation from the world is not legalism; it is the natural fruit of a heart that has ceased leaning on the world's wisdom and now leans wholly upon God. The fear of the LORD has driven out the fear of man, and the soul walks in clean and reverent obedience.

But how shall mortal flesh attain to such trust? Not by resolve, not by gritted teeth, but by the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The same Spirit who fell at Pentecost, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance, still falls upon hungry hearts today. He is the Comforter who guides us into all truth, who takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us, who illuminates the path our own understanding could never find. A Spirit-filled believer does not lean on himself, for the indwelling Spirit has become his wisdom, his power, and his unfailing guide. This is the holy and supernatural life God has called us to walk.

Come, then, to the altar tonight. Do not lean another moment upon the rotten timber of your own understanding. If sin yet stains the conscience, repent — wash in the precious blood. If the carnal nature still wars within, cry out to be sanctified wholly, that God may purify your heart by faith (Acts 15:9). And if you have never been filled, tarry until the power comes, for the promise is unto you and to your children.

The Lord is coming soon, suddenly, in clouds of glory — and "blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing." Let Him find you trusting, consecrated, filled, and watching. Lean not to your own understanding. Lean wholly, gladly, forever upon Him, and He shall direct your paths into the very gates of heaven.