And onto the 3rd chapter we go…
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
If you’ve been around the church for as long as I have, then you probably have heard this passage either spoken, read, or have read it yourself, oh…well over a hundred times. So easy to say, but doing it?? That’s another story. The stream of Christianity I grew up in reduced ‘faith in Christ’ to saying the ‘sinners prayer’, reading my Bible, and attending church on a regular basis. But that really isn’t the nitty-gritty meaning of faith! Faith and trust go hand in hand. To trust or ‘believe in’ something means you place your full weight on it. Here’s a true story that brings the full intent of what it means to ‘trust’.
Near the end of July, 1859, tightrope walker, Charles Blondin walked across the Niagara gorge, and on his back was his manager, Harry Colcord (see the actual photo). That summer, Blondin did several crossings wowing the crowds that gathered, and when I say crowds, at times there were upwards of 25,000 people on both sides of the river to watch. Blondin would cross blindfolded, once with a sack over his body, and another time he cooked an omelette halfway across.
In that same month, he crossed pushing a wheelbarrow full of bricks. When he got to the other side the people cheered him. He asked the crowd if they believed he could carry a person across in the wheelbarrow. They roared back ‘YES!’ He asked for a volunteer, and there was silence. No kidding, eh? Apparently, that night his manager, Harry Colcord, realized that if he was going to promote Blondin, then he needed to be convinced himself, so the two of them decided that the next day Blondin would take Harry across on his back.
Now here’s what I find amazing. That next day before Harry climbed onto Blondin’s back, Blondin said these words to Harry, and I quote: ““Look up, Harry.… you are no longer Colcord, you are Blondin. Until I clear this place be a part of me, mind, body, and soul. If I sway, sway with me. Do not attempt to do any balancing yourself. If you do we will both go to our death.” Harry followed the instructions and they crossed the gorge together. No doubt a white-knuckle piggy-back!
So when Solomon says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.”, he means to put your full weight in the Lord and be one with him! The challenge is, you only learn this in the midst of the hard stuff of life. However, once you’ve crossed that first ‘gorge’ forced to lean on God, you will know, without any doubt, that God can be trusted!
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-daredevil-of-niagara-falls-110492884/#8wIxOHxubdOc732s.99
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