Proverbs 3:5-8
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. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): The particular providence of God attends the Christian in all his concerns. He goes on board a vessel, launching on the ocean of life; he gives God the command of the helm.
J. H. M. d’AUBIGNÉ (1794-1872): Like passengers standing upon the bow of a ship in mid-ocean, to us the sea appears a trackless void. But when we stand upon the stern and look back, we view an equally vast ocean already traversed, and close upon us we see a short white wake that curves away in a half-moon arc—the undeniable evidence that our ship has made a turn in the sea, and we know, without doubt, that the Captain is piloting the ship according to His chart, and in His wisdom, at the proper time, merely adjusting His course to current and wind.
THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): The providences of God are sometimes dark, and our eyes dim, and we can hardly tell what to make of them.
WILLIAM JAY: Thus we are enjoined to “commit all our ways unto the Lord,” and “to trust also in Him,” Psalm 37:5; and we are at the same time assured that “he will bring it to pass,” for when we “commit our works unto the Lord, the thoughts of our hearts are established,” Proverbs 16:3. Thus, also, we are enjoined to “be careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to let our request be made known unto God,” Philippians 4:6. It is when we obey the apostle’s injunction that we feel the “peace of God, that passeth all understanding, keeping our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:7. “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him,” Psalm 18:30; but we may be left to charge Him foolishly, and in so doing we only display our ignorance.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Settle it in your mind once for all, that “the high and lofty One” makes no mistakes.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): He knows what He is doing. He sees the end from the beginning.
MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): This, therefore, is also essentially necessary and wholesome for Christians to know: that God foreknows nothing by contingency—but that He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His immutable, eternal, and infallible will.
WILLIAM JAY: In the world, in the nation, in the church, in the family, and with regard to the concerns of every individual, He is not only doing all things, but doing all things well. Do we believe this? There is a vast difference between the reality, and our believing and acknowledging it. And what is it that keeps us from acknowledging that in all things and in all dispensations, His providence is doing all things well? First, because we judge too selfishly. We judge too carnally. What is not good for our pleasure may be good for our profit; our temporal losses maybe our spiritual gains; we may be “chastened with the righteous, that we may not be condemned with the wicked,” 1 Corinthians 11:32. Here is cause for praise and gratitude. But, oh, how we yield to flesh and blood! When everything is easy and prosperous, there is no obscurity then. No; but let a change take place, let affliction fall upon us; then, with a sad heart and sorrowful countenance, we immediately exclaim, “His way is in the sea, and his path in deep waters,” Psalm 77:19; as if it were so wonderfully mysterious that He should suffer us to be afflicted; as if God were less wise and righteous and good in the dark than in the light, in a stormy day than in a calm one.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Let us not be in too great a hurry to make sure that we have the key of the cabinet where God keeps His purposes, but content ourselves with “perhaps” when we are interpreting the often questionable ways of His providences, each of which has many meanings and many ends.
R. L. DABNEY (1820-1898): A little wisdom and experience will teach us to be very modest, in interpreting God’s purposes by His providences.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): We shall have profited greatly when we have learned to refrain hasty judgment.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): I believe in Divine Providence, but I do not always believe in what people speak of as Providence. When you want to do a thing, you can always find a Providence which seems to be in favour of it. It is remarkable how many ministers leave salaries of £200 a year in places where they might still have been comfortable and useful, to go where they would get £250 a year—they have said it was Providence—but it is equally remarkable how very few of them ever move from £250 to £200.
WILLIAM JAY: Where, then, is our safety, but in seeking the direction of the Lord? Let us therefore, in reference to any important removal in prospect, seek divine guidance, and turn not to the right hand nor to the left but as we see the pillar of His providence directing us—never moving without a conviction of its being right; otherwise we cannot expect peace and satisfaction.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): I sometimes think the whole art of the Christian life is the art of asking questions. Our danger is just to allow things to happen to us and to endure them without saying anything apart from a groan, a grumble or a complaint. The thing to do is to discover, if we can, why these things are taking place—to try to discover the explanation.
C. H. SPURGEON: To enquire of the lord, and to seek guidance at His hands, is the duty of all Christians. Our own character should teach us the duty of enquiring of the Lord. If you know yourself rightly, you know that you are very far from being wise.
WILLIAM JAY: To place ourselves under the guidance of the Almighty implies the renunciation of pride and vanity, the sacrifice of self-will, self-conceit, and self-sufficiency. It implies a willingness to have our inclinations crossed, and our fond earthly hopes destroyed. And we may feel assured of this—that man is a stranger to the thing itself, whoever he is, who views it as an easy attainment. No; such a character is not formed without strong supplications to Him who is able to keep us from falling, much striving against besetting sins, much observation upon the misery and mistakes of others—and much experience of evils to which we have found ourselves exposed when, instead of trusting in the Lord with all our heart, we have leaned to our own understanding.
A. W. PINK: Distrusting his own wisdom, we find David “enquiring of the Lord” again and again, I Samuel 23:2; 23:4; 30:8; 2 Samuel 2:1; 5:19. This is another sure mark of genuine humility: that spirit which is afraid to trust in our own knowledge, experience and powers, and seeks counsel and direction from above.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): “Thou shall guide me with thy counsel,” Psalm 73:24. Any sincere follower of God may use these words.
THOMAS ADAMS (1583-1656): There are many that pray David’s words, but not with David’s heart.
