As children of God, bought by the precious blood of Christ, we desire to know God’s will—and we should. We want to understand the plan He has for our lives and be ready for whatever comes our way. The problem, however, is we don’t know the future—and that’s good. But because of that, we aren’t ever certain about God’s will for our lives; therefore, we become frustrated, confused, and impatient.
Proverbs, likely penned by Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived besides Jesus), gives us a glimpse into how we can better understand God’s will for our lives and how to, at the very least, stay in His will.
Proverbs 3:5-6 reads,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
This is what we call “coffee cup verses.” You plaster this passage on a coffee mug, and you instantly feel more spiritual when you take the first sip. Though this passage has been misunderstood and flippantly used just for show, the message behind it is beautiful and we Christians ought to understand it more.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. In a way, this command by the Lord is impossible to obey because our hearts, unfortunately, are always pulled in different directions by our sin. But this command, I believe, is connected with what James says in his letter. “That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, being double-minded and unstable in all his ways” (James 1:7-8). Our hearts, on this side of Heaven, will never be fully set and devoted on trusting God because of our daily fight against sin.
However, that doesn’t mean we’re incapable of a deep, abiding trust in the Lord. Of course, He commands all those everywhere to trust in Him for salvation. Trusting in the Lord is certainly possible. We must understand that we will never know God’s will for our lives if we don’t trust Him. Many professing Christian never have a clue about God’s will because, ultimately, they don’t really trust God’s will or even God Himself.
Do not lean on your own understanding. Why do bad things happen? Where is the value in this tragedy? How am I supposed to get through this? What’s the best way to solve this problem?
Our natural tendency, even as believers, is to “rely on [our] own understanding.” To be sure, the Lord is not saying to not use our brains; rather, He’s saying to not rely only on what we know or think or feel. It’s an understanding that neglects the Lord’s wisdom and guidance.
Jon Bloom observed:
…it is not the one who trusts in the Lord that is irrational, but the one who leans on his or her own understanding. It is insane to trust such pitifully limited understanding when one can trust the unlimited understanding of God.
We are finite; God is infinite. We are mere mortals; God is immortal. We are here only for a minute; God is the beginning and the end. To not lean on our own understanding, we must admit, is the best thing for us. God doesn’t say this just because; He says it as an invitation to drop our supposed autonomy and rely on Him for all things. Yes, use your knowledge but understand all the knowledge you have comes from the Lord. Further, we will never comprehend God’s will for our lives if we’re relying solely on our understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him. Our world is full of people who strive not to acknowledge the Lord. They go out of their way to ignore His reign, to plug their ears at His sovereignty, to not listen to His command for repentance and faith. Friends, it’s just common sense: if we desire to know His will, we must acknowledge Him in all areas of our lives.
This “acknowledging” can be boiled down to knowing the Lord. Do you know Him? Do you desire a deeper knowledge of Him? We must get our heads into the Word of God. We will have no idea about His will for our lives if we’re not saturating ourselves with Scripture.
He will make straight your paths. The result of trusting in the Lord with all our hearts, not leaning on our own understanding, and acknowledging Him is having a clear path to God’s will.
Erik Reed, Pastor of the Journey Church, noted in a sermon:
This is what this Scripture promises us: God forges and creates the road upon which those who trust Him will travel, and it will be straight with purpose and intentionality. Or another way of saying it would be: quit worrying yourself with trying to play God, and instead trust that the One who is actually God has your life. Or if you want a shorter version, God says, “I got you.”
Just because the path is straight doesn’t mean it will be void of pumps or potholes, but we will know the path God wants us on. What we must do, as Reed observed, is stop trying to “play God.” Allow God—if we can phrase it like that—to direct your life, to be your guidance, your wisdom, your strength. When we trust in the Lord and acknowledge Him, His will for our lives will be known to us.
Blake Long 
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