Full Dependence on God

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 your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6, NASB

Self-sufficiency and self-dependence have been the ruin of mankind ever since the fall of Adam.  The grand sin of the human race is their continual endeavor to live independently of God.

Trust means as to wholly rely upon God’s promises and providence.  The reasons why we need to trust God are: (1) God is the Fountain of all good; (2) He has made his intelligent creatures dependent upon himself; (3) He requires them to be conscious of that dependence; (4) He has promised to communicate what they need; (5) He commands them to believe his promise, and look for its fulfillment; and (6) To do this without doubt, fear, or distrust; “with their whole heart.”

The opposite of trusting God will all your heart is to lean on your own understanding.  This is a kind of carnal confidence, that is, he understands all other confidence in bodily strength, wealth, or friends including his own wisdom, knowledge, talents, and skills.

If we lean into our own understanding, it means that we rely on ourselves, instead on God to whom we are commanded to depend fully.

Verse 6 of Proverbs 3 says that "in all your ways acknowledge Him."  This does not mean that we acknowledge God only whenever we are in act of solemn worship or great crises but “in all our ways.”

The phrase "in all your ways" means:  (1) earnestly pray for God's direction at the commencement; (2) look for His continual support in the progress; and (3) terminate in His glory.

If we give our full trust on God "with all our hearts" - leaning not on our understanding, wisdom, knowledge, talents, skills, wealth, friends, etc. - and acknowledge God "in all our ways," then God will make our "path" straight and even - that will certainly be to our good.

Heart of a True Believer

Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?

2 Samuel 7:18, NASB

When David defeated the Philistines and become resident in the palace which Hiram, king of Tyre, had built for him, he planned to build a house for the Ark of God would reside, for the Ark still resides behind a tent curtain (2 Samuel 7:1,2).

David inquired the prophet Nathan about his plan, who, in turn, agreed and gave him his judgment as a pious and prudent man – not as a prophet (cf 7:3).

That night, the LORD appeared to Nathan and told him His plan for the house of David, that is, his seed will be his successor and the builder of the temple (cf 7:4-16).

Nathan told David everything about the prophecy he received from God.  Upon hearing everything, David sat down to meditate and pray (cf 7:17,18).  In his prayer, we can observe how the heart of a true believer must respond to what God had done to us.

TRUE BELIEVER'S HEART MUST BE FULL OF AFFECTION TOWARD GOD (cf 7:18-21)

David expressed his astonishment that he, of such humble birth, and one so little in his own eyes, should not only be raised to the throne, but be assured of the perpetuity of the succession in his descendants, as if he were a man of high degree.

When we pray, we must consider the character and condition of man (Romans 3:23; 6:23) and be reminded of the following:  (a) the promise of Christ includes all; (b) if the Lord God be ours, what more can we ask, or think of? (Ephesians 3:20); and (c) He knows us better than we know ourselves.  Therefore let us be satisfied with what He had done for us. 

What can we say more for ourselves in our prayers, than God has said for us in his promises?

TRUE BELIEVER'S HEART MUST ASCRIBE ALL TO THE GRACE OF GOD (cf 7:22-24)

Both the great things He had done for him, and the great things He had made known to him.  All was for his word’s sake, that is, for the sake of Christ the eternal Word.

Many, when they go to pray, have their hearts to seek, but David’s heart was found, that is, it was fixed; gathered in from its wanderings, entirely engaged to the duty, and employed in it. 

Prayer which is from the tongue only will not please God; it must be found in the heart; that must be lifted up and poured out before God.  He builds his faith, and hopes to speed, and sureness of God’s promises.

TRUE BELIEVER'S HEART MUST PRAY FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE OF GOD (cf 7:25-29)

David well knew that all the promises made to him and family were conditional; and therefore he prays that they may be fulfilled.

With God, saying and doing are not two things, as they often are with men; God will do as he had said. 

In the succeeding narratives in the OT showed that David’s posterity did not walk with God, and therefore they were driven from the throne.  All the promises have failed to David and his natural posterity.  Had David’s posterity been faithful, they would, according to the promises of God, have been sitting on the Israelitish throne at this day.

The promises of God are not made to us by name, as to David, but they belong to all who believe in Jesus Christ, and plead them in his name – His spiritual seed to whom God’s promises are fulfilled.

Christ Died For The Sinners

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8, KJV

God has proved and exhibited his love in an unusual and remarkable manner – an act of infinite mercy in the most conspicuous light, so as to recommend it to the notice and admiration of all.

We love because we discern the object to be lovable, but God loves by the very necessity of His nature – He loves because He is God.

His love grows out of holiness that acknowledges and demands nothing either amiable or serviceable in its objects.  The love of God is not diminished by His disapprobation of man.

The object of God’s love is all mankind whose state was described as “without strength” (Romans 5:6a).  Without strength means that they are (a) in a weak and dying state; (b) neither able to resist sin, nor do any good; (c) totally powerless to free themselves from the misery of their situation.

In other words, they are ungodly – neither righteous nor good; but irreverent towards God and wicked – and lost all power to worship God rightly.  The mind which was for God is no longer his residence and has lost the centre of rest and happiness.  Man go about seeking rest, but find none; and what have lost in losing God are being seek in earthly wealth and things.

The second half of Romans 5:6 says, “... in due time Christ died for the ungodly,” which means that Christ was manifested in the flesh when the world needed Him most.  He died instead of the ungodly; took our place and save us from eternal damnation in hell.

God’s love, therefore, is a self-sacrificing love that thought no sacrifice is too great.  He made the fullest degree of sacrifice that was possible, making the death of Christ the surest way of our deliverance – the Just died for the unjust; the offended Judge Himself suffers for the offence against His own law.

Eternal Damnation as Wages of Sinners

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 6:23, KJV

God treats “sin” as a master that is why Jesus said that “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34, NASB).  Paul also said in Romans 6:16, “... that when you present yourselves to someone {as} slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness” (NASB).

In the blog entitled, “Image of God in Man was Damaged by Sin,” sin is defined as (a) transgression – an overstepping of the law, the divine boundary between good and evil; (b) iniquity – an act inherently wrong, whether expressly forbidden or not ; (c) error – a departure from right; (d) missing the mark – a failure to meet the divine standard; (e) trespass – the intrusion of self-will into the sphere of divine authority; (f) lawlessness – spiritual anarchy; and (g) unbelief – an insult to the divine veracity.

In the same blog, sin is summarized as:  (a) an act (that is, the violation of, or want of obedience to the revealed will of God); (b) a state (that is, absence of righteousness); and (c) a nature (that is, enmity toward God).

Sin has its “wage.”  The original word used for “wage” in Romans 6:23 is “opsonion” that means rations for a solder, that is, his stipend or pay.  If sin is your master, you are, therefore, the devil’s employee and you have a right to your “wages.”

Romans 6:23 is very clear that the wages of sin is death – separation of the soul from God.  The wages of sinners are intended to destroy their soul, then to spread a contagion, and hurt others’ souls, so to increase their master’s kingdom.  It is like a poison that destroys one’s joy, power in prayer, and confidence towards God.

How can one get away from slavery of sin and its wages?  The answer is to accept the gracious gift of God of eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD.  Eternal life is not a wage for doing good works but it is imparted by grace through repentance and faith in Christ.

Since the “wages” is to be paid soon – sinner still has a chance to change their heart, quit in serving their master – the “sin” – (repent of their sin), and come and receive this Divine life as a gift in Christ Jesus, then, by faith, they will receive the gift of God that is eternal life.

However, when I said “to be paid soon,” it may mean tonight, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next week, or next year.  But don’t be like the rich man in the parable Jesus told in Luke 12:16 to 21 where God said to him, “... You fool!  This {very} night your soul is required of you; and {now} who will own what you have prepared?” (verse 20, NASB).

Image of God in Man was Damaged by Sin

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” 
Romans 3:23, KJV

Man were made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), which was not true to any other created thing.  Man were to have fellowship with the God of glory and reflect His character, however, sin damaged the image of God in man and the fellowship was broken.

Sin originated with Satan (Isaiah 14:12-14), entered the world through Adam (Romans 5:12), and was universal (Romans 3:23; 1 Peter 2:22).

Sin is defined as (a) transgression – an overstepping of the law, the divine boundary between good and evil; (b) iniquity – an act inherently wrong, whether expressly forbidden or not ; (c) error – a departure from right; (d) missing the mark – a failure to meet the divine standard; (e) trespass – the intrusion of self-will into the sphere of divine authority; (f) lawlessness – spiritual anarchy; and (g) unbelief – an insult to the divine veracity.

Sin may be summarized as follows:  (a) an act (that is, the violation of, or want of obedience to the revealed will of God); (b) a state (that is, absence of righteousness); and (c) a nature (that is, enmity toward God).

Though sin damaged the image of God in man, God’s grace through Christ’s death on the cross and the believer’s faith has restored the image and fellowship with God (Colossians 3:10).