“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).

How often do you ask for help?

What causes you to rely on your own strength when you know it is limited? Wouldn’t it make more sense to lean on those who have greater knowledge, understanding, experience, and wisdom?

Oftentimes, we find ourselves swimming in an ocean of chaos, content to tread water unto exhaustion rather than accept help from God or others. Why? Are we so consumed by our trials and insecurities to not recognize the lifeline God provides when we are sinking?

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).

What we must recognize in the midst of trials is how deep the roots of pride extend in our hearts. However, do we even recognize them anymore, or have we become so calloused toward accepting help that self-reliance has become our security blanket despite how insufficient it may be?

Therefore, Psalm 32:8 forces us to address the depth and breadth of how prideful we have become, and whether we’ll accept help from the Lord or continue to lean upon our own understanding.

“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” (Proverbs 3:5–6).

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

There are two ways we can learn a hard lesson: Heed the wisdom of others or personally experience it for ourselves, come what may.

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice” (Proverbs 12:15).

More often than not, we choose to rely upon ourselves because hands-on experience feels more trustworthy and tangible in the moment. What we fail to realize is how difficult the path toward wisdom can be when we reject all wise counsel and rely on our own limited understanding instead.

“Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:5–6).

Keep in mind, there are many justifiable reasons why we might choose self-reliance vs. counsel. Perhaps there are no wise and discerning people available to advise us, or more realistically, no one we can trust who will truly have our best interest in mind when giving their opinion.

Conversely, perhaps we’ve been hurt or misled (intentionally or unintentionally) by the counsel of others. Therefore, we self-protect by leaning on our own strength even though we know our knowledge is limited. Granted, self-reliance may not be the wisest option at times, but trusting ourselves is typically the most common path we take when trials arise because it is comfortable, tangible, and familiar.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10).

Personal experience has always been the path of least resistance because we don’t have to filter our thoughts through a second opinion. We simply react or respond based on our educated guess. The problem is the more we rely on ourselves, the more we isolate from others and disregard the notion we need help at all.

Make no mistake, isolation is a slippery slope because accountability is non-existent in a relationship of ONE. Therefore, if we desire to know the wisest path to take in a given situation, we must be willing to relinquish control and allow others to speak truth into our lives.

The challenge is, “Who’s voice do we allow in?” The answer, first and foremost, is God!

TRUST:

Trusting the Lord is difficult for most people, Christians included. Trust may seem easy on the surface, but when the storms of life overwhelm our minds, we shift gears and default into self-protection rather than drawing near to the Lord without even thinking about it.

In many cases, trials which seem within our control to influence require greater faith to let go of. Therefore, if there’s something we have the power to change, we will act accordingly based on our knowledge and personal experience.

However, if we know we have absolutely no power or authority to influence our trials or tribulations, trust seems much easier to embrace. For example, natural disasters and terminal illnesses are areas of grave concern we have no power to stop. Therefore, it should be easier to trust in the Lord for wisdom, strength and understanding, not harder.

“For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right” (Isaiah 45:18–19).

When my mother was dying from cancer many years ago, I felt incredible peace in the midst of the storm. Trusting God was effortless, for I knew the only one who could save her was not her doctors, treatments, or medications, but the Lord alone. Her life was precious and in His sovereignty, He alone held the power to temporarily heal her body (which He didn’t) or call her home to eternity in heaven (which He did).

Oftentimes, we cannot comprehend God’s sovereignty because we fail to see the big picture. That is why Jesus taught His disciples an important lesson during His ministry that the trials we face in this world have far greater purpose for the kingdom than we could ever imagine.

“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing” (John 9:1–7).

HUMILITY:

It takes great humility to admit we don’t have all the answers at times. Many of us put up a good front that we’ve got life under control, but behind closed doors we are floundering. How then do we overcome our pride and insecurities, and humble ourselves by asking for help?

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2).

There is certainly no shame in admitting we don’t know everything, but something inside us desires to know for ourselves what is right and wrong, good and evil. It drove Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden and it likewise motivates us each time we lean on our own understanding rather than God’s sovereign omniscience.

That is why Psalm 32:8 is such an encouraging promise we cannot ignore or disregard, for God has taken it upon Himself to personally teach us the wise and righteous path we must take in life at all times. We simply need to open His Word and read what it says!

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11–13).

Make no mistake, trust and humility are a package deal, for we will never learn all God has in store to teach us if we do not humble ourselves by admitting our limitations and deficiencies, and trust the all-sufficiency of His Word as absolute truth.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:3–4).

That is one reason many intellectuals struggle to embrace Christianity because they are unwilling to place faith in the God of Holy Scripture. They simply cannot reconcile that there is an absolute standard of righteousness and morality in this world, so they reject the Bible entirely and endeavor to discredit its validity rather than consider its inerrancy.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 16:25).

BOTTOM-LINE:

In the end, whether we believe the Bible is true or not, the fact remains that Scripture is unapologetic in its position as the ultimate authority and moral standard of righteousness we are called to live by this side of heaven.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

Therefore, will we trust and believe God’s Word is true (yesterday, today, and tomorrow), or continue to lean on our own understanding? It is the ultimate question every man, woman, and child must reconcile in our hearts and minds, and it is the determining factor whether we enter into heaven one day or not.

For if God is who He says He is in the pages of Scripture, and if He truly sacrificed His beloved Son to ransom our souls from the grips of hell itself, then we must respond in faith and accept His Word as the only standard of absolute truth we will live by. There is no other viable option for mankind to spend eternity in heaven.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).

Granted, salvation takes incredible trust and requires us to humble ourselves completely. However, the more we relinquish control to God and seek His Word for wisdom and discernment, the easier it will become to create healthy, spiritual disciplines which will aid us in the future. For the more we feed on the bounty of God’s Word, the more we will discover our purpose in this life as well.

“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:7–11).