Scripture Devotion
There's a difference between using your understanding and leaning your whole weight on it.
“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.”
Reflection
The instruction draws a line between two ways of leaning. Trust the LORD with all the heart — the whole of it, not a hedged portion — and lean not unto thine own understanding. Understanding isn't condemned; it's simply not the thing to lean the full weight on. There's a difference between using your understanding and resting your whole balance on it, and the verse is about where the weight finally goes. Then the scope widens to everything: in all thy ways acknowledge him. Not the religious ways only, not the big decisions only — all of them, the ordinary and the momentous alike. And the promise follows: he shall direct thy paths. Made straight, made clear. Sunday is the day to re-lean — to take the weight off your own understanding, where it's been resting all week, and set it back on the one who directs the paths.