Does trusting God mean ignoring common sense? (Proverbs 3:5–6)
5 Trust the Lord with all your heart,
and don’t depend on your own understanding.
6 Remember the Lord in all you do,
and he will give you success. (NCV)
Proverbs 3:5 - 6
ESV - 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
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Asked March 06 2020
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Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
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Tim Maas
Supporter
I would say that humans are expected to employ reason and judgment (which are, after all, abilities originally given to them by God) in making decisions. However, because of the fallen, fallible nature of those faculties, they should be supplemented by knowledge and application of God's revealed word, by prayer, and by being attentive to God speaking through the ordering of events, to assure that the manner in which they are applied is correct. And, in cases of clear conflict, God should prevail, even if "common-sense" objections or justifications could be raised. The question reminds me of the conversation between Jesus and Peter in Luke 5:4-5. Peter (even though he had already witnessed a demonstration of Jesus' powers in the previous chapter of Luke's gospel through the healing of his mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39)) initially made a plausible argument (from the standpoint of human reason) for not doing what Jesus asked him to do. However, he ultimately acted in faith (which, nevertheless, was not "blind" faith, based on Peter's knowledge of that previous healing), and was richly rewarded for it.
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