The Faith-Shaped Life

Dearly beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the passage before us this morning is one of the best-known statements in the whole of Proverbs. It highlights the centrality of faith and the rewards of faith for the one who exercises it wholeheartedly. It also warns against the opposite of faith, which we might call rationalism. The challenge of this passage is simple: Trust God. Believe Him more than you believe your own thoughts. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. And its rewards are profound. The faithful person will be given a clear path, a morally straight path, an open path. Do you want to know where to go? Brothers and sisters, the faith-based life is the opposite of the “simple” life. The simple person, in the vocabulary of Proverbs, is the uncommitted one, the one who has not made a firm decision to trust God. He doesn’t know where he’s going. But the faithful person has a direction as a gift from God. In brief, trust in God, not self, leads to knowing God and walking right.