From The Archives 1

---

Here is the first blog post I ever wrote, I trust you enjoy it (there were no pictures with my blogs back then, a lesson I was yet to learn):

​"DO I REALLY UNDERSTAND.November 7, 2008 by eaglerj

• 5.Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

• 6.in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

The above understanding is that which you get through your own efforts.
It may surprise you to know that the word “aknowledge” also has to do with understanding, but it is an understanding that comes through relationship and specifically in this case understanding that comes through relationship with God.
Many of us, after reading these two verses, find ourselves zeroing in on the word “trust”. Then in one way or the other we begin to apply the “How do you measure up?” question to our current level of trust in the Lord. Almost inevitably this leads us down the path called our own understanding rather than down the path called acknowlege ie entering into deeper relationship with God.
Can I boldly suggest that this is the equivalent of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil as opposed to eating from the Tree of Life!!!
You see, in order to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil Adam and Eve had to turn their backs on the relationship they had with God. In other words they had to forsake the understanding they had through relationship with God in favour of the understanding they acquired through their own self effort.
For me this illustrates just how dangerous the “How do you measure up?” or to the more personal “How do I measure up? questions really are. These questions are constantly being asked of us at work, in our marriages, in our relationships, through our culture, through advertising and through all shapes and sizes of religion, including the one we call christianity. In fact these questions so permeate our lives that for the most part we no longer realise that they are being asked of us, we simply accept them as the norm."

Blessings!!