Faith: Trusting God’s Wisdom Through Success, Correction, and Daily Choices (Proverbs 3)

Introduction

Will you still trust the Lord when your life is either finally going well, or when it feels like God is taking something away? The central teaching of Proverbs 3 is this: God’s wisdom isn’t proven by what we say we believe, but by how we live when real life tests us, success, correction, and daily decisions.

As we conclude our journey through Proverbs, I want you to carry something forward: this book is not meant to be “finished.” It’s meant to be returned to again and again for lifelong instruction. Proverbs 3:5–6 is a grand finale for good reason:

• “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5–6). But we need to go deeper than a bumper-sticker faith. We can’t measure trust by a questionnaire or by agreeing with a sermon. We discover what’s truly in us when life takes us “off guard.” As C.S. Lewis illustrated, rats in a cellar are seen when you walk in suddenly, what comes out before we can put on a disguise is what’s really there. In the same way, your truest beliefs show up under pressure. So I want to disciple you through Proverbs 3 as a kind of final exam: three tests of wisdom that reveal whether we’re truly acknowledging the Lord in all our ways.

Main Points

Will you still trust the Lord when your life is either finally going well, or when it feels like God is taking something away? The central teaching of Proverbs 3 is this: God’s wisdom isn’t proven by what we say we believe, but by how we live when real life tests us, success, correction, and daily decisions.

As we conclude our journey through Proverbs, I want you to carry something forward: this book is not meant to be “finished.” It’s meant to be returned to again and again for lifelong instruction. Proverbs 3:5–6 is a grand finale for good reason:

• “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5–6).

But we need to go deeper than a bumper-sticker faith. We can’t measure trust by a questionnaire or by agreeing with a sermon. We discover what’s truly in us when life takes us “off guard.” As C.S. Lewis illustrated, rats in a cellar are seen when you walk in suddenly, what comes out before we can put on a disguise is what’s really there. In the same way, your truest beliefs show up under pressure.

So I want to disciple you through Proverbs 3 as a kind of final exam: three tests of wisdom that reveal whether we’re truly acknowledging the Lord in all our ways.

Write Wisdom Where Life Can Reach It

Before the tests come, God tells us how to prepare:

• “My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands…” (Prov. 3:1–2)
• “Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart…” (Prov. 3:3)

This is God’s mercy. He’s telling you ahead of time: You will be tempted to forget when the service ends, when emotions cool, when pressures rise.

So I’m asking you to do something concrete: don’t treat Proverbs as inspirational quotes; treat it like survival wisdom. Read it often. Store it in your heart. Because when the test comes, you won’t rise to the moment, you’ll reveal what’s already been written within you.

The Test of Success: Who Do You Honor?

Right after Proverbs 3:5–6, the text immediately moves to a real-life scenario, increase:

• “Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase…” (Prov. 3:9–10)

In the ancient world, this looked like harvest, planting, waiting, working, then receiving fruit from the land. For us, it’s the broader reality of success: income, opportunity, influence, promotions, breathing room, free time, “barns filled with plenty.”

Here’s the spiritual exam: when blessing comes, will you acknowledge God, or quietly begin acknowledging yourself?

The danger is subtle. Many of us cry out to God in crisis, then when He heals and provides, we start living as if we can say, “I’ve got it from here.” Success can make us fickle, devoted in pain, independent in peace.

And success also amplifies what’s already inside:

• “The labor of the righteous leads to life, the wages of the wicked to sin” (Prov. 10:16).

Increase gives you room. Room for generosity and worship, or room for indulgence and self-idolatry. Sometimes “more money” really does mean “more problems,” because it funds whatever is ruling your heart.

The world has its own version of “firstfruits”: the acceptance speech. When life hands you the microphone, who gets the credit? The temptation is to say, in a thousand polished ways, “I want to thank me.” But wisdom teaches us to see reality clearly: every good and perfect gift is from God (James 1:17 is strongly implied by this theme). Even your breath, your mind, your opportunities, your place and time in history, all are mercy.

So I want you to practice this: when success comes, honor the Lord first. Let your “firstfruits” be a reflex, your time, your resources, your praise, your obedience. Don’t let blessing trick you into self-worship.

The Test of Correction: Will You Trust His Love?

Next, Proverbs shifts from increase to adversity, discipline:

• “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD… For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights” (Prov. 3:11–12).

This is the test many of us would rather avoid. Yet it is one of the most important wisdom exams: when God corrects you, sometimes painfully, will you interpret it as love or anger?

Correction exposes what you cling to. Often our first reaction is: “You might be right… but I wish you weren’t.”

That response shows up in a hundred forms:

• When Scripture confronts our money, we resist giving.
• When pride is challenged, we bristle.
• When called to love enemies, we quietly opt out because we enjoy our bitterness.
• When God touches a habit, a relationship, or a plan we adore, we begin to “despise” His correction.

But Proverbs gives you the interpretive key: discipline is not rejection; it is sonship. God corrects those He delights in. Like a good parent who refuses to let a child remain immature, the Lord will remove what harms you, even if you don’t understand it in the moment.

Think of how parenting works: children hate discipline, but adults often look back and say, “I’m grateful they didn’t let me off the hook.” God’s discipline is His commitment to your growth, shaping you toward maturity in Christ (a New Testament fulfillment implied by this fatherly language).

And sometimes discipline feels like subtraction: a relationship ends, a door closes, a season shifts, a plan dissolves. But wisdom helps you see what may be happening: God is “chipping away” what doesn’t belong, like a sculptor removing what isn’t part of the finished work. He corrects not to crush you, but to form you.

So let me disciple you into a mature question: Can you say, even through loss and pain, “Father, I trust that You delight in me, and You are correcting me for my life”?

Keep Wisdom Before Your Eyes Daily

The passage later continues:

• “My son, let them not depart from your eyes; keep sound wisdom and discretion…” (Prov. 3:21).

Wisdom isn’t for one dramatic moment; it’s for steady faithfulness. The tests don’t only come in giant life events, they come in ordinary patterns: what you look at, what you dwell on, what you decide, what you excuse, what you repeat.

So I want you to build a daily practice: keep wisdom in view. Don’t let it “depart from your eyes.” This means Scripture is not only something you agree with; it becomes something you consult. You acknowledge God “in all your ways” not as a vague feeling, but as a lived posture:

• In scheduling
• In spending
• In conflict
• In temptation
• In stress
• In blessing
• In disappointment

This is how the promise of Proverbs 3:6 becomes real: as you acknowledge Him in actual choices, He directs your paths.

Conclusion

Proverbs 3:5–6 is not sentimental comfort; it is covenant wisdom for real life. The call is clear: trust the Lord with all your heart, refuse to lean on your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will direct your paths.

But I’m inviting you to test what’s truly in your heart:

• When success comes, who do you honor?
• When correction comes, do you trust His love?
• When ordinary life rolls on, do you keep wisdom before your eyes?

Don’t “finish” Proverbs, return to it. Bind it to yourself. Write it on your heart. And when life startles you, what comes out can be genuine trust rather than a last-minute disguise.

Father, I want to trust You with all my heart. Forgive me for the ways I lean on my own understanding and for the ways I acknowledge myself instead of You. Teach me to honor You when success and increase come, and keep me humble in blessing. Give me a soft heart when Your correction and discipline arrive, help me to believe You are not against me, but that You love me and delight in me as Your child. Keep Your wisdom before my eyes, and write Your truth on the tablet of my heart. Direct my paths as I acknowledge You in all my ways. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclusion

Proverbs 3:5–6 is not sentimental comfort; it is covenant wisdom for real life. The call is clear: trust the Lord with all your heart, refuse to lean on your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will direct your paths.

But I’m inviting you to test what’s truly in your heart:

• When success comes, who do you honor?
• When correction comes, do you trust His love?
• When ordinary life rolls on, do you keep wisdom before your eyes?

Don’t “finish” Proverbs, return to it. Bind it to yourself. Write it on your heart. And when life startles you, what comes out can be genuine trust rather than a last-minute disguise.

Closing Prayer

Father, I want to trust You with all my heart. Forgive me for the ways I lean on my own understanding and for the ways I acknowledge myself instead of You. Teach me to honor You when success and increase come, and keep me humble in blessing. Give me a soft heart when Your correction and discipline arrive, help me to believe You are not against me, but that You love me and delight in me as Your child. Keep Your wisdom before my eyes, and write Your truth on the tablet of my heart. Direct my paths as I acknowledge You in all my ways. In Jesus’ name, amen.