Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. – Proverbs 3:5,6

Below are a few memories of my education in the school of Proverbs 3:5,6. My schooling is far from over but I’m far enough along to have some sense of what I’ve been taught. By the way, this is a re-run from several years ago.

I was a new believer, 19 years old, and was recognizing I needed to get away from my roommates with whom I had pursued a life of debauchery. What made the most sense to me at that time was ‘get out of Dodge.’ My parents helped me make the move 400 miles east to Sioux Falls, SD where I found work at a newspaper. A new place, a new job, same sinner saved by grace. But in my young believing mind I was fleeing temptation as best I knew how. I remember getting a letter from my mother connecting my decisions and actions with “In all your ways acknowledge Him…”

About eight years later, now a husband and father and recently-named managing editor of several publications, Dawn miscarried. Befuddled at how to think about what had happened, comfort my wife, all the while straining to learn the ropes of a new job and care for our three-year old daughter, Kate, these truths were now memorized yet still being learned. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…” I remember the deep frustrated confusion – wanting the world to stop so I could grieve and ponder. But it didn’t; stories had to be written, paychecks had to be earned, Katie had to be taught ’please’; bass part for the Easter cantata had to be practiced. Amidst that I was being taught; my heart was learning the reality of trusting in the Lord. He alone ruled and reigned, I didn’t.

Within 18 months we’d been blessed with our second child, and had sold our house in Minnesota and moved to Omaha, Nebraska for me to attend Bible college. We had anticipated a profit from the sale to pay for my first year of schooling; it barely paid for the first semester. But in faith I began the second term, making arrangements with the school to pay by a certain date (and looking for more work to pay for the semester).

One morning in January, I checked my campus mail box. A form from the financial aid office showed my tuition had been paid; scholarship money covered the full amount. Twenty-five years later as I write this, tears come to my eyes as I remember dropping to my knees in that hallway gasping in awe at the reality, He WILL direct your paths.

The education of Proverbs 3:5,6 has not always been received with joy. Classes have had to be repeated; dropping out has been attempted, but the Principal has been merciful and never let me go.

As together we continue on in this school of trusting in the Lord, may we see there’s no better education, no better outcome than what He promises to those trust and obey Him.

Pastor Tedd