Proverbs 3 · a question people ask
"In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" (3:6). Is that a promise that life will go smoothly?
The verse says, "In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" (3:6). It doesn't say how, or how soon, and it doesn't say the path will be easy. Make straight is yashar (tap straight), which Strong's gives as "to be straight or even", and Proverbs has it again in "The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way" (11:5). The same chapter goes on to speak of the LORD's discipline (3:11-12), and says, "Don’t be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes" (3:25). Proverbs is a book of sayings, and it sets sayings side by side (26:4-5). These notes quote 3:5-6 exactly, and neither make it a guarantee the text doesn't state nor explain it away.
The verses
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
“The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.”
“My son, don’t despise the LORD’s discipline, neither be weary of his correction; for whom the LORD loves, he corrects, even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.”
“Don’t be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes;”