On Thursday evening, fresh from a week at youth conference, Pastor Devon Ortiz preached from Proverbs 3:5-6, the verse he calls his life verse and the one he signs in students' Bibles: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." He set the scene with the purpose of Proverbs (chapter 1): it exists not only that we would know wisdom and instruction, but that we would receive it and give it, and it all begins with the fear of the Lord, an all-encompassing recognition that God sits on high and that all power, and all goodness, rest in Him. He also drew from Proverbs 3:1-4 that obeying from the heart, not merely because we have to, brings length of days, peace, and favor with both God and man.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Pastor Ortiz explained that in Hebrew the heart is the seat of the will, not the feelings: the place of "I will, I want." Cravings shift with our moods, so we are not to trust with feelings but with our choices, priorities, and direction. "With all thine heart" means no compartments held back. He warned that inconsistent Christians are often trusting God only partway: the 35 percent we withhold is what keeps us out of church, out of serving, and silent in the singing 35 percent of the time. He tied it to Proverbs 4:23, "keep thy heart with all diligence," to guard our will for God, because the goal is not an emotional surrender that evaporates as fast as it comes, but a settled choice to trust Him.

Lean not unto thine own understanding. The problem, Pastor Ortiz said, is not intelligence but self-sufficiency. Solomon, who compiled these proverbs, was the wisest man, so this is not anti-intellectualism; the word translated "understanding" means discernment or analytical insight. The warning is to not let our reasoning get in the way of faith. Walking on water, the sea splitting open, a man raised on the third day, none of it makes logical sense, and if we let what does not make sense block faith, we will refuse to believe. But faith, Hebrews says, is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, and once we yield to God we begin to see how reasonable it actually was.

In all thy ways acknowledge him. Acknowledgment, Pastor Ortiz said, is intimacy, not ritual. The word carries the sense of knowing someone closely. Some people can bring you calm just by their presence; God is meant to be known like that, so that when the whole world feels like it is collapsing and you go to the throne of grace, you can say amen knowing He is already at work. He contrasted this with rote, ritual prayer, and pointed to Peter's "casting all your care upon him": you cast a care precisely because it is too heavy for you, trusting that He can carry it. You cannot fully trust the Lord until you are fully in a relationship with Him.

And he shall direct thy paths. The promise, Pastor Ortiz said honestly, is about direction, not comfort. The Hebrew pictures God making the path straight or smooth, which means the road was not straight to begin with. If your Christianity is based on how easy God can make your life, you do not have Christianity, you have a social club. He pointed to Paul's "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith," three phrases that each imply struggle: a fight means an obstacle, a race means effort, and keeping the faith means guarding it and refusing to let it go. He illustrated it with a young man at conference diving and scrambling to hang onto a basketball, and asked whether we cling to our faith with that same refusal to let go. The bottom line he left the church: where are you in trusting God, do you have a real relationship with Him, or are you only looking for comfort?