Surrender Over Certainty: Learning to Not Lean on Your Own Understanding

Understanding Proverbs 3:5-6

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Have you ever felt like figuring things out on your own was easier than trusting God? I have. And I’ve learned that trust doesn’t begin with certainty—it begins with surrender.

When I was in sixth grade, ballet was everything to me. I was in The Nutcracker, surrounded by friends who loved dance just as much as I did. Ballet felt like my calling, my purpose, and my safe place. I was confident, proud of how far I’d come, and sure of my future.

That confidence was tested when audition season arrived.

At the time, I was only taking ballet classes twice a week, but I wanted more. I was ready to take dance seriously, so I decided to audition for the pre-professional program at the Atlanta Ballet Academy. This program was for dancers who wanted to go professional—the best of the best. On top of that, all my friends were auditioning too. I felt both excited and pressured, convinced this was the next step God had planned for me.

I still remember audition day clearly. I walked through the familiar studio doors, took a deep breath, and tried to calm the butterflies in my stomach. I slipped on my ballet shoes and took my place at the barre

beside one of my closest friends. When it was over, I felt incredible.

That went great, I thought.

Then came the waiting. Weeks passed before the email finally arrived—the one I believed would change everything.

I was waitlisted.

My friend got in. I didn’t.

I was devastated. That summer was filled with tears, confusion, and loneliness. I felt like no one understood what I was going through. I felt completely alone—at least, that’s how it seemed.

One night, in the middle of that hard season, I picked up my Bible and started flipping through the pages until a verse stopped me: Proverbs 3:5–6.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

I read those verses over and over until I memorized them. They became the foundation of what I was learning about trust. Let’s break them down into three parts.

Part 1: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

At first glance, this sounds simple: pray, read your Bible, go to church, and you’re good. But trust goes deeper than routine.

It’s easy to turn our relationship with God into a checklist. We pray for the things we want, the outcomes we think are best—better grades, certain friendships, specific opportunities. When we do this, we’re often leaning on our own understanding rather than truly trusting God.

Prayer isn’t wrong, but the heart behind it matters. God doesn’t want us to come to Him only asking for what we think we need. He wants us to seek His will, trusting that He sees the full picture even when we don’t.

Part 2: “In all your ways submit to Him.”

This part was the hardest for me to understand.

To submit means to give control to someone greater than yourself. Submitting to God means trusting His authority, even when His plan doesn’t match your expectations. It means choosing obedience over comfort and faith over certainty.

A powerful example of this comes from Matthew 8. A man with leprosy, an outcast with no hope, comes to Jesus.

“When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy."

Matthew 8:1-3

He doesn’t demand healing. He doesn’t question God’s power. He submits himself fully to God’s will. And Jesus, moved with compassion, heals him.

In the same way, God deeply cares for us. But trusting Him means surrendering our plans and believing that His plan, no matter how confusing it seems, is good.

Part 3: “And He will make your paths straight.”

Submitting to God doesn’t mean we stop praying or stop hoping. It means trusting that the outcome is in His hands.

In Matthew 9, a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years believes that if she simply touches Jesus’ cloak, she will be healed. She doesn’t understand why she’s suffering. She doesn’t know how healing will happen. She just has faith.

“Just then, a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’

Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said. ‘Your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.”

Matthew 9:20-22

The woman is healed not because she understood God’s plan, but because she trusted Him.

Conclusion

We don’t need to understand everything God is doing. We don’t need all the answers. Like that woman, and like the man with leprosy, we are called to trust.

Looking back, being waitlisted felt like the end of my story. But it wasn’t. It was the beginning of learning what real trust looks like, trust that starts not with certainty, but with surrender.

And when we surrender, God is faithful to guide our steps, even when the path looks different than we imagined.