Committing My Works Unto the Lord

Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.”

Proverbs 16:3

I have probably written several blog posts from this verse over the years, but as I came across it recently, I felt that indescribable sense from the Lord that this fresh understanding of it was blog post material.

As I sat and mulled over the verse and how the Lord had used it to help, encourage, and motivate me in different seasons of life, my eyes drifted up to the verse before, and I suddenly realized there was a connection there that I had never noticed.

Here are the two verses together:

“All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits. Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” (Proverbs 16:2-3)

I knew already the power of committing my works to God, and letting Him establish my thoughts to be in line with His will and His truths. But never had I looked for context for the verse that had been so helpful.

If you have ever read through the book of Proverbs, you have probably noticed that the chapters are not necessarily one continuous stream of thought on a specific topic. There are some sections that treat a topic from several angles with their short, pithy statements, but many of the proverbs are meant to be taken as somewhat freestanding.

And yet, nothing in the Bible is accidental, not even the placement of proverbs within the chapters of the book to which they give their name.

Here is the connection my mind made today as I read the verses together:

The ways of a man are clean in his own eyes: so often, my need to have my thoughts established comes about when I get to throwing some kind of pity party. In my eyes, my “ways,” are clean, there’s nothing on my part to fix or bring in alignment with Scripture. But the Lord weigheth the spirits.

God knows both actions and true motivations. He knows both what I do and why I do it—even better than I do!

When there is pride or stubbornness in the way of clear thinking about my actions, I need God to clear away the fog. I need to commit my works to God, so that He can establish my thoughts in alignment, not with how I feel about my actions, but with His truth.

So often, I get myself all caught up in my own thoughts and emotions, but what I need is to take those thoughts and emotions to the Lord and let Him help me see as He sees.

Just because I think I am right in a certain situation doesn’t mean I am. After all, God says that

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

My heart can easily deceive and my senses misperceive. But God sees all, and knows all. I cannot put a veneer of false justice over my actions or disguise any hidden root of pride or bitterness. There is no hiding my true attitudes and motivations from Him.

Dear Reader, are you in the habit of committing your works to the Lord, laying them before Him to illuminate with the light of His truth? What is the Holy Spirit calling you to bring into His light today?

“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 

1 John 1:7