Have you ever trusted something that looked solid, only to discover it could not hold your weight?
One morning in early June, we stood high on a mountain near the Continental Divide after skiing down a mile-long ungroomed trail. The air was thin, the snow was soft, and I felt pretty good about finishing the run.
Then I made one small mistake: I planted my ski pole into the snowbank beside me and leaned into it. The snowbank collapsed, and I tumbled down the bank, landing in a heap beside the road.
In one moment, I went from exhilaration to embarrassment. More importantly, I was reminded how quickly an unstable support can give way.
1. The Problem: We All Lean on Something
We all lean on something, though we may not always like to admit it. We lean on paychecks, friends, titles, routines, diets, abilities, and carefully built plans. What we lean on affects how we stand, how we walk, and how we think about life.
In recent years, our culture has even repackaged this posture with the phrase “lean into.” To lean into something often means to embrace it or engage with it. We have dressed up the concept so that leaning sounds strong, brave, and purposeful. But Scripture asks a deeper question: is the thing we are leaning on actually able to hold us?
2. The Biblical Anchor: Trust God, Not Your Own Understanding
Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” This verse does more than warn us away from bad ideas. It invites us to place the full weight of our confidence on God’s wisdom instead of our own limited perspective.
That is not always easy. Our own understanding often feels immediate, familiar, and practical. God’s wisdom may require waiting, changing, or admitting that we do not see the whole picture. Yet His support is steadier than what we can arrange on our own.
3. A Biblical Example: Hezekiah Chose the Stronger Support
There are many references in the Bible to people who learned how to lean on God and it saved lives. For example, in 2 Kings 18, Hezekiah, king of Judah, faced a terrifying threat from the powerful king of Assyria. From a human perspective, making an alliance with Egypt might have seemed like the safest strategy.
But the Assyrian messenger mocked that option, saying, “If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand.” Egypt looked strong, but it was not a trustworthy support. It was a false security.
There was no balance of power between Judah and Assyria. Yet Hezekiah had the spiritual sense to pray and lean on God’s solution. Instead of grasping for a visible alliance, he turned toward the One who could truly deliver.
God brought victory without Judah having to win a battle by its own strength. The deliverance was swift and complete because Hezekiah chose to lean on God rather than on the unstable supports around him.
4. How Do We Apply Our Trust?
Not long ago my husband and I decided to buy a house in an area close to our two grown children and their families. We established all the typical requirements like size and price range. But we added one very important criterion: it needed to be equally close to each daughter. This narrowed the area of real estate in which we could locate one by quite a lot. And it didn’t help that it was decidedly a sellers’ market at the time.
One by one we toured and haggled over each property in that area, and one by one we rejected each house on the market. Meanwhile, the unrenewable lease that we had on the house where we were staying during this search was coming to an end. I was strongly tempted to go back and visit several of the houses we had rejected, but we knew God had not worked in our hearts to choose any of those houses.
We continued to pray for the right place, and we continued to keep our spiritual eyes and ears open. Abruptly one day we became aware of a house that was going on the market in a couple of days. Through our real estate agent, we arranged to be among the first viewers.
Almost immediately I knew it was the right place, something I had not felt about any of the others. Our offer was accepted and the owners agreed to fast track the closing so we could take possession of the house in less than 30 days. On the same day that our contract expired on the leased house we moved into the new house.
And here is the added blessing, God’s endorsement in knowing our hearts, the house was precisely 28 minutes from each daughter!
5. The Reflection: What Are You Leaning On?
Maybe the question is not whether we lean. We all do. The better question is this: what or who are we leaning on?
Is there an area of your life where you have been pressing your full weight into something that God never meant to carry you? A plan, a person, a position, or even your own understanding may seem sturdy for a while, but only God can provide the support that does not collapse beneath us.
