5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
For some reason this verse has been in my head for the past few weeks or so. I've heard it many times before and it has always been one of those 'nice' verses that I just listen to without thinking about what it says. But I wanted to really consider what it means. Here are some thoughts I had on the verse.
It says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." .....with ALL your heart....
I was recently reading in "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life" that when scripture refers to 'heart' it rarely means your emotions or feelings. It's referring to your will, to your decisions.
With that in mind, trusting in the Lord with all your heart is a conscious decision to trust God. "I will trust you God." It means to trust Him in EVERY decision and choice you make.
Someone who truly trusts in the Lord with ALL their heart is a very confident person.
Why? Because they know that God is sovereign over the decisions they make and if they make a bad decision they trust that God's infinite grace and mercy will cover for their mistake. Am I a confident person? .....Are you a confident person?
Trusting in the Lord with all your heart is NOT an overwhelming feeling or emotion like butterflies in your stomach.
The reason I say this is because all too often we wait for the 'feeling' or 'emotion' to come before we decide to trust in God. And then when it's gone we wonder if we really trusted.
Trusting in God is a DECISION. The emotions are only the frosting on the cake. They may or may not be there when you trust God. But it shouldn't matter what you're feeling, God commands you to trust in Him.
It's similar to the love of a Godly man for his wife. The man may not always be overwhelmed with those butterflies and feelings toward his wife but he still loves her. As in he's decided to love her; to be her man; to be faithful to his vows to her; to love her for life.
And he shouldn't be dependent on his emotions to love her. That means he loves her even when he doesn't feel giddy about her; even when they've had an argument; and even when they're both droopy-eyed and grumpy in the morning.
The culture doesn't understand this. So many marriages are broken because couples think that love is a feeling or emotion. It's not! It's a decision of the heart! Yes, there are butterflies and feelings but they aren't the cake. They're just the frosting.
Similarly, so many Christians DON'T trust in God because they think it's a feeling. It's not! It's a decision of the heart!
Does that make sense? I hope the marriage analogy hasn't confused you.
Trusting in the Lord is a decision that you make regardless of your emotions.
If you're like me, you know that your emotions are all over the place. Some days you feel really happy, other days you feel really depressed. I think it's something that's part of our fallen nature... we can't control our own emotions.
But what we can do is make the right decisions for God and be patient for our emotions to fall into place. And they will.
Trusting in God may be hard at first but if you keep making the right decision to not worry about anything, the peace and happiness will come. It will.
Well, I'm going to have to cut this post in half and finish it another time.
I encourage everyone to read the whole chapter of Proverbs 3. You can read it here.
If you have any comments don't hesitate to post them.
God bless!
-Aaron
and he will make your paths straight.
For some reason this verse has been in my head for the past few weeks or so. I've heard it many times before and it has always been one of those 'nice' verses that I just listen to without thinking about what it says. But I wanted to really consider what it means. Here are some thoughts I had on the verse.
It says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." .....with ALL your heart....
I was recently reading in "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life" that when scripture refers to 'heart' it rarely means your emotions or feelings. It's referring to your will, to your decisions.
With that in mind, trusting in the Lord with all your heart is a conscious decision to trust God. "I will trust you God." It means to trust Him in EVERY decision and choice you make.
Someone who truly trusts in the Lord with ALL their heart is a very confident person.
Why? Because they know that God is sovereign over the decisions they make and if they make a bad decision they trust that God's infinite grace and mercy will cover for their mistake. Am I a confident person? .....Are you a confident person?
Trusting in the Lord with all your heart is NOT an overwhelming feeling or emotion like butterflies in your stomach.
The reason I say this is because all too often we wait for the 'feeling' or 'emotion' to come before we decide to trust in God. And then when it's gone we wonder if we really trusted.
Trusting in God is a DECISION. The emotions are only the frosting on the cake. They may or may not be there when you trust God. But it shouldn't matter what you're feeling, God commands you to trust in Him.
It's similar to the love of a Godly man for his wife. The man may not always be overwhelmed with those butterflies and feelings toward his wife but he still loves her. As in he's decided to love her; to be her man; to be faithful to his vows to her; to love her for life.
And he shouldn't be dependent on his emotions to love her. That means he loves her even when he doesn't feel giddy about her; even when they've had an argument; and even when they're both droopy-eyed and grumpy in the morning.
The culture doesn't understand this. So many marriages are broken because couples think that love is a feeling or emotion. It's not! It's a decision of the heart! Yes, there are butterflies and feelings but they aren't the cake. They're just the frosting.
Similarly, so many Christians DON'T trust in God because they think it's a feeling. It's not! It's a decision of the heart!
Does that make sense? I hope the marriage analogy hasn't confused you.
Trusting in the Lord is a decision that you make regardless of your emotions.
If you're like me, you know that your emotions are all over the place. Some days you feel really happy, other days you feel really depressed. I think it's something that's part of our fallen nature... we can't control our own emotions.
But what we can do is make the right decisions for God and be patient for our emotions to fall into place. And they will.
Trusting in God may be hard at first but if you keep making the right decision to not worry about anything, the peace and happiness will come. It will.
Well, I'm going to have to cut this post in half and finish it another time.
I encourage everyone to read the whole chapter of Proverbs 3. You can read it here.
If you have any comments don't hesitate to post them.
God bless!
-Aaron
