Friday, August 15, 2025
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust…with all your heart… Even When You Don't Understand
For some who grew up in church, Proverbs 3:5-6 may be some of the first verses ever memorized as a child. Ironically it may be the most challenging concept that we many struggle with our entire lives. Solomon is talking to his son advising him to trust God – with his whole heart. Solomon knew the dangers of not trusting in the Lord with your WHOLE heart. He knew that obedience that comes from the heart that loves God is more important than our outward conformity to God’s will. Putting superficial trust in God is only trusting him halfway , not complete surrender.
It is against human nature to trust anything or anyone other than ourselves. Letting go and handing over the reigns is harder for some than others because we want to be in control. We want things the way we want them. We pray but often we tell God exactly how we expect him to answer. He does want us to bring the desires of our hearts to him. He wants good things for us and he loves us. But we have to be willing to accept what his good and perfect will is. He has our best interests at heart, and he will always answer in the way that is best for us and glorifies him. Trusting with all our heart requires an open hand. It requires laying it at his feet and walking away without picking it back up again.
Trusting God requires practice like all spiritual habits and formation. We won’t get it right the first time and there will be times we have to learn to trust him again. We might get hurt and decide we are not going to trust him. We decide not to trust because we feel we do not deserve his love, forgiveness, or help. We stop trusting or hoping because of unanswered prayers. We stop trusting because we lost someone we love or something happens we do not understand. We just cannot wrap our minds around how our God, that we know and love, could let it happen. Do we dare trust again? What if it happens again? We think if we don’t trust and if we don’t hope we won’t be hurt again if it happens. We can learn to trust him even when we don’t understand.
do not rely on your own understanding…
What a mess we can get ourselves into when we rely on our own understanding. We can never understand enough to rely on ourselves, and we don’t have to. Our sovereign, omniscient Father will do it for us. Trusting him with all our hearts means we trust his understanding over ours.
When we make the choice to trust him instead of understanding on our own and when we acknowledge him in everything we say and do he will make our paths straight. We can take the next step in peace, trusting him to lead us all the way.
Are you fully surrendered in trusting God with all the things?
Are there areas of your life you are holding onto and not surrendering, but leaning on your own understanding?
