The “One-A-Week Challenge” Week 2

shutterstock_250176199“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

Proverbs 3:5 NIV

I’m not much of a video game player. My grandsons, on the other hand, are. The oldest grandson got Madden 16 for Christmas and he has been teaching me to play it with him. The movement of the buttons and the toggles on the controller seem completely counterintuitive to me. I find myself being frustrated because I think I should understand how to play this child’s game. Jayden keeps saying to me “Just trust me Pop-Pop, I’m telling you right!”

That reminds me of what this week’s verse teaches. The key to everything is TRUST. All of us have our trust placed in someone or something. Maybe you trust your mind, your methods, or your money. Perhaps you lean on your abilities, attributes, and attitudes. It could be your health, wealth, or wisdom. In the end these will all fail us.

This line, from Proverbs 3, tells us clearly in whom we must place our trust. God is completely dependable. He is expressly divine. His character is so absolutely holy that it is impossible for Him to ever lie. His love is so pure that He can never do anything that is unkind, unjust, unfair, or unnecessary. He is the One we can TRUST.

The scripture doesn’t stop there. It goes on to say that we must trust in Him with all our heart. Too often we have a divided heart. We want to compartmentalize our life. We think that it is okay to be one thing today and something different tomorrow. John Phillips reminded us that trusting God with anything less than “all our heart” is an insult to God. He wrote, “A divided heart and a double mind are almost as bad as no trust at all.”

This verse concludes with a warning about self-reliance. DON’T DO IT. Never lean on your own understanding. The more we put the word of God into our hearts, minds, and life the more we will understand how little understanding we have. Always remember our understanding comes as the result of our obedience. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”