"Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him
and He will direct your path."
Proverbs 3:5
I think the first part of this verse means two very important, very different things. And these principles have grabbed my attention for the past few weeks.
The first way I take it is the typical way that most people translate this passage; we should trust in the Lord with everything that we have. He is sovereign and knows the plans he has for us, so we should leverage everything for this perfect plan. Being devoted is giving everything. Being devoted is trusting Him for everything and with everything we are, do and own. Our understanding of life, love, and the future is so flawed-literally unable to comprehend the infinite and totally perfect ways of God. This is why we are so often drawn to base our idea about God on the doubts and confusion we have about the Bible with all its seemingly contradicting statements. In His mind and with His knowledge they all make perfect sense, and I firmly believe that seeking Him, or "acknowledging" Him, in everything we do will help us to understand and trust Him with our whole heart.
Secondly, I think Jesus, Abba Father, Lover of our souls, is trying to tell us to trust Him with our HEARTS. In the day we live in, people tend to praise dating, marriage, and relationships more than they promote guarding the heart, even though our divorce rate in America is close to 50 percent. In fact, 1 Corinthians 7 tells us the Bible's view on singleness and marriage. It tells us that it is a gift to be single, because that provides undivided devotion to the Lord. So many of us see singleness as deprived of something that will make us whole. Media tells us that marriage is the key to a fulfilled life. Everyone who is happy is "in love". Have we ever thought that maybe loneliness is put in our hearts for us to draw near to the only thing that can satisfy them? The Bible tells us that marriage will bring many troubles and hardships, and even though one day hopefully He will call us to a life of marriage, why do we long for it so immediately? Why can't we embrace our life of undivided devotion to the Lord and seek His face with no distractions? Because when we lean on our own understanding, satan makes us think more and more like the world we live in. We must trust the Lord with our heart. This is the difference in being in the world and not of the world. We must be able to live life pursuing the love, character, and heart of our Creator-not a sinful representation of the Lover of our souls. Then one day, as two people are delighting themselves in the Lord, He will give them both the desire of their hearts- to love and be loved in return by someone who loves Him more than us. How wonderful that day will be! We must guard our hearts and wait patiently. If we place this precious part of us in the palm of God's hand, we can trust that no matter what our hearts go through in the depravity of this world-disappointment, brokenness, sorrow, or simply a lack of joy-He will direct it into the correct path of love.
Check this out. It'll do your heart some good.
No comments:
Post a Comment