What Do I Really Trust? Personal Notes From Proverbs 3:5

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Where is your heart? It is essential to understand the heart from a biblical perspective. Basically the heart is the inner core, the true personality, the real you. It contains the motives, emotions, will, conscience, desires, dreams, thoughts, affections, and all the drives the personality. So when Scripture says to trust the Lord with all your heart, the exhortation is to trust God: 1) over my motives, emotions, will, thoughts, desires, etc. 2) with all of my thoughts, desires, emotions, etc., by placing all of the heart under His Lordship. This passage is a challenge to whether I will submit to the authority of God and His Word over all areas of my life, and it is an invitation (actually a command) to do so. Even though I often wonder if I can trust God in a situation, He is actually reminding me I can. This resembles the vows of commitment made at a wedding and the lifelong process of remaining in that commitment and growing in that relationship. Matt 6:21 – where is your treasure? What if removed from your life or if unattained would mess up your life? Eph 4:22 – our desires can deceive us even if they are good desires. Jer 17:9-10 – our whole heart (motives, intentions, emotions, affections, etc.) can deceive us. James 1:22-25 – if we only glance at the Word we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are OK. It is only looking intently that true heart change happens. Trust - trust in; to have confidence, be confident; to be bold; to be secure; to lean with the whole body on something, in order to rest upon it; to be supported by; LORD – covenant name by which God’s people know Him. To trust Him then with all the heart points toward a growing and maturing relationship with Him. It really comes down to whether we believe God can really be trusted! Am I a growing believer in Christ who is being changed by His grace? Is Christianity 24/7 to me or just when I think I need it? Do I ever resort to trusting in the resources I am told I have within and of which I must draw for strength and wisdom? Do I believe I must trust my heart? In what situations do you feel pressured or tense? Confident and relaxed? When you are pressured, where do you turn? What do you think about? What are your escapes? What do I do when reality is too much for me? Whose performance matters? On whose shoulders does the well-being of your world rest? Who can make it better, make it work, make it safe, make it successful? Where do you find refuge, safety, comfort, escape, pleasure, security? This is the Psalms’ question, digging out your false trusts, your escapisms that substitute for the Lord. Many of the “addictive behaviors” are helpfully addressed by this question. They often arise in the context of life’s troubles and pressures, and function as false refuges. Jer 2:12-13 What or who do you trust? Trust is one of the major verbs relating you to God – or to false gods and lies. Crucial Psalms breathe trust in our Father and Shepherd. Where instead do you place life-directing, life-anchoring trust? In other people? In your abilities or achievements? In your church or theological tradition? In possessions? In diet, exercise, and medical care? Pro 28:26 – He that trusts in his heart is a fool. A good book to read is Bridges’ Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts.