Skip to main content

With All Our Hearts

 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

 

          I’ve told the story before. I said to God, “I don’t understand!”

          He answered, “That’s OK, you don’t have to.”

          To which I replied, “No. You don’t understand. I don’t understand.”

          I’m not sure which of us rolled our eyes first on that one. But the truth of the matter is that it’s not about not understanding. It’s about not approving. It’s about not being in control.

          I’ve also written before about the heart being the will. I have a friend who grew up with cats. She says that to a cat, “no” means “approach from another direction.” There are athletes and artists who spend hundreds and thousands of hours practicing the basics of their sport or art. Consider your hobbies, interests, skills, and interests. How much time have you spent? How much money? How much energy? How many mistakes have you made, and how often have you had to go back to the basics?

          I’ve told the story of my understanding of the Yuck Phase before, too. When I work on a craft, art, or decorating project, it doesn’t take long after I get started that I think, “Yuck! It’s not working. I’ve made too many mistakes. It’s going to be hideous. Why did I waste the money? Why am I wasting my time? I’m such a failure.” I’ve learned to persevere through the Yuck Phase because I’ve learned that when I get done with whatever it was, I’m usually satisfied.

          Is that how we trust?

          For some people, the heart has to do with emotions. Do you trust the Lord with all your emotions? Do you trust Him in all your emotions? Do you trust God when you’re happy? Angry? Afraid? Bored? Lonely? In love? Sad? Depressed? Comfortable? Hurt? Jealous? Overwhelmed?

          How much time, energy, or money do you spend on your trust? This afternoon, I skimmed through an article about an octopus some scientists found that spent more than four years guarding its clutch of eggs. They tried to entice it to eat, but it wouldn’t. After four years of checking on it, the octopus was gone and all that was left what the egg casings. They believe the eggs hatched but that the octopus starved to death in the process of brooding the eggs.

          If our trust in God is to be with all our heart, this is an excellent example of what it means. Are we willing to brood over our trust? To guard it and nurture it even if doing so means that we slowly starve to death? I’m not saying that we will have to starve in any way – but what lengths are we willing to go to strengthen our trust in the Lord, so that we can do it with all our hearts?

          So, my challenge in the next week is to ask God to reveal to me something specific that He wants me to trust Him for or with. Something that will allow me to practice trusting.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more