Do you ever find yourself reading a familiar verse and not giving it much thought because you’ve heard it SO many times. Whether it’s John 3:16 or Psalm 23, you see it and you kind of just skim past. I hope I’m not alone in this. Proverbs 3:5-6 can sometimes be one of those verses for me. What’s interesting though is many of those verses became SO popular and SO often used because they are SOOOOO good!!! If you’ve heard this proverb, try to read it again now as if you’ve never heard it before:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Recently I was having a conversation with God and this verse came up. At first it came up because I was reading verse 26 of the same chapter and I just happened to see it highlighted on the same page:
“…the Lord will be your confidence…”
I was thinking back to what the A Confident Heart Ladies had mentioned in our last study together about how having a “confident heart” isn’t so much about being self-confident, but rather the ability to have confidence (trust) that God is who He says He is, loves us the way He says He loves us, and has made us exactly who He wants us to be.
As my conversation with God continued and drifted off this topic, I found myself wondering whether I should be praying something or not. As much as I wanted to pray for this situation, I started to question whether I should. It felt selfish to pray for this and yet, it was a desire. In the midst of talking this through with God, I heard him whisper to my heart:
“Bekah, who else would you want to trust with the desires of your heart?!?”
Suddenly Proverbs 3:5-6 came into perspective in a new, fresh way. Just like “a confident heart” could mean multiple things, so could this verse. “Trusting in the Lord with all your heart”, is not JUST about trusting God with every ounce of my being; it could also mean trusting Him literally WITH my heart. Trust him to hold it and to see it and to give my heart the reassurance it needs that He really is in control and worth trusting. It wasn’t just me saying, “Okay, I’m going to trust you no matter what.” It was, “Okay, God, here’s my heart, I’m trusting you to take care of it as One who created it and cares more about it that maybe I even do sometime. I won’t lean on my own understanding and feelings, but on the One who gave me my heart and mind and everything else.”
In that moment, I found myself bold to pray the desires of my heart, and yet at the same time content to live in the paradox that the situation will probably play out very differently than my expectations. BUT, with God holding my heart, that’s okay (and probably a good thing!)
One of Satan’s biggest lies since the very beginning with Adam and Eve is “God’s Holding Out on You!” To be honest, this is another part of the reason I fear praying for things sometimes. The truth is though, that God’s NOT holding out on us!
Instead, He’s holding ONTO us…
and holding out FOR us…
and …
simply holding us.
Who else would you want to trust with YOUR heart?
I will trust you, Lord with all my heart, leaning not on my own understanding.
In all my ways I will acknowledge You, for I know You will make my paths straight.
Here’s my heart.
Thank you for holding it. Amen.
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