Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;  6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  Proverbs 3:5-6

I know this passage of scripture will bless you so I have broken it down to give you a better understanding of how you can apply it to your life and trust the Lord in your daily walk with Him.

Trust In The Lord
We can trust the Lord with all of our heart because He is the Lord who will never change. (Malachi 3:6)

• Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
• But You are the same, And Your years will have no end. (Psalms 102:27)
• I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. (Isaiah 44:6)

Trust means to be bold, to have confidence, to be secure, to hope, or be sure. (Strong’s Concordance)

Another way of saying that is:

• Be bold in the Lord with all of your heart and do not rely on your own wisdom or discernment.
• Be confident in the Lord.
• Be secure in the Lord.
• Be hopeful in the Lord.
• Be sure in the Lord.

Hebrews 4:16 says – “… come boldly to the throne of grace…”
Therefore we are bold to proclaim, “We will trust in the Lord with all of our heart.”

We never know what danger lies ahead, so would it not be wise to put your trust and your security in Him who knows and has your future in the palm of His mighty hand? Hallelujah!

With All of Your Heart
This is the most significant principle.

It is a commandment to “…love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5

Our heart is the center of all we do, it’s the conscience, the moral character, it’s the seat of all our emotions, our appetites and passions, and also our courage. The carnal mind on the other hand, because of its nature, is an enemy of God. Because of corruption it has been brought into an inferior condition, it can only think of things contrary to the heart of God and therefore can never please God. BUT since we are now born-again of the incorruptible seed through the word of God that lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23) we can now come boldly to the throne of grace so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

So now we can come to God in boldness, in trust, and be confident in Him with in the totality of what we do and say and by doing this we are pleasing to our God.

Do Not Lean on Your Own Understanding
Do not rely upon what you have been through or the present position you’re in.

Do not support yourself with your wisdom or your understanding or depend on your knowledge and faculties or even your discernment of what you see or hear and have relied upon.

We needed the Lord when we were first saved and we still need Him to direct our path today.

“Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.”  Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NASU – emphasis mine)

But in All of Your Ways
The word way here is similar to the word we find in John 14:6 when Jesus said “I am the way” – it’s a course of life and moral character. You and I never know what evil awaits us, or the danger we are about to face. So in all of your ways, on your entire journey, acknowledge Him.

Acknowledge Him
The word acknowledge here is similar to the word the apostle Paul uses in Philippians 3:10: that I may know Him. It is God’s heartbeat for mankind to know Him intimately. This means in an experiential way, also in a practical and realistic way.

This word means knowledge by experience. Let’s read Wuest’s translation of Philippians 3:10 and the word know: “That I might come to know Him in an experiential way, and to come to know experientially the power of His resurrection.”

On my travels throughout the years I have experienced many dangers out of which only the Lord could have delivered me. Through these trials, tests and pressures of life we learn how to grow in experiential knowledge of Him, in wisdom and understanding, and so I have learned to acknowledge Him in all of my ways.

He Shall Direct Your Path
He will make your path straight or level or even smooth and cause you to be prosperous on your way. God takes pleasure in us when we take the straight and narrow path that leads to life, and trust Him, not only when things are going smoothly but trust, rely and depend on Him from day to day and from moment to moment.

Proverbs 3:6 says, “In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.” (TLB)

The key to this devotional is acknowledging Him, which is to KNOW Him in an experiential way. Knowledge is the greatest teacher, therefore learn daily to know the Lord, learn about His loving character and His grace which will carry us through all of life’s tests and trials.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Reverend Peter Rahme