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Learning to Seek and Trust God

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

Proverbs 3:5-6

I cannot count the times my mother quoted this verse to me—and with good reason. I was heading down a proverbial path that would only cause me disappointment or pain—yet I was too young to understand. Even though my own understanding seemed good to me at the time, I slowly learned to seek the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Sin has polluted our willingness to submit to the Lord. The devil tempts us to trust our own way and intuition. God seeks to draw us to himself because he knows best. We are constantly caught in that tug-of-war, leaning one way and then the other. There was a time when I thought I knew it all, but the one thing I did not know was that God had a better way that he was waiting to show me. God’s Word taught me to trust him with the directions.

We are taught to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). I need to pray this prayer more often:

Father, I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed by what I have done and not done. I have not loved you with my heart, soul, mind, and strength; nor have I loved my neighbor as myself. Forgive me, for Jesus’ sake—that I may be a cleansed servant of yours in the world. Amen.

Bible References

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Ephesians 2

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

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