Trust God's Wisdom

Our contemporary culture has many mantras, one of which is "Follow your heart." In other words, the giver of this advice is telling you to do whatever feels right, to trust your feelings. "You do you" is the echo of this mantra.

I can't think of any worse advice. I have done far too much counseling with individuals who find themselves in a predicament because they "followed their heart."

Don't Trust Your Wisdom

Today, in week three of our series on The Effects of Trust, we are going to see how our primary passage of Proverbs 3:1-10 protects us from this bad advice. Our key verses this week are verses 5 & 6, which say...

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6, ESV)

In case you didn't realize it, your heart is fickle. You may feel like you are steady, but your heart is more like a fuzzy, yellow tennis ball bouncing back and forth than you may want to admit. One day your heart is happy and you seem to get along with everyone. Yet on a different day, your heart is grumpy and everyone seems to get on your nerves.

So if you try to "follow your heart," on which day do you follow it? Only on happy days? Or every day, even if that leads to chaos?

Because God loves you, He wants to protect you from your fickle feelings. That's why He says to trust Him with all of your heart, not your feelings. You have nowhere near the wisdom He does, so don't lean on your own understanding. Rather, lean on His wisdom given through His Word and His Spirit.

Result: Guidance

There is a scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf can't remember the path through the Mines of Moria. So as he sits on a rock looking at the three options before him, he suddenly goes, "Ah, it's that way!"

There are many moments in life when you aren't sure which way to go. If you simply try to "follow your heart," you will very likely make a mistake. But when you trust in God's wisdom as laid out in Scripture, verse 6 tells us that you will have a better sense of God's guidance in your life ("He will make straight your paths").

This is why James, the brother of Jesus, tells us:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." (James 1:5, ESV)

So trust God with all your heart to lead and guide you with His wisdom, trusting He will make your paths "straight" to where you need to be. And if all options before you are equal and none are inherently sinful, then choose with confidence that God will be with you and will continue to guide you.