Photo by Liane Metzler
By Mike Chaffin
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding; Proverbs 3:5
Who can you trust these days? Doesn’t seem there is any government, organization, or person you can put your total trust in. When we are trying to plan, and don’t know what to do, many times we are told to “follow your heart”, or asked, “what do your instincts tell you?” But can we even trust our own plans?
The Bible clearly teaches we cannot trust solely in our own plans. Don’t get me wrong, we do need to make decisions and plan for the future. The Bible tells us to do just that. However, there is an order for success.
We are to trust in the Lord with our whole heart. That means we pray for His guidance and direction. We pray for His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. We don’t put our trust in horses and chariots as the psalmist said,
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7 ESV
Horses and chariots in the Old Testament represent the government’s protection. And we don’t make plans without taking God into consideration, as James instructed us,
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16
When we trust in the Lord and go to Him for guidance, we are in God’s will and can say, as Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” God has a plan for each of us. Our duty is to seek it out and live in the joy of knowing you are standing on His promises.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 19:21
Prayer: Lord, I thank you for your guidance. I know you have a plan for me, so I have a hope and a future. My trust in you comes alive when I put my plans before you and ask for wisdom and a blessing. Help me to stay in your will in whatever plans I make. In Jesus’ name, amen.
* There is a website that conducted a search for Bible verses. They compiled a list of the verses in order of the magnitude of hits they got in their search. Some of these verses probably qualify as ‘people’s favorites’, while others might be on the list because they are some of the most important and most teachable words of God.
