“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil” Proverbs 3:3-7).
Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You so much for sharing Your divine wisdom with us, thereby helping us to acquire the ability to make good decisions. Help us to use this gift in a way that will bring You glory, and that will bring us joy, and make us a blessing to others. In the Name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
These verses are well known, repeated often, and loved by many. In this Bible verse I have identified very valuable, and sound, advise. Therefore, I have divided it into three parts. Because of their eternal value, we will spend a few days looking at them, one by one.
The first is: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” This is a trust that is built on love, the greatest motivator for growth and change, in an individual’s life!
Trust in God, not partially, but, with all your heart! Let us pay close attention to this. It is very important that we not look at this lightly, or just pass over it. In all of God’s dealings with His children He asks us to give Him our all! Just as a house divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:25), neither can an individual who is divided within himself or herself.
There will always be a tug-of war raging inside, that will eventually leave that person broken. This war is so intense that the apostle Paul dedicated an entire chapter to it, and in his despair he cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” (Romans 7: 24)?
We have been taught that repetition enhances learning. It must be, that our Heavenly Father wants us to learn a very important, life changing, lesson, that will help us in this warfare. Therefore, throughout Scripture God has scattered seeds from this lesson, that we might learn it well.
Today, let us look at eight of these seeds, and as we do, may we ask the Lord to plant them deep in our souls!
The command to love God with your all, is found in three of the four gospels:
“Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind‘ ” (Matthew 22: 37, italics provided).
” ‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ” This is the first commandment” ‘ ” (Mark 12:30, italics provided).
“So he answered and said, ‘ ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ ” and ” ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” ‘ ” ‘ ” (Luke 10:27, italics provided).
It is at the very beginning of the Call to Hear (Shema)
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5, italics provided).
The call to be dilligent in obeying the comand!
“But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Joshua 22:5, italics provided).
The warning not to depart from God’s command!
“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—’and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him” ‘ ” (Deuteronomy 13:1-4. italics provided).
Look at the blessings!
” ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled’ ” (Deuteronomy 11:13-15)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13, emphasis supplied)?
“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6, emphasis supplied).
God has shown us that loving Him with our all, making Him “first, and last, and best” in our lives, is the most powerful way of remaining in the path of righteousness. At the end of his struggle, listen to the testimony of the apostle Paul ”
I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind (which is where the sum total of our internal battles are decided) I myself serve the law of God . . . (Romans 7:25).
We have the power to serve God with our all, when we love Him with our all, and serve Him with a made up mind!
This conversation will continue.
NOTE: This devotional was prepared for May 7