DEVELOPING GREATER TRUST
PROVERBS 22:17-19
PROVERBS 22:17-19 NKJ
17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,
And apply your heart to my knowledge;
18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you;
Let them all be fixed upon your lips,
19 So that your trust may be in the Lord;
I have instructed you today, even you.
OBSERVATION:
These verses offer instruction with a great result provided the instructions are followed.
The end result is that our trust may be in the Lord. There are so many verses that encourage us to trust the Lord. In our Psalm for today, David wrote about his ancestors trusting in God. Their trust in God caused them to be delivered from their problems. And their trust in God left them in a good place where they were not ashamed. Trust is a good thing when it's in the right place. Trust in God is always the right place.
Then the question becomes, if trusting in the Lord is a good thing, how can we develop greater trust? Solomon, the author of most all the Proverbs and David's son, offers some principles that we can apply.
Incline your ear to the words of the wise. This is not a physical action as much as it is a heart position. An inclined ear is someone who wants to hear, has a heart to hear. As to the words of the wise, who is wiser than God. So someone with a heart to hear God's word is someone on their way to greater trust. We believe no one is wiser than our God, so we want to hear what He has to say.
"Apply your heart to my knowledge." Trusting does not start with hearing God's words and then stop there. True trust is a willingness to act on, to practice, what we are hearing. This is a huge topic, but having a heart first to hear and a heart to act are powerful trust principles.
". . . Keep them within you." Keeping God's words in you is an intentional act. This will involve one's thoughts and what we meditate on. Using God's word as a template for our thoughts is one of the most effective ways to build trust and stay sound in our hearts and minds.
"Let them all be fixed upon your lips." This ties in with keeping them within you. When we keep God's word as a basis for our words, we are trusting. So instead of complaining, criticizing, and contradicting, we agree with what we have heard from God's wisdom. We align our words with what we have been thinking about God's wisdom. And we do not deviate from that path.
I'm grateful that God does not simply demand that we trust Him. He shows us how.
PRAYER:
Thank You, Heavenly Father, for Your words and wisdom. Thank You that I can, and I do trust in You.