Where’s Your Trust?

A fool is confident and believes what he thinks in his own heart.

April 22, 2019

"He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered."

Proverbs 28:26

“He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool:”
We understand that Solomon is not talking about our “blood pumpers,” our physical hearts, but he is speaking metaphorically.  How easy it is to become confident in our own abilities, strength, and resources.  Rather than a position of dependence before the LORD, it is a simple thing to begin thinking that we are strong enough, wise enough, or gifted enough that we can live by our own personality without God’s help.  Solomon said it this way, “He that trusteth in his own heart1 is a fool.”

The problem with placing our trust in our own heart is that our hearts are not perfect, but sinful.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

“For his heart, which is deceitful and desperately wicked, will infallibly deceive him,”2 (Clarke).

And even the regenerate heart is still under the influence of the flesh, so we must not put our trust in it.

Our hearts tend to be fickle.  Our feelings change so many times in a day, we cannot trust how we “feel” at any given time.  How can we trust something so changeable?  This is why we “lean on the Word,” and trust the Lord for our help and decision making.

The Hebrew word translated as “heart” means, the “inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding.”3  The heart has been called the “seat of the emotions.”  It is where we do our thinking, feeling, and choosing our ways.  It is where our “will” is, where we decide what we will do, and even whether or not we will obey and follow our authorities.

“But whoso walketh wisely,”
Who are these “wise walkers?”  They are the ones who walk in God’s wisdom.  The word “wisely” is the Hebrew word that means, “wisdom, skill, shrewdness, prudence.”4  He is careful to walk in the Word, to listen when the LORD speaks, and to obey Him. He is walking God’s way.

“He shall be delivered.”
When the fool is being destroyed for trusting his own heart, this wise walker is being delivered.  He does not believe in himself, but he is dependent upon His LORD.

Where are you placing your trust today?

 

 

 

1.  The Hebrew word for “heart” is an important word in the Old Testament.  It is used 94 times in the book of Proverbs alone.
2.  Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
3.  Brown, Driver, Briggs.  Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions, the electronic version in eSword.
4.  Brown, Driver, Briggs, ibid.  This definition is a compilation of definitions for the Hebrew chokmah.