He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool

Pro 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

We can't trust our own heart. Some might say if that is true then who can we trust. I don't know about you or anyone else but I know that I've disappointed myself more times than I can count. I've lived and made a lot of my decisions through my life based on how I feel about things. Some might say all we have to go on is our feelings, what we feel, what we think about what we feel and so on. Sometimes when we are made to do things for our own good that we don't want to do they end up being not quite so awful as we thought they'd be. When we were forced to NOT take our feelings into consideration but act out of duty, though we might fight against having to ignore our feelings there is a sense of doing what is right - isn't there? How many times through our lives do we trust in our own hearts? All too often, right? Do we go to God in prayer and ask for guidance as much as we need to? I know throughout my life I haven't. I've gotten something in my head about things and I'd twist things if I had to just to make them fit my desire- my heart's desire. It sounds all wrong to tell someone NOT to follow their heart because we've grown up in a world that prides itself on telling people to follow their hearts, follow their dreams no matter what. How many lives have been ruined because people have followed their hearts over wisdom? I think it's safe to say that many, many lives have been ruined. When we have an opportunity to look back and see where we've made the mistake of following our hearts it's a blessing really, isn't it? God allowing us to see our foolishness. God doesn't convict us to belittle us or make us feel a sense of despair, God will convict our hearts and allow us to see where we've gone astray in order to help us learn. If following our hearts, if trusting our own hearts has not been successful in the past why do we think it might be successful in the future? It won't be. We can't get rid of our heart it's part of us, part of who we are. Our feelings are part of who we are. How we perceive the world and every single situation that occurs in our lives is based in part upon how we feel about what's taking place. When we feel hurt we want that hurt alleviated. When we feel pain we want that pain to go away. When we feel happy we want that happiness to go on and on. When we're sad we want to be happy. We want a sense of contentment in our lives and all too often that contentment is based not upon wisdom but upon our hearts. If our hearts don't feel good about something then we immediately begin to question our lives and how to make that bad feeling go away. Wisdom tells us to measure everything by God and to do that we must know God, God must be real to us. People will say 'God first, always.' But do they mean it? Is God first when everything seems to be falling apart and nothing feels right as we seek to follow God? Yes, He can be and most likely is first because when we are following God and seeking Him first Satan wants to do all he can to make us feel horrible. Instinctively we'll want to feel better so we'll try and get rid of the thing making us feel bad- and if that thing is our walk with God- all too often we sacrifice that walk so we can feel better. We take on the attitude that if a relationship with God is filled with all this pain and heartache, with worsening life conditions, then who wants it? If someone were to tell you that your life would become filled with one trial after another, with one battle after another, with a lot of sadness and confusion, with pain and great heartache if you choose to follow God- are they making a great sales pitch for God worship? No. But God doesn't want to be pitched like a sale. God loves us and offers us His love, out of that love He offers us a way to Him that means great sacrifice. God's Son was born as Jesus and He lived and then died for us as our Savior Jesus Christ. God paved the way and it's a way of faith, not fun. Now before you start up saying how wonderful it is to follow God, how much fun you have, I'm not saying it's all heartache and pain, but we cannot depend upon fun- upon our feelings- if we are to truly be our Savior's. Life will throw you curveballs and that fun- that feeling of happiness will disappear. As you watch a loved one suffering, dying right before your eyes there is NO happiness in that, not a bit. If you depend upon feeling happiness to know you're right with God then you're setting yourself up to fail hard. Faith. Hope. Love. NONE of these have to include our feeling good, our feeling happy, our feeling fulfilled. We do NOT live by feelings, or rather we should not but we do- so much we live day in and day out by our feelings and base our relationship with God on those feelings.

Are you happy today? Are you content today? Are you miserable today? Are you sad today? Are you angry today? We can't help but feel these things because we are beings that feel, but we cannot live by our feelings, we cannot trust our own heart and what it feels. We have to live by faith that goes beyond every feeling we might have- good or bad. God does not change ever, He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Heb 13:8

Whether or not we are feeling good, and whether or not we are having what we'd call a good life- doesn't matter like we've been taught.

What matters is our relationship with God- not our feelings.
What matters is our faith in God- not our feelings.
What matters is the love of God- not our feelings.

Will we be hurt? Yes, often and in many ways, ways we don't even suspect. Does it matter? We are told it does matter so we react in that way. We are told we shouldn't be hurt and if we are we need to do something to feel better. The truth is- we can expect this--


Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.


This is God talking!

We will be reviled and we shouldn't be hurt by it, we will be persecuted and we shouldn't feel bad, we will be talked about evilly and falsely and we shouldn't feel bad.

All those things we think we should feel and have a right to feel because society says so, we shouldn't feel. Our reaction shouldn't be of sadness, of anger, of self-righteous affront.

We should rejoice- the complete OPPOSITE of how we naturally feel upon being set upon by others, by life's many digs at us.

Some might argue that we aren't being abused that way for Christ's sake so it's not the same, but in truth if you have given your life to Christ and have accepted Him as Your Savior then all attacks that come to you will be satan led and they are attacks meant to weaken your relationship with God by preying upon your natural, fleshy, worldly reactions.


We need to walk with God trusting in God, living for God not living for ourselves. We need to live by faith in God not faith in ourselves. We need to stop trusting in our own hearts and trust in God and His wisdom. We need to depart from the evil that comes our way striving to rip us from the arms of our loving Savior.

Please Lord, please help us to live wisely in YOU and not to trust in our own hearts which we are so incredibly prone to do.

Bless us Lord as we seek to live for YOU, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, and through no power of our own.

We choose You Lord! We want You! Please Lord keep us from the evil in this world that would keep us from You.


In Your love!

Amen.