Uncommon Sense | A Study Of Proverbs : A 5-Day StudySample

Day 1: Living with Heart

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. 

P R O V E R B S  3 : 5–8 

“She plays with heart.” We say that about someone who goes all out, leaves nothing back, and does anything to achieve. It does not mean she is perfect, nor that she is the best; it simply means she plays with her all—her whole heart. And when we watch someone play with heart, we know that it takes all her strength, all her will, and all her sacrifice for the win.

What is the heart?

The image of the heart is found throughout the book of Proverbs. The heart is not only the place of emotions or tenderness, nor is it simply a place of vulnerability. It is the seat of strength, courage, and will, representing the center of a person, where choices are made. In order to make choices of life, hope, goodness, and strength, we need whole hearts.

Wounded hearts 

Proverbs 3:5–8 implores us to trust in the Lord with every part of the heart. All of it. But that’s not so simple, because we tend to try to holdback our wounded hearts from God Himself. Our experiences with others have led us to build walls and protect against any pain. We keep a comfortable distance from people and from God Himself. Can we trust Him? We all experience wounds in this world, and yet the invitation from God is an invitation to trust—to trust a God who sees, knows, who hears and holds, to allow Him through our walls, to hold and heal our wounded hearts. God is not asking us to do something He has not done Himself. For Jesus chose to live on the earth, a place where He knew He would be wounded. He chose to walk into suffering for the sake of sacrifice, and He trusted God the Father before He was taken to His death (Matthew 26:36–46). When we let Him in, we find rescue and refreshment, we find hope and healing, we find a healed heart to offer a hurting world.

Healed hearts. 

The heart remains the place of emotion and tenderness, vulnerability and choice. The healed heart lives fully into the emotion and tenderness, trusting the Lord in its deepest recesses. As it trusts, it lives, and as it lives, it loves.

Our hearts can live vulnerably and love fully because it trusts the Lord holds it. The motivation of our hearts comes from the health of our hearts. And the health of the heart is rooted in its healing.

Reflection:

What part of your heart needs healing today? Where do you need to trust God to meet you and heal you? If this is too daunting a thought for you, let God know in prayer that this is too much, and that you are afraid. Continue to offer your broken heart to God in prayer.