“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.”
—Proverbs 3:5-6
PROVERBS 3:5-6 is a good text to reflect upon as we begin 2026. It’s a text that calls us to trust in the Lord with all our heart. It’s a word that says to each of us that if we lean on our own understanding then we are not trusting the Lord. To trust in the Lord means you must not lean upon your own understanding. The word of God is speaking about our heart, and our heart is the center of our life, and from it springs our attitudes, desires, feelings, and thoughts. We read in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” And in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” The heart is the spiritual center of every human being, and as goes the heart so goes a person’s thoughts, words, and deeds. Jesus said in Matthew 15:18-19, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness and blasphemies.”
THE SCRIPTURE tells us that since the fall of Adam, our hearts are depraved and corrupt and desperately need to be renewed by the Spirit of Christ. Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” We also read in Genesis 6:5, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Clearly, this heart hates God and its neighbor (Romans 8:7), and it begins hating at conception. David wrote in Psalm 58:3, “The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.”
BUT, BY THE grace of God, the elect sinner receives a heart-renewal by the Spirit of God. Christ dwells in the believer by His Spirit and causes the renewed heart to trust in the Lord. We read in our text, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” To trust in the Lord means to lean upon Him. It’s to rely not upon your own thinking, but to rely upon the Word and wisdom of God. It’s to let God’s Word dwell in you richly (Col. 3:16) so that every decision you make will be influenced and informed by the infinite, omniscient, and perfect Word and wisdom of God and not your own sinful, finite, corrupt understanding. The word “trust” and “lean” express the same idea; it means to put the weight of something upon another, total confidence, or to be completely supported and upheld. This only happens when you understand that you are totally dependent upon the Lord, that you have no strength or power of yourself. This understanding only comes when the Spirit of Christ renews the heart and creates faith within. Our text says that all our desires, hopes, thoughts, words, and plans must rest completely and solely upon the Lord.
WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you make your decisions based upon the truth of God’s Word or when it comes to decision making do you ignore the infinite wisdom of God? Think of how many sinful and harmful decisions could have been avoided in the life of every believer if only the Word of God was heeded in all areas of life. Beloved in Christ, it must constantly be our aim and desire to trust fully and completely in the God of the Word. As it is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Look to the Lord and live!
New Year’s Day Devotional: January 1, 2026
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
