All Your Heart: Proverbs 3:5

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Let’s say there’s a child that can’t swim, is afraid of the water, but wants to get in the pool because his or her older siblings love it. So the dad gets in the water and says, “Jump to me and I will catch you and keep you the whole time we are swimming. I’ll never let you go until you say so. No tricks. No jokes. Trust me.”

That child is going to need to trust his or her father with a whole heart. Many things could get in the way: another child is splashing too much, somebody is teasing, the deck is wet, etc. Does the child want to swim? Is the father trustworthy, totally?

But the dad doesn’t force the child into the water. The point isn’t to make the child a swimmer but a truster. So the dad leaves that part to the child, and he patiently waits.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “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” (ESV).

What does “all your heart” mean? Is there anything that keeps you from trusting in every way? Is there any voice, fear, concern, doubt that gets in the way of trusting God totally?

It might help to tell God the reasons why that particular aspect of your life has to remain self-managed and cannot become God-managed. Tell him all the reasons. Stand on the deck of the pool and tell him while he patiently waits for you. Evaluate those reasons as you speak them out loud in prayer. He awaits your trust. He is making you into a truster, not just a swimmer.

God gave his Son Jesus to die for our sins, and he promises to raise you out of the grave one day if your trust is solely in Jesus. If he is to be trusted with your eternal destiny, with all your forgiveness and eternal life, then what else can he handle in 2026 for you?