There is verse in the book of Proverbs 4 ( Zabur ) that says: Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Also using the word heart, the prophet Jeremiah wrote “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Jeremiah 17:9  Leading up to this statement, Jeremiah wrote in verse 5 about the results of trusting in humans instead of trusting in the Lord saying that these people will have no hope, will live under a curse, and will be like a tree trying to grow in the desert. 5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.

But beginning in verse 7 it says that those who trust in the Lord will be like trees planted along a riverbank, with deep roots, and not affected by adverse weather, but rather will continually bear fruit : 7“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. 8They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. This contrast reminds me of the verses in Isaiah where it is written in Isaiah 55: 8-9:  8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

I find that our best response can be found in Proverbs 3:5 & 6 where it says  Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.  Jesus amplifies and expands on this in Matthew 5: verses 3-6: blessed are those who are spiritually needy. The kingdom of heaven belongs to them. Blessed are those who are sad. They will be comforted. Blessed are those who are humble. They will be given the earth. Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for what is right.

I was not born into a family that believed in Jesus, but as I grew through my teen years, I began to have an  interest in this Jesus and what people were saying about him.  I found myself fighting against what God was trying to show me. Eventually I realized that I needed to give up and humble myself in order to know truth and understand God’s ways. This was something that I did not find as I studied many of the world’s great religions. And an amazing thing happened as I humbled myself, I began feeling God’s peace and presence in my life. Although this was many years ago, I find that I  continually need to be reminded of these words and humble myself before God in order to allow God to lead me, and to have the kind of peace that only he can give. 

May we learn to humble ourselves before God, and not trust in our own hearts or rely only on our own understanding. May we seek God in order to know His ways, to find hope for the future, to trust Him, that he will guide us and cause us to be like trees with deep roots that flourish, regardless of any unfavorable circumstances that we find ourselves in.