Trust Him and Believe Him

S (Scripture) - Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
-Proverbs 3:5

O (Observation) - Why should we trust the Lord and lean not on our own understanding?  Because human understanding is limited and often influenced (skewed) by our perceptions and experiences.  God is GOD and I am not!  Isaiah 55:8 reinforces this point: "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine."  God knows the whole plan of our lives—all the ins and outs of how it works together—and He is good (Psalm 119:68)!

A (Application) - God is the Creator. He is far wiser than anyone!  AND He is good and He does only good (Psalm 119:68)!  I can trust God—only He is worthy of my trust.  I need to apply this to a frequent struggle of mine: I often hold too large a view of my sinfulness and too small a view of His mercy & love.  When I think about what the Bible says about God's love for me, I wrestle with it.  How could He love me?  So when God's love is beyond my understanding, I need to lean not on my own understanding and rely only on trusting the Lord with all my heart.  In His Word (the Bible) He says He loves me (see Romans 5:8, John 3:16, and 1 John 4:10)—and I need to believe it with all my heart!

P (Prayer) - God, I'm so glad that my thoughts are not Your thoughts, and my ways are not Your ways!  If *I* were God, I would have crumbled me up like a useless piece of paper and thrown me away long ago.  But You don't see it that way.  Your love, Your mercy, Your goodness, and Your wisdom are all so much higher and more wonderful!  I am going to focus on trusting You and not leaning on my own understanding.  YOU SAY You love me, and I believe!