“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
- Proverbs 3:5 ESV
My human was sitting on the porch again this morning.
Bible in one hand. Coffee in the other.
And me right beside him.
Now, I’ve learned a few things watching my human over the years. One of them is that humans have a remarkable ability to read something in the Bible and then spend the rest of the day trying to prove they don’t need it.
I’ve done some thinking about that.
Dogs don’t usually have that problem.
If I’m hungry, I look at my human.
If I want outside, I look at my human.
If I hear something in the woods that sounds like it might eat a black Lab, I look at my human.
You might say I’ve got this “depending on somebody bigger than me” thing figured out.
Humans, on the other hand, seem to have a favorite saying:
“I can do it.”
Facing a mountain?
“I can do it.”
Walking through a valley?
“I can do it.”
Trouble at work, problems at home, uncertainty about tomorrow?
“I’ll just pull myself up by my bootstraps and handle it.”
Now, there’s nothing wrong with working hard. God expects us to use what He has given us.
But there’s a big difference between working with God and trying to work without Him.
Proverbs says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.”
Not some of your heart.
Not the parts we can’t figure out ourselves.
All of it.
And then it says, “Do not lean on your own understanding.”
That’s where humans get themselves in trouble.
They see the mountain and immediately start figuring out how they’re going to climb it.
They see the valley and start making plans for how they’re going to get through it.
But maybe the first question shouldn’t be, “How am I going to do this?”
Maybe it should be, “God, where are You leading me?”
Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” - John 15:5
Nothing.
That’s a pretty strong word.
I’m just an old dog, but even I know this: Sometimes the strongest thing a person can do is stop trying to prove how strong they are and simply trust the One who is.
So today, when the mountain gets steep or the valley gets deep, don’t be so quick to say, “I can do it.”
Try saying, “Lord, lead me.”
Then take the next step with Him.
I’ve found that’s a whole lot better than trying to carry the load myself.
Besides, I’m a dog.
And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that following my human usually gets me where I need to go.
Following Jesus?
Well, that’ll get you somewhere even better.
You were never meant to conquer life in your own strength. You were meant to follow Jesus in His.
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
