Trust in the Lord with all your heart – but how do we Learn to Trust in the Lord?

Do we really understand what Trust means? How do we attain it? How do I get to the point in my life where I am really trusting in God, and it’s not merely lip service or what I think trust is?

Proverbs 22:17-19 –gives us an important answer:

“Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall be fitted in thy lips. That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day even to thee.”

The Hebrew word translated to  “ I have made known ” comes from the Hebrew word Yada, meaning  “to know.” Here it is used to mean “ to cause someone to know, “ to make known,” or “ to instruct”. “ I am teaching you today, yes, you, so you will trust in the Lord” NLT

God wants us to trust Him. In this passage, He teaches us how trust is developed/ learned. We must incline our ears, hear the words of the wise, apply His knowledge to our hearts, keep His truth with us, and allow it to shape our words.

To truly trust God, we must know Him and His Word. As we listen, learn, apply, remember, and speak His truth, we come to know His character and understand He is worthy of our trust.

IN ALL your ways submit to Him, acknowledge him (Yada) know Him, and He will direct and make straight your paths. This is one of many promises that come with trusting in Him. Proverbs 3:5-6

Let’s examine the four instructions in this passage that teach us to trust in the Lord. To truly trust in God, we must know Him and His Word. Proverbs 22 tells us that to trust God, we need to listen, pay attention, learn, remember, and speak His Word.

Here’s how we learn to trust:

1-“Bow down thine ear”:   This means to listen closely- stop everything and extend your ear to listen with the full intent to learn and obey with attention and interest. What does it mean to bow down or incline your ear? To hear means more than allowing words to enter your ears. It means listening with the intention to understand, learn, and obey.   I find it helps to pray before reading or listening, asking God to help me understand and reveal His knowledge so I may apply it to my life. Prov 2:2-5 tells us to incline our ears to wisdom, apply our hearts to understanding, cry after knowledge, and search for wisdom as we would search for silver or hidden treasure. Then we will understand the fear of the lord and find the knowledge of God.  Proverbs  9:10 also tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”

Prov 5:1-2 says, “ My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my  understanding, so you may regard discretion, and your lips will keep knowledge.

It means listening intently to learn and understand: In bowing down to hear, you learn to trust; you’ll find wisdom, knowledge, discretion, and your words will be wisdom-filled.

I can read or listen to something and completely forget what I heard. I have to write down what I hear or make a drawing, so I understand it better, or I categorize it in my notes. Otherwise my thoughts will distract me: what is she wearing? When will this be over? Oh my gosh, those toes; that lady is gossiping about someone at her table; does she even eat, are there snacks, I think I have to go to the bathroom, I forgot the $5, what does she do all day, where did she get that dress?

That is why inclining my ear requires intention. I must fix my thoughts, bring my wandering thoughts back, and choose to pay attention.

I also ask myself, after reading, what did I learn? How can I apply this to my life or my day? Before I fall asleep, I like to tell God what I read in the bible or what I learned; it helps me establish His word in my heart. Of course, some days I can’t remember what I read in the morning; every day is different.

The lesson is simple: Pay attention with the intention to learn something. When we intentionally listen to God, we come to know Him, and the more we know Him, the more confidently we trust Him.

2-“Hear the Words of the Wise”: Hear the words of those who are wise,  prudent, and skillful in applying and teaching God’s truth.  Jesus told His disciples to be “ wise as serpents and harmless as doves ( Mt 10:16). Notice that Proverbs specifically tells us whose words we should hear.

We are instructed to guard our hearts diligently because the issues of life flow from the heart (Prov 4:23). By being careful what we hear, we guard our hearts.  This also requires guarding our eyes, ears, mouth, and steps. We should examine what we hear and be sure teaching agrees with God’s Word.

We have an enemy who seeks to use traps and snares to cause us to fall away from God’s truth.  Therefore, we must remain awake, discerning,  and watchful – walking in the light and guarding His truth within us.

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10: 17) This shows us why it matters what we hear. Faith grows as we hear God’s Word, receive it, and allow it to remain within us.

Jesus said, “Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.”( Luke 11:28). It’s not enough to just hear the Word; we must receive it, hold on to it, and obey it. Hearing should lead to believing, and believing should lead to doing.

 Ez 33:31 warns us about people who hear God’s words but do not obey them. They speak as though they love God, but their hearts continue in covetousness. This warning can apply even to people sitting in churches, Bible studies, and congregations today; we can hear and speak all the right words while refusing to live by them.  They are hearers, not doers, and their heart is not right.

Romans 16:19 tells us to “ Be wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” I like to remember this verse when I’m tempted to watch something I know I should not watch.  I must be careful not to fill my mind continually with negativity, wickedness, violence, or anything else ungodly. Filling my heart and mind with those things is not hearing the words of the wise, nor is it protecting my heart. Remember, what goes into the heart flows out into our lives.

So far, we’ve learned to incline our ears and to hear the words of the wise. These are the first two of the four steps that teach us to recognize God’s wisdom and ultimately learn to put our Trust in Him. Now, let’s consider what else this passage teaches us about growing in wisdom and learning to trust in God.

3-‘ Apply thy heart to knowledge”  

 “Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom” (Psalm 90:12)

Scripture tells us to apply our hearts:

Apply your heart to understanding ( Proverbs 2:2)
Apply your heart unto my knowledge (Proverbs 22:17)
Apply your heart unto instruction (Proverbs 23:12)

What does it mean to apply our hearts? It is more than just hearing or reading God’s Word. It is to apply our hearts by deliberately setting our minds and hearts upon His truth, to understand it, believe it, receive it, and allow it to change the way we think and live.

Applying our hearts means stopping and asking: What is God teaching me?  What must change because of what I’ve read? How can I apply this to my life?  What needs to change in my thoughts, choices, or actions? Or maybe, it’s a verse you’d like to study, meditate on, memorize, or share with others.

This is an important part of learning to trust God. When we apply His Word, we allow His truth to change us, transform us, renew us, strengthen us, and shape our minds. His Word renews our minds and teaches us who He is; He wants us to know Him. He tells us that if we search for Him, we will find Him.  And in doing so, our trust in Him grows.

Psalm 91:10 says, “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee.” How can we trust God if we don’t know Him?  We need to know God in order to trust Him. By His Word, we learn to know God, to trust Him, we learn His promises, His warnings, and His instructions for life.

We’re learning what it means to know how to trust in God, but it also branches out into other truths: the power of God’s word to renew us, and the power of God’s word to teach us how to trust Him. In all this, be careful not to conform to the world. You see, if we are following the world, God’s word is not in us.

 Charles Stanley wrote: It all starts with listening to comprehend, and to comprehend in order to be conformed to his truth. We either resist God’s truth or are shaped by it.

Listen – Pay Attention – Apply it to your life, let it shape your life

4: Keep them within you  After hearing God’s Word and applying it to our hearts, we must keep it with us. We must guard it as a gatekeeper. To keep His words means to hold on to them, to treasure them, and guard them in our innermost being so they are not forgotten, crowded out, or taken away. God’s truth is not meant to pass briefly through our minds; it should settle deeply into our hearts and remain there, changing us and making us more like Christ. Jesus’ parable of the sower shows us why guarding the Word within us is important; the same seed was sown, but not every heart kept it and allowed it to produce fruit.

Keep them within us, meaning knowledge, words of wisdom, what you hear.

What does within you mean? The Hebrew word can refer to the belly, the inner person, or the innermost part of someone. It is the hidden place within us where thoughts, desires,and affection are held. I would describe it as the heart or inner man- it is the place that God searches (Proverbs 20:27). I thought it was interesting in Proverbs 26:22 and 18:8 it is the place where wounds are – wounds of talebearers.

Why do we need to keep (and protect) the word in us? Jesus told us a parable of the farmer who threw his seeds down on the ground, and the seeds represented the word of God – and what stole these seeds from going into the hearts of people?

The wayside hearer: Satan takes away the Word
The stony ground hearer: receives it, but it never develops roots
The thorny ground hearer: worldly cares, riches, and other desires choke it
The good ground hearer: hears, receives, keeps, and produces fruit

Jesus’ parable shows us several things that can stop God’s Word from remaining and producing fruit in us. Satan seeks to take it away; affliction and persecution can cause someone without spiritual roots to fall away, and the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and desires for other things can choke the Word out until it becomes unfruitful. But the good ground hearer received the Word, and keeps it, and produces fruit.

Guard God’s Word within and be warned and ready that these do not overtake you: the love of money, pleasures of this life, deceitfulness of wealth, the worries of the world, the cares of this world, life’s troubles, persecutions (I’ve also seen strongholds stop the Word from going into the heart- it’s being choked out so it doesn’t go in the heart, meaning if there are legions  – they also choke the Word out)

 Mark 4:15: the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should be saved. Luke 8:12: a spiritually hardened heart can hear God’s words but not allow it deeply inside – Harden not your hearts (Hebrews 3:8 and do not be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13)

We see, then, that God’s Word may be heard without being kept. It can be taken away, fail to take root, or be choked by competing cares and desires. That is why Proverbs tells us to keep God’s words within us.

Christ came to bring you abundant life; the devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy.

The Final Takaway: Keep His Word within you

The last four steps are important tools and first steps for learning how to trust in God. With these steps come speaking His truth – always on our lips; pleasant things come; some interpret it as blessings when God’s word is in you; and finally, you would know how to trust God. I think this is amazing; Solomon is teaching us through the wisdom of God how to trust Him!

Take away truths to apply to our life:

1. God gave us these instructions so our trust would be in Him. The verse says , so you will KNOW how to trust in Him. Trust isn’t something we make up in our minds, we need to know Him and His word.
2. We are to incline our ears, hear the words of the wise, apply God’s truth to our hearts, and keep it within us so that it remains ready upon our lips
3. We trust in Him when we commit (roll) our ways to Him, when we wait on Him, when we hold on, believe, and hope in Him.
4. Trusting in Him comes with many promises: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.
5. More promises: Trust in the Lord, be kind and good to others, then you will live safely here in the land and prosper, living in safety. Be delighted with the Lord, then He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit everything you do to the Lord; trust Him to help you do it, and He will.
6. He wants you to know Him; He wants your love. Hosea 6:6

We cannot fully trust God without His word in us

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John 15

And lo, I am with you even unto the end of this age

Proverbs 22:17-19 –

“Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall be fitted in thy lips. That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day even to thee.”

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