With All Your Heart

September 4, 2011

Lesson: Proverbs 3:1–12

Key Verse: Proverbs 3:5

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Introduction

When we say “I trust you,” do we really mean it in the Biblical sense? The Bible calls us to “Trust in the Lord!” This word, TRUST, means to attach oneself to something or someone, to feel safe, confident, and secure. We are told to trust in the Lord with our whole heart. With both body and soul, all that we are, all that is within us is to reveal our trust in our Lord. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “O my soul, set not thine affections upon rusting, moth-eaten, decaying treasures, but set thine heart upon Him who abides for ever faithful to thee. Build not thine house upon the moving quicksands of a deceitful world, but found thy hopes upon this rock, which, amid descending rain and roaring floods, shall stand immovably secure. My soul, I charge thee, lay up thy treasure in the only secure cabinet; store thy jewels where thou canst never lose them. Put thine all in Christ; set all thine affections on His person, all thy hope in His merit, all thy trust in His efficacious blood, all thy joy in His presence, and so thou mayest laugh at loss, and defy destruction” (Morning and Evening).

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Bind Them—Proverbs 3:1–4

Wisdom speaks, saying, “My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.” The keeping of the commands of God reveals the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God in all areas of our lives, personally, in our homes, in our communities; in our relationship with God and one another. Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt22:37–39). This binding of the Law to our hearts and souls is revealed in these words of Wisdom: “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.” Written upon our hearts is Mercy (God’s covenant love, unmerited and eternal), and truth (stability and firmness of God’s Word).

The doctrines of mercy and truth adorn the character and person of the Christian. This is what Christians are like in their relationship with their Creator and Savior, and with one another in their homes and communities. This binding of mercy and truth are also to be in God’s congregations. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is our Good Shepherd, we claim this promise of the Triune God, our Creator and Savior: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (Psalm 23:6). Everything that is excellent and beautiful and righteous (goodness) is part of the Christian’s life. God’s loving-kindness (mercy) is with us also, as well as the truth He writes upon our hearts.

Discussion: What is the purpose of the keeping of the Law?

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With All Thine Heart—Proverbs 3:5–8

The admonition to “trust in the Lord” calls us to attach ourselves, with heart and soul, to our Savior and King, Christ Jesus. By faith we embrace our Lord, and, therefore, our Father and our Comforter. “The heart is the central seat of all spiritual soul-strength; to love God with the whole heart is to concentrate the whole inner life on the active contemplation of God, and the ready observance of His will” (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary). We are not to be wise in our own eyes, but to “fear the Lord, and depart from evil.”

Trusting in the Lord means that we acknowledge Him in all our ways (i.e., the path we take in life, our everyday behavior, and our fellowship as His congregation in worship and praise: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” God makes our paths plain; as He did to those who have gone before us. For our Lord keeps His covenant from generation to generation. This is illustrated in David’s word to his son Solomon: “I go the way of the all the earth (speaking of his death to come); be strong therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God; to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; that the Lord may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,’ He said, ‘you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel’” (1 Kings 2:2–4).

Wisdom continues, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.” It can be translated, “It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.” As the umbilical cord brought precious life-giving blood to the child, so does the Spirit of God bring saving grace to both the body and soul of God’s child. As marrow is to the bone, so is the Word of God to the feeding of the soul to eternal life.

Discussion: What are the blessings of keeping the Word of God?

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Honor the Lord—Proverbs 3:9–13

Our trust in the Lord is demonstrated in how we honor Him with our possessions, and the first-fruits of all our increase. To honor the Lord is to bow down before His majesty, to show the weight of His glory before men. We are not ashamed to speak of our Lord to others as He as revealed Himself to us through His Word. Christ said that He glorified His Father on earth: “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). Whatever our increase may be, God is to be honored in its first-fruits, whether financial or otherwise. We are to honor Him in whom we are, how we conduct ourselves in our homes and businesses, etc. Honoring our Lord becomes a part of Christian character and work. Another promise is attached, for blessings come from what our Lord is doing in our lives: “So shall thy barns be filled with plenty.”

Whom the Lord loves He corrects; our Good Shepherd comforts us with His rod and staff. The chastening (correction, punishment, instruction) of our Lord instructs, educates us in the way of righteousness, binding us to the one who loves us, our Father in heaven. “For whom the Lord loveth he corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights.” The wisdom of God is expressed in His love for His children. “Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul” (Jeremiah 32:41). We must, therefore, come to the Word of God to be instructed by the Holy Spirit, who makes the reading and preaching of the Word effectual to our salvation. The Spirit of God uses these means effectually in “convincing and converting sinners, and building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation” (Shorter Catechism, A. 89). Instructed by the Lord, the man of God finds wisdom and understanding.

Discussion: How is God honored in His discipline of His people?

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Lessons are based on the International Sunday School Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright © 2011 by the Committee on the Uniform Series.