Friday, January 28 – Proverbs 3:5-6

Why does God answer some prayers but not others?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Have you ever had a “gut feeling” that lead you astray? Maybe you made a wrong turn when driving or a wrong assumption about a situation. These types of things happen to people, young and old alike. We put so much stock into our personal understanding. We use it to make our decisions big and small. Even when we are wrong, we use our understanding to justify why we believed we were right.

Before we ask a question of God that begins with the word why, we first should consider the limits to our understanding. Have we come to believe our own understanding is the only basis for what is true? We routinely trust things we don’t fully understand. We trust that our cars will get us where we need to go, electricity will light and power our way, and our toothpaste will keep our teeth and gums from rotting away.

When this verse says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart,” it reminds us that this should be our first response in everything. Before we ask why, our response should be trust. And this is not a blind trust; it is trust in God who has revealed His power and trustworthiness throughout all time. God is gracious and invites us to bring Him questions and burdens. But if you are a follower of Jesus, remember to acknowledge who God is before making much of yourself in demanding to know why. He is faithful to answer every prayer and as we learn to trust Him, leaning less on our understanding and training ourselves to acknowledge Him more, we may be able to hear more of His answers.

• When was a time you had a “gut feeling” that lead you astray? What was that like?
• Why do you think we depend so much on our own understanding? What would it look like to trust God with all your heart?
• Pray and ask God to open your eyes to areas of your life where you are depending on your own understanding. Pray through this verse and ask Him to direct you as you trust Him.