He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered. Proverbs 28:26 NKJV

 

Apple founder, Steve Jobs, once remarked: “You have one option when it comes to your heart—follow it.” Was he right?

Following your heart. Princesses in movies sing about it. It’s led to new puppies being brought home and more hasty marriages than can ever be counted. It’s the cry of expressive individualism that says, “who you are is who you feel yourself to be on the inside.” Under this trend, says writer Thaddeus Williams, “life is no longer about bringing our inner selves into the tempo and key of beauty, goodness and truth,” but about “finding our own inner tune.”[1]

God talks about our “inner tune” when the Bible speaks of “the heart.” God agrees with Steve Jobs about there only being one option when it comes to your heart. But God says, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9) “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,” (Proverbs 28:26a NKJV).

Williams points out that our hearts are too dull, trapping us in our own mental constructs, too dithering in constant flux, too divided by the whims of our emotions, too depraved and too delusional to guide us.[2]

Here’s the good news: God says, “…whoever walks wisely will be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26b NKJV) and that He is the Giver of wisdom: “…from his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6 NIV).

We don’t have to depend on our unreliable, self-centered hearts.  God wants us to follow His heart. He provides His always reliable wisdom in Scripture and His indwelling Spirit to guide us into lives of peace, joy and meaning.

[1] Williams, Thaddeus. “5 Reasons Not to Follow Your Heart.” The Gospel Coalition, 7 Sept. 2023, www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/reasons-not-follow-heart/.

 

[2] Ibid.