Let's get fat!

"...He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat." Proverbs 28:25

Don't you just love the English translation of this verse? I wonder what we would do - especially us ladies - if this was the literal translation of the original text? Maybe Christians' new years resolutions couldn't include anything about losing weight because that would be what God has rewarded us with for our trust in Him!

Thankfully the verse doesn't mean He'll make us physically fat. That word "fat" actually means to anoint or to satisfy. I like that. When we put our trust in God, He'll satisfy us with good things.

The opposite of trusting in God comes in the next verse. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool..." (28:26).

No, thank you. I'd prefer not to be a fool!

We can't trust God and at the same time trust our heart. In fact, the beginning of Proverbs 28:25 pretty much says the same thing. "He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat."

Now here's where it gets interesting. When I first read that, I thought to myself, the person who is proud is trusting himself and thinking that his own way is better than God's. When we do that, we stir up strife because we're putting ourselves in front of others.

I looked up the word "proud" in the Strong's concordance (thanks to the Strong's app on my mom's iPad!) and found out that word actually means "roomy... in any or every direction, literally or figuratively... broad, large, at liberty, proud, wide."

Now, I'll be pondering this a while, but here are my initial thoughts (and jump in if you have additional thoughts!). If you have a proud or roomy heart, you are allowing more into your life than God intended. You have a lot of space available for different ideas - including ideas that will cause you to butt heads with those around you.

When you trust God, you avidly run to Him for refuge. You are confident, sure, and bold in Him and His decisions and direction. A roomy heart isn't necessarily open to accept only God's direction. You are open to receive more, and you'll find yourself in a lot more trouble and strife with others when you go that direction.

As soon as I read that word "roomy" it made me think of Matthew 7:13-14.

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

Today and this year, I want my trust in God to increase more and more. I want my life to become more and more focused on Him and His will for me and not be open to accepting anything less than that, because as it is in this verses, following our own heart and our own desires is a very, very bad idea!

One other thought. If we go back to the last part of Prov. 28:25, we can re-read it like this: "He that trusts in the Lord will be satisfied or anointed." That reminded me of this...

"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name... who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." (Psalm 103: 1, 5)

which reminded me of...

"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:28-31

Even in the middle of adversity when we would probably prefer to trust in what we can see and our own instincts since adversity can seem so overwhelming and scary, the Lord will help us rise above it as we trust in Him.

How's that for a new year's goal? I resolve to get fat as I trust in God, more and more. Heh heh... okay it sounds better to say, I resolve to trust in God more. I know He'll fill my life with good things as a result.