The Folly of Trusting in One's Own Heart

He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool (Proverbs 28:26). What does it mean to trust one's heart? It is to commit the entire conduct of life and actions to its direction, as though the heart were a trustworthy guide. Yet the heart proves unworthy of such trust.

The foolishness consists in what we stake upon this trust. We commit three eternally consequential things to the heart's mercy: the honour of Elohim as Creator, Governor, Saviour, and gracious Father; our happiness in this present world, both temporal and spiritual; and the eternal concernments of our soul hereafter.

Yet the human heart is weak—incapable in apprehension of perceiving what is truly good, and incapable in election of choosing and embracing it. More dangerously, the heart is deceitful. Its delusions seduce us regarding sin, duty, and spiritual conversion. The heart persuades a man he can keep sin within bounds; it leads him into occasions of transgression; it lessens sin's gravity in his estimation. It even deceives him into believing that mere cessation from sin constitutes complete mortification of it.

This strange self-deception afflicts even those calling themselves Christians. By what sophistry, what perversity does the tremendous prospect of eternity and divine judgment exert so little influence upon the formation of our opinions and the regulation of our conduct? Without the restraint of accountability to Yahweh, man's nature descends toward complete degradation, and the entire fabric of society dislocates.