Proverbs, often called “The Book of Wisdom” says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Many of us, in our own personal lives, have made our paths in life crooked. Many of us have led lives that have created journeys that have taken us to places that we didn’t want to go. We have all been placed on this earth to go on a journey. Yet, many of us have been caught by the traps of life that have held us captive to the elements of nature.

When we look at these words of wisdom here from the writer of Proverbs we receive true wisdom. This wisdom comes directly from our Creator God Himself. Many times we have relied on the wisdom of the world and this type of wisdom got us into trouble. In fact, it was not really wisdom; it was a way of trusting in ourselves instead of in God, who is the Creator of the world, and the universe and us as humans.

Our hearts as Aboriginal People, as well as many other peoples in this world, have been broken and damaged from the wild elements of the world. Your skin and your body can be damaged either by cold or hot weather. Sometimes you can recover from these damages, but sometimes people die when they are exposed to the wild elements of nature.

People can die of heat stroke; people can die of hypothermia; people can die from cancer caused by too much sun; people can die of thirst; and people can die of starvation. All of these can come as a result of getting lost or going the wrong way at the wrong time. These can also come as a result of being by yourself and not having anyone to help you in your distress.

When we choose not to trust in the LORD, and when we choose not to trust in God, we often get ourselves into trouble. As a result we find our hearts being broken and wounded with sadness, depression, anger, bitterness, rage or fear. Proverbs says that when we trust in God He will make our paths straight. This means we won’t get lost if we trust in Him and let Him take control of our lives.

Sometimes we trust in ourselves because we don’t want anyone to tell us what to do. We want to do our own thing. We want to go our own way. We want to set our own rules. Yet, when we do this we often find ourselves in trouble and exposed to the elements of life that can harm or kill us.

As an Aboriginal person and a follower of Jesus, I want to encourage you all to put all your trust in the LORD. The world doesn’t care about us like the LORD cares about us. The world likes it when we do what they do, but many of these people are very unhappy themselves. They want us to join them in their unhappiness and brokenness. Yet, it is only through knowing Jesus, that you will truly find straight paths that don’t lead you to the wild elements of the world. Don’t let yourselves be led down crooked paths. Choose Jesus because He died for you. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t depend on your own understanding, so that your path can be straight and your heart can be healed.

Parry Stelter is originally from Alexander First Nation and is founder of Word of Hope Ministries and lives in Edmonton, Alberta. http://www.wordofhopeministries.ca