"Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;…"
Psalms 37:3-7
I believe that if we all lived according to this psalm we would live to our fullest potential as followers of Jesus Christ. I want you, Reader, to take a few minutes with me and examine these five verses. Allow these concepts to drip into your mind. Do nothing as they begin to flood your entire heart space. I promise, the outcome is fruitful. Meditate on these words and ask God to invade. (However, before you do… take this as my warning… whenever you ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you or to invade your heart, He will come in His entirety; it may hurt… it may burn. Let his fire consume you and let His water nurture you.)
I want to compartmentalize these verses into three big ideas: Our part, God's part, and the outcome. When we do things in communion with God, there are always historic results. When we live in step with the Father, according to His pace, we become the essence of His plan. As I was reading through this psalm last month, I became entranced by the inner workings of God's idea. Again, the simplicity of the Believer's life was vividly expressed to me. If you've read my blog for more than a few months, you'll notice that I repeat the same idea a lot: Living a life next to God is simple. His commands are not hard to understand. His pace is not hard to comprehend. His plan is not difficult to imagine. Working it out may be tough, but ultimately, God does not ask us to do impossible things. God does not ask us to do the things that He Himself will do. So, lets look at this psalm together and allow it to sweep us into a lifestyle. May this be more than a blog entry. May this be more than a good idea. Let it prompt you to action. Otherwise, don't read it. If you don't plan on making this a lifestyle, then you might as well be checking your email or roaming around on Facebook.
Our Part
David wrote within these five lines seven commanding verbs:
*Trust in the Lord
*Do good
*Dwell in the land
*Enjoy safe pasture (or more literally "eat of the Lord's faithfulness")
*Delight yourself in the Lord
*Commit your ways to Him
*Be still before the Lord and wait
These suggestions are not new to us. These are all big ideas that Jesus himself communicated generations later. These seven concepts are repeated over and over and over again throughout the Bible. Our trust in the Lord sums up the entire Bible and fulfills our purpose in God's plan. Through the Holy Spirit's prompting and through His power, we "work out" these seven commands. These are things we do. Basically, our doing is not doing. Our part is to not have a part, but to allow God to father.
God's Part
God's part is to orchestrate the mundane, the impossible and everything in between. Here in Psalm 37, David wrote out (right alongside our part) what God does, has done, and will continue to do. Check it out:
When we…
… trust in Him, do good, and dwell with Him… God provides safety and sustenance in His faithfulness.
… delight ourselves in Him… God gives us the desires of our hearts. Our hearts become like His, and, therefore, our delight becomes his delight and our desires become His desires. He gives us what is His.
… commit our way to Him and trust Him… God will make your righteousness and justice reach to the ends of the earth.
… are patiently still before Him… God will act.
When our role, our part, and our efforts are boiled down to their final atom, they are simply a response to God's action. What, then, is a cause for worry? Whom should we fear?
The Outcome
When we live lives that are with God, we are conquerors. What stops the hand of God? There is no limit to what He can do in you. There is no final sin that casts us too far from His mighty grip. There is no amount of time that can separate the Father from His children. There are no vows that are stronger than that of a Groom's. So, when we combine our efforts to release our efforts with God's promises is when we experience the fullness of Christ's payment. Enjoy the fact that is stated in verses 5 and 6: "… he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." Then, David tells us to wait for God to act in verse 7. So, let go. Don't worry about "reaching enough people" or "being a good enough example" or "saving enough souls." That's not your role. Remember… HE will do this. He WILL do this. As long as you trust in Him and commit your way to Him, He does all the work. You are simply His still and patient conduit.
So… I implore you, Dear Reader, to begin to exhaust yourself in your pursuit of these seven commands and to allow God to meet you there and to "make all things new." He is so excited to see you!
