“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness” (Ps. 37:3, NKJV).
Trust in the Lord. Do good. In that order. This verse is imparting to us a vitally important lesson about priorities. Trusting should always come before doing. Doing should always flow out of trusting.
God means for trusting to be the foundation and inspiration for all of our doing. The trusting is not to be an afterthought. Once God has firmly established our trusting in Him, the doing will naturally spring forth out of it.
First, we entrust into His hands whatever intimidating circumstance is threatening to steal our peace. Once we have cast our cares on Him through prayer, we will be ready for the next step. From a position of rest and abandon, we can then follow His guidance hour by hour down the path ahead. Daddy always has a plan. He always has a solution. He will lead us magnificently into everything needed for life’s challenges, day by day, moment by moment.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the directives that follow, in our Psalm for today. They give us an even fuller, richer description of the heart posture Holy Spirit is inviting us to adopt. As we press into His presence in the secret place, we learn how to apply these instructions:
- “Dwell” (v. 3). Sink into the richness of His presence. Stay there.
- “Feed” (v. 3). Dine on His sumptuous faithfulness.
- “Delight yourself” (v. 4). Simply enjoy.
- “Commit” (v. 5). Entrust every worry, every care into His extremely capable hands.
- “Rest” (v. 7). Nestle into His embrace and let Him take care of everything.
- “Do not fret” (v. 8). Shhhhhh… He’s got you, precious one!
(Notice what the instructions do not say. There’s no “Wrack your brain until you come up with an answer.” Nope. No “Burn the candle at both ends because after all, who is going to get this straightened out if you don’t?” Nope. No “Sacrifice your sleep, your play, and your relationships; it’s the only way out of this mess!” Nope again!)
Instead: Trust. Dwell. Feed. Delight yourself. Commit. Rest. Don’t fret.
And then, do.
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At a deep heart level, do we trust God? When we have been deeply wounded in human relationships, how do we move into a place of trust again?
Feeding On Jesus 