Trusting in the Lord
Psa. 37:1 Do not fret because of evil men
or
be envious of those who do wrong;
2 for like the
grass they will soon wither,
like
green plants they will soon die away.
Psa. 37:3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell
in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Delight
yourself in the LORD
and
he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psa. 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust
in him and he will do this:
6 He will make
your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the
justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
The world around us sets a
standard of what it looks like to be successful, what it means to be successful
in life, and depending on the particular stream you run in will determine what
success looks like.
For some success will look like
material blessing
For another it is independence –
“I just want to be me, and do the things I want to do”
Another success looks like a
loving family
And for others success looks like
prestige and respect from others in my particular stream, and if I am really
successful, I gain presige and respect from those in different streams.
But in each of these (and other
streams) success is discovered by comparing ourselves to others around us and
we begin to watch and imitate what they do, to get where they are.
When Diana & I entered our
thirties, life began to pick-up a lot of steam.
Things began happening faster than we could keep up, not only in
activity but the curve of success began its sharp ascent. We began having babies, buying houses,
establishing careers, and having friends who were doing the same. Some
experienced greater – what seemed like – freedom to take trips and buy new
furniture, the cool cars.
Others seemed to climb the career
ladder and gain great respect and prestige from others who seemed to have
success, they were invited to the ‘important’ meetings, given the choice
opportunities.
We saw others who placed their
success in their marriage & kids – a loving spouse, smart, well behaved
kids
Others bucked the system, became
‘social maverics’ – free thinking / free spirits, whose success looked like
just ‘being me’. To them success was
freedom - showing up to work when they felt like it, running by no one else’s
schedule or expectations; but ‘being me’ ended up moving them to the edge of
society, because they didn’t learn the lesson of kindergarten of learning to
‘work & play well with others’
The challenge comes when we see
others finding success in all these different things and I think “ I will take
a little of it all, financial freedom to travel and buy the cool stuff, career
success to have the prestige of peers and those of the higher food chains, a
great family, beautiful wife, well behaved adorable kids and the social ability
to just be me.
Sounds a little like Ellen
Degeneris,
Trying to sort out what success
looks like in life and then actually achieving it can be a very difficult thing
in life and can become quite costly.
That is when it becomes attractive to consider how others are making
things seemingly work well for them, even if we have to take some short cut
We are cautioned against fretting
over what evil people do.
Fretting – don’t let our heart
burn over what wicked people do.
Do not let your heart burn, yern
for the same things people
Trust in God – He is trustworthy
David may be preaching this
passage to his own heart reminding himself
Deut. 32:4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and
all his ways are
just.
A
faithful God who does no wrong,
upright
and just is he.
Trust
in the LORD and do good;
dwell
in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Delight
yourself in the LORD
and
he will give you the desires of your heart.
David calls us to Trust in the
Lord
1.
We must make God our hope for our lives and find our success in
him
Our
confidence must remain in God alone, not our own talents, strength, ability but
in him alone
“Trust in
the Lord and do good – dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.”
Jer.
29:4 This is what the LORD Almighty, the
God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from
Jer.
29:10 This is what the LORD says: “When
seventy years are completed for
2. We must make God our heart’s
delight to realize our hearts desires
Delight youself –
A choice / an attitude
Delight – ‘anog’ root word that
means delicate, soft, dainty
For me to delight myself, requires
a softening of my heart to the heart of God, a willingness to change, the attitude
to be easily persuaded by God
When my heart is pursudaded by
Gods, my hearts desire becomes his – he desires to accomplish his desires, I
see his will accomplished in my life
Am I willing to be persuaded by
him,
Rom 12 2 “Do not conform any longer
to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing
and perfect will.”
3. We must make God our guide
to discover the goodness in life
Prov. 16:1 To man belong the plans of the heart,
but
from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue.
Prov. 16:2 All a man’s ways seem innocent to him,
but
motives are weighed by the LORD.
Prov. 16:3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do,
and
your plans will succeed.
Prov. 16:4 The LORD works out everything for his own
ends—
even
the wicked for a day of disaster.