Trust: Looking to God

+Jeanne Takenaka @JeanneTakenaka

I was reading Psalm 37 the other day. I have always loved the first verses of this chapter. This time when I read it, verse three jumped out at me. In the ESV, it says,

“Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness.”

We all hear about trusting in the Lord. We all know we should do it. And, many of us say we do this.

And, we probably do most of the time.

What really captivated me was the second half of this verse.

Dwell in the land…

Back in David’s day, they dwelt in the Promised Land. God had given them their land. He didn’t give them a choice; He simply gave them the best.

Land flowing with milk and honey. With fruit so large it took two men to carry a cluster of grapes on poles.

What does this look like today? I wonder if the land we dwell in is where we are right now. Some of us dwell in difficult places.

Relationships are strained.

Health is declining.

Jobs are stressful.

Kids are rebelling.

Right now, some of us are dwelling in a sweet place, where the sun shines with blessing on our days.

Maybe you just got the job you’ve always dreamed of.

Or a loved one just got great news.

The kids behaved today.

You actually got some time for yourself.

Wherever we are dwelling, we are not there by mistake. I believe God grieves with us in the difficult lands. He rejoices with us in the abundant places.

The question is, where are we putting our faith wherever we are dwelling?

Are we feeding on God’s faithfulness?

When we look to God in the land where we dwell, rather than at our circumstances, we can feed on His faithfulness.

We can gain glimpses of His workings in our lives.

When we look to the world . . .

When we look to our circumstances . . .

We’re going to become hungry. Our situations cannot feed us.

They will not nourish us.

Only when we feed on God’s faithfulness can we be satisfied. It’s only when we choose to look to Him in the midst of our hard that we can live with a measure of peace, even hope.

When we choose to trust God in the midst of hard circumstances we can rest in Him. Life may be in chaos, but our inner selves dwell in peace.

The world can never feed us anything nourishing.

Instead, it feeds us unrealistic expectations of how we should look, how we should walk through our hard . . .

It feeds us false security.

If we put our trust in anything besides God, we will be dropped by those things, sooner or later. If we rely on people—as wonderful as they may be—eventually, they will disappoint us.

But, when we feed on God’s faithfulness,

When we believe He is who He says He is, even when what we see tries to tell us He’s not with us . . .

He doesn’t see us . . .

That’s when we will be strengthened to dwell in our land.

What about you? How do you feed on God’s faithfulness? When have you seen God work in your life in a surprising way?

Click to Tweet: Wherever we are dwelling, we are not there by mistake

I’m linking up with  #RaRaLinkup, Holley Gerth,  Jennifer Dukes Lee