Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.
–Psalm 37:3-6
Here is the “to-do” list from Psalm 37:
- Trust in the LORD and do good
- Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness
- Delight yourself in the LORD, and wait for Him to fulfill your desires
- Commit your way to the LORD and trust in Him, and wait for Him to bring forth your righteousness and justice and make them bright
One thing that I notice from the list is that very little outward action is required. Most of what God is asking of me is internal, e.g. trust, delight, wait, and commit. Several of the other seemingly “action” words He uses are really about internal concepts as well.
For example, dwell is speaking to us of living the Christian life-a life of promise. In the Old Testament the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, finally came into the land that God has promised Abraham many years before. That entry into the promised land is analogous to the New Testament believer living the abundant life-life based on the promises of God after being born again.
Feed on His faithfulness sounds like an action, but it is really a state of mind. The idea is that we would live and prosper remembering that God is faithful to the promises He has made to His people.
So I am to trust the LORD – rely on Him, to have confidence in Him.
I am to dwell in the place He has placed me and be sustained by His faithfulness as I live there.
I am to delight in the LORD. This is easy because He is my exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4). The image that God brought to mind when I was thinking about this was that of a dog rolling in green grass, arching her back and just enjoying the stretch, the warmth of the sun and the scratch of the grass on her back.
I am to commit my way to Him, but why wouldn’t I in light of the promises He makes to me. Here are just 2 found in this short passage:
- He will give me the desires of my heart
- He shall make my righteousness and my justice bright like the sun at noon-day, so that everyone will know-there will be no way to hide what He has done in my life
How great is our God and how wonderful His promises!
Rooted and Grounded 