Trust in and Delight in the Lord!

This morning I am reflecting on some verses from Psalm 37:3-8 NIV:

[3] "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
[4] Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
[5] Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:
[6] He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

[7] Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
[8] Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret---it leads only to evil."

If we just read the first part of the verses, where David is encouraging a particular action on the reader's part, we find a very helpful set of guidelines for these crazy days we are living through.

1) Trust in the Lord!
2) Take delight in the Lord!
3) Commit your way to the Lord!
4) Be still before the Lord!
5) Refrain from anger!

Each of those encouragements is worth reflection, especially as it relates to our day to day life of quarantine and dealing with the barrage of bad news, and dire predictions.

First, put your trust in the Lord!  He loves you and is watching over You!  He is not surprised by this virus and He is present in the midst of the anxiety and swirl around it.  He is the eternal rock on which we can stand.  When everything is changing around us, we can trust God to be the same every day.

Second, take delight in the Lord.  To do this, we must turn our hearts and minds toward Him.  Reflecting on our relationship with Him, seeing answered prayers, sweet encounters of His presence,  times His word have spoken deeply to us!  As we look to Him we will see His faithfulness, mercy, compassion and love have never changed!

Third, commit your way to the Lord!  Give Him your day!  Ask for His guidance and direction!  Look to Him in big and small things and set Your heart to follow after Him in all his leading.  Offer yourself into His service in whatever way you can during this time.  Commit your life to Him, not to your own survival efforts

Fourth, be still before Him.  We want to do things, we want to fix the problem, and most of us have no ability to make a major difference.  However, by being still, by waiting, and looking to Him, we can grow in our relationship with Him, and learn to hear His voice more clearly.  If we still our minds and turn towards Him and ask Him to speak, He will.

Fifth, we need to refrain from anger, from judgment, from over-reacting in fear.  This is a choice we can make.  We need to embrace the first 4 encouragements and let His peace settle over us.  We need to let go of our need for control, and entrust ourselves unto Him, and let Him worry about retribution, righting wrongs, and intervening in the process.  When we have been wronged, we want to extract payment from those responsible.  We want to lay about us, and punish that which is causing our pain, or adding to our pain.  We can get angry and frustrated when we are unable to lay hold of the responsible parties, and that is where we need to entrust judgment to God.

My prayer for each of us today is that we may walk in God's peace, in knowledge of His love for us, and in loving ways towards one another.  Let us embrace our time of solitude to become closer to God, to allowing His words to change us and and give us life!

May the peace of Christ and His rest be yours today!

Sam