A life that pleases God

Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
(Psalms 37:3–6 ESV)

The word trust carries the idea of being confident, bold. We are to be confident in the Lord – bold in him – and do good. It’s not just generic boldness. It’s the boldness to do good. To do what Jesus would do.

But then he goes on to say dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Dwell has the idea of permanency to it. It’s not a hotel for a night. It’s living there.

The word that surprised me was befriend. Befriend faithfulness. When I looked it up, I found that the Hebrew can also be translated as pasture it, tend a flock, or pastor.  What a picture! Faithfulness doesn’t just happen. We have to nurture it.  Feed it. Give it what it needs to be healthy. Faithfulness is active.

And if we do those things – trust – do good – dwell – befriend faithfulness – delight in the Lord then he will give us the desires of our heart.

But what are they?

The first things that might come to mind are things like healthy children or a nice house. But look deeper. Verse 6 tells us what those desires really are. Righteousness.

Imagine it!

Revelation says “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” But this goes even further.

If we live this way. God will act.

Commit you way to the Lord. Trust in him. And God will act. Not only will we not have to mourn our sins anymore – we’ll be spotless. Wholly righteous. Shining like the sun.

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