Psalm 37

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” (Psalm 37:3~NAS)

Okay, so today I find myself asking for a fresh word from the Lord to address some issues that I must face. I ask for His strength and courage, wisdom and grace to walk through some difficult conversations, to abide silenced in some uncomfortable waiting and to endure some unpleasant encounters. Have you found yourself there lately? Ah, the facts of this life ... it’s sometimes quite hard!

Then I read Psalm 37 and it leaps from the page at me!

From verses 1 & 2: “Do not fret....” and “Do not be envious...” ~ Calm my anxious thoughts Lord!

Then the nugget ... from verse 3:

“Trust in the Lord...” ~ O God, I do trust in Your unfailing love. I bow the knee to sovereign God ~ I give you all my fear and my hurts and my “frets” and my “envy’s”.

“...and do good” ~ Teach me, Lord, to be pure, authentic, real, merciful, loving, kind, truthful and full of grace.

“Dwell in the land...” ~ Give me a steadfast heart O God to stay put and not run ~ not retreat ~ to DWELL right where you have me!

“and cultivate faithfulness.” ~ I did a little word study on this word cultivate ... it intrigued me. The original Hebrew word means to pasture, tend, graze. I like the mental image of those words that describe cultivating faithfulness. Tending to my call to faithfulness and grazing on God’s perfect faithfulness that does not fail.

So as I face these uncomfortable places where we sometimes have to walk I pray that You, O Lord, would remind me of Your faithfulness and Your unfailing love ... and may I confidently, comfortably dwell there ~ resting & cultivating (tending & grazing), and fully sheltered in your wonderful provision for my life.