April 20, 2021 – Reflections on “Trust, Commit, and Wait!”

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. Psalm 37:3-4.

So often I heard these words in this scripture and think about the verbs. Are they just words? Or do they mean something in my life? So many times, I heard Mother read or quote these words as I grew up. The word ‘delight’ gave me joy. What about the other words?

Did God just have His servant write these because they sound good, or are they true? What does it mean to trust?

First, we believe God’s Word, and then we learn to trust God. I often think about believing, beginning with the first two verses of the Bible, Genesis. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2.

         The longer I lived, and saw portions of this earth, and see the sun rise and set, and the stars shine, I knew no theory could explain the world I have lived in for ninety-one years. God is the Creator of all the living creatures we see. When I studied the Bible for myself, I began a journey in the search for truth. And as God is faithful in His Love for us, I understood ‘befriend faithfulness’.

Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness. Psalm 26:23. God will test us to see if we are faithful and see if He can trust us.  In this way our faith in Him is able to grow.

He is about salvation. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.” Isaiah 12:2. This Salvation comes about through the Gospel of Christ. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

Mother was my Faith-teacher. One day, I asked her why she loved flowers so much and grew them. She often gathered a bouquet of flowers from her garden and took them to ‘old people’ even when she could be counted as old. She answered my question, “God created them!”

After that, I never looked at a flower the same way, for each flower has a distinct color, design, and shape, from the lowly dandelion to the exotic orchid. And God created them all.

Is this where Delight is born? In the realm of Awe and Wonder in our Creator God as He keeps the Stars in Space, and keeps His Eye on the lowly sparrow? Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:31. God gives us so many gifts to delight in, and yet He is the greatest gift of all. For He Teaches us to love Him and others.

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. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. Psalm 37:5-9.

How can we Commit our way? Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:12-14.

Only someone who walks with Jesus possesses these qualities for living in this world. They are also thankful to God and do all things in the name of our Lord Jesus.

Waiting was not one of my favorite things to do, and yet I learned from Mother, that it is one of the important qualities of love, and one fruit of the Spirit, found in Galations 5. How could she temper the impatience of her daughter?

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23.

 These are the qualities that belonging to Jesus and walking with Him will bring to us. Verse 24 adds, And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

As my mother lay in her bedroom, near the end of the pulmonary fibrosis, I wondered what I could say to ease her going Home to Heaven. Then I took her Bible and turned to Psalm 37 and read her favorite chapter to her. I don’t know how many Psalms I read that day. I knew she would be welcomed with angels singing, and my Dad meeting her. The last thing she taught me was how to die at peace in the Lord. She gave me the song to learn long ago, called Going Home. And I knew she was at Home at last.

       Going home, going home, I am going home, Quiet light, some still day, I’m just going home.

       It’s not far, just close by, Through an open door, Work all done, care laid by, Never fear no more.  Mother’s there expecting me, Father’s waiting, too, Lots of fears, eyes covered now, All the friends I knew.  Morning star lights the way, Restless dream all gone, Shadows gone, break of day. Real life has begun. (William Fisher).

But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. Micah 7:7-8.