40 Days Pondering the Fruit of the Spirit
Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Days PONDERING the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Day 27 | TRUST
40 Days PONDERING the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Day 27 | TRUST
TRUST … AND DO GOOD
Psalm 37:3
“Trust in the Lord, and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” (KJV)
Psalm 37 has some of my favorite verses in the entire Bible.
This Psalm was written during King David’s older years and is in the form of an acrostic, where each verse begins with the following letter in the Hebrew alphabet. This lettering made it easier to memorize and remember.
In the first couple of verses, David tells us to NOT fret because of evildoers, as they will soon be cut off.
But instead, he tells us to TRUST IN THE LORD and DO GOOD, instead of worrying and envying.
Spurgeon once said, “Faith cures fretting. Sight is cross-eyed and views things only as they seem, hence her envy; faith has clearer optics to behold things as they really are, hence her peace.”
Besides trusting, He also gives us something to do – “do good.”
The adage, “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” – though not in Scripture – has some support from Paul’s teachings. “We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies” 2 Thessalonians 3:11.
So, we need NOT waste time fretting about “Person X or Y” or whomever, for what good would that do anyway? Instead, we are to TRUST GOD (to take care of the evildoer) and then DO GOOD to others… especially those of the household of faith (as we learn elsewhere in Scripture).
So ponder: Do you know anyone – especially in the Christian family – who could use some GOOD that you can supply? What does that GOOD look like? How might you get started and DO IT?
We live in a messy world, and yet, though the technologies have changed, the situation is not any different from what King David observed in his day. Same stuff, different century.
Prayer: LORD, show me someone to whom I could do some GOOD, and help me TRUST You and just DO IT. Amen.
Psalm 37:3
“Trust in the Lord, and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” (KJV)
Psalm 37 has some of my favorite verses in the entire Bible.
This Psalm was written during King David’s older years and is in the form of an acrostic, where each verse begins with the following letter in the Hebrew alphabet. This lettering made it easier to memorize and remember.
In the first couple of verses, David tells us to NOT fret because of evildoers, as they will soon be cut off.
But instead, he tells us to TRUST IN THE LORD and DO GOOD, instead of worrying and envying.
Spurgeon once said, “Faith cures fretting. Sight is cross-eyed and views things only as they seem, hence her envy; faith has clearer optics to behold things as they really are, hence her peace.”
Besides trusting, He also gives us something to do – “do good.”
The adage, “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” – though not in Scripture – has some support from Paul’s teachings. “We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies” 2 Thessalonians 3:11.
So, we need NOT waste time fretting about “Person X or Y” or whomever, for what good would that do anyway? Instead, we are to TRUST GOD (to take care of the evildoer) and then DO GOOD to others… especially those of the household of faith (as we learn elsewhere in Scripture).
So ponder: Do you know anyone – especially in the Christian family – who could use some GOOD that you can supply? What does that GOOD look like? How might you get started and DO IT?
We live in a messy world, and yet, though the technologies have changed, the situation is not any different from what King David observed in his day. Same stuff, different century.
Prayer: LORD, show me someone to whom I could do some GOOD, and help me TRUST You and just DO IT. Amen.