Settling down

 April 4, 2024

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; 

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 

Delight yourself also in the Lord, 

And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 

Commit your way to the Lord, 

Trust also in Him, 

And He shall bring it to pass.”

—Psalm 37:3-5 

“Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” At first glance, this sentence doesn’t make much sense. What does it mean for us to “dwell in the land?” Well, think back to the time when the people of Israel had escaped from Egypt. They got to the border of the Promised Land and balked. They were afraid to go in and whined that it would be better if they could go back to Egypt and slavery. 

Sometimes when we look at a situation we are facing, we are tempted to want to go back to the way it was before, but if were to do that, we would be rejecting God’s plan for us and missing out on the good he has in store. We are told here to dwell, to live in the land; to move forward and claim what God has planned for us. The only time God wants us to go backward is when we need to repent of sin. We have to go back to where we got off track if we’re going to get back on the track God intends us to be on. Otherwise, God is always moving forward, so much so that when Paul speaks of the Christian’s armor in Ephesians 6, there is nothing provided to protect our backs. 

To move continually forward , we need to feed on his faithfulness instead of our own abilities. Let God’s faithfulness feed you, strengthen you, equip you to move forward with confidence, instead of backward in fear.