Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.

Psalms 37:3-7a

Throughout the Bible we see a common thread: God always protects the righteous.

To be counted righteous man must hearken to God and do good (feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help the weak…) and avoid evil (vanity, finger pointing, greed…).

As I read Psalms 37:3-7, I can’t help but notice that the words “do good” are preceded by “Trust in the Lord” and followed by “then you will live safely in the land and prosper”.

The next verse goes on to explain that if we take delight in the Lord, then He will give us our hearts’ desires, and the “if/then” nature of the statement hits this English major with a need to dig a little deeper.

You see, looking closely at the structure of the verses, the first half, the conditional, is “take delight in the Lord” and the effect of that is “He will give you the desires of your heart”.

A common misunderstanding that comes from this verse is that God will give us whatever we want if we do good and so sometimes people do all kinds of good and then get upset that they don’t have more money or nicer cars or more popularity…but sweet friend, those things don’t fit the kind of heart’s desires that align with “take delight in the Lord”. Often, those types of desires actually distract us from depending on and walking with the Lord.

Psalm 37 goes on to state that we need to commit everything we do to the Lord and to trust Him. This is what enables Him to help us, when we step away from the controls and say, “Lord, I trust you to take the lead in my life” and then we purposely go forth every day and do good by living our lives in accordance with His will and teachings.

After all, it’s difficult to help someone who doesn’t want to be helped; it has been my experience that fighting with God never leads to blessings or peace.

God’s Word is full of His wondrous promises for safety and stability and peace and joy and fellowship and love, and all He asks in return is that we follow Him, trust in Him, and do good as He, the Author of Truth, defines good (which is also explained and exemplified throughout the Word).

I have found that I’m most at peace when I stop trying to argue with the Lord or negotiate for my own terms. I’ve had such joy even in times of stress by focusing on delighting in Him. The desires of my heart have been met day in and day out though they are not the same desires I had when I was keeping God at arms’ length.

It turns out that my heart’s truest desire – after all the junk of the world was peeled away – is to love others and to be a productive member of Christ’s body delivering the message of His love and promises to all He places in my path.

In truth, this is the desire tucked away in all of our hearts since birth: to be close to our Creator and at peace with our fellow man. So many of the world’s ills and issues would be healed and resolved if we all sought God above all things and loved others as much as God loves them.

We all want to live safely in the land and prosper.

We’ll only do that by taking delight in the Lord, trusting in Him, and doing good as His Word defines good.

I’m ready to buckle down and get started. Are you?