Ps 37:3-5 Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. 
	Once more, we find ourselves looking at the promises of God to His people, to us, fully completed in Christ Jesus. In actuality, we will never finish this discussion of God’s promises in Christ. There is so much that will be evidenced, that even eternity will not be sufficient to exhaust all that God has given us in His Son. Even scripture seems to be filled with more and more of Christ, each time we study it. The same passage can continually be opened by the Holy Spirit in new avenues of God’s promises in Christ, day after day after day.
	I wonder if very many of us have taken time to ponder a verse or a passage over the course of weeks and months. To take the time to seek after the Holy Spirit to open, in reality, the fullness of the passage in our hearts is an amazing thing before God. If so, it will be like watching the growth of a babe, from birth to adulthood. Each day is different; each experience is enriching and expressive. The Word of God is a living document with the breath of the Holy Spirit as He reveals the heart of God in every word. And, as we do contemplate and study His Word, He causes us to grow. Grow into a deeper, spiritual understanding that what He has done is fully beyond any comprehension of our physical minds. The depth of Christ and God’s promises in Christ are overwhelming in their every consideration. Such is the case with the passage before us.
	Initially, as we read it, we can see that there is a charge to us from God and then His promise if we fulfill that charge. It seems that it is up to us to bring forth the promises of this passage. If we follow the prescribed path, we are rewarded, if we don’t, no reward – no fulfillment of promise. However, as we look deeper into the heart of God that is here before us, we will begin to notice that it really is not a simplistic reward based promise.
	Now, lest anyone think that I am stating that we do not have to obey God, let us understand the following right now. Because we belong to God, because Christ is the source of our very life, we must live in complete obedience to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit’s direction. We will soon find that we are completely miserable if we try to follow our own path. We will readily discover that the path that God sets before us is the very best path that we could have chosen. Our disobedience is a source of mourning and disruption within our beings. That is so simply because it is going against the new nature of Christ, Who now indwells us by the Holy Spirit. As such, we want to do that which we are instructed to do. The issue becomes one of how do we please God to the utmost in the lives that we live on this earth. This is how we approach the Word of God, and it is in this desire that we study the precept before us. Please note there is no threat attached to the passage. There is only the promise that will be fulfilled as we live forth from Christ.
	God is not like a desperate classroom teacher who threatens punishment upon the heads of unruly students. Education is so full of both negative and positive reinforcers of behavior, because that is the only manner in which this realm can try to control the environment around it. Parents too, are often found in this pattern of promises for good behavior and threats for bad behavior or disobedience. 
	Thank the Lord that He is not like that with us. He deals with us on an entirely different plane. He deals with us in Christ, and Christ Alone. That is the only manner in which we can even come before Him. It is in Christ that our audience before Him is secured and possible. And, it is in Christ that we find that we desire to be a blessing unto our Heavenly Father. Our focus is removed from what we can receive to that which we can give unto Him. In Christ, this verse is no longer viewed in terms of being forced by selfish desires to do something for the reward that we will receive. No, rather its focus is being unto God that which will please Him for His glory alone. As His glory is evidenced in our lives, we find that the reality that He has shown us in this passage becomes the natural course of our lives. 
	Consider the first statement in this passage, Trust in the LORD, and do good; We are told to trust God. What does this mean? It is more than a request, more than an admonishment, more than a dictate, it is our life. As we have accepted Christ as the Lord of our lives, we have no option but to trust Him. That is what lordship is, after all. It is the trust of the servant placed upon the Lord. It is the trust that we have that God is in complete control of everything in our lives, everything in this creation. We cannot be saved, if we do not trust God, since salvation utterly hinges on the fact that God did exactly what He promised in Christ Jesus. 
	This is, of course, the initial aspect of our trust in God. Then, as we walk with Him over time, as He takes us faithfully through all the trials and perils of our time on this earth, we learn an even deeper and more wonderful aspect of God. Not only can we trust Him with our future, we can trust Him, must trust Him, with the everyday life that we live before Him. His faithful love and patience tenderly develops in us the desire to trust Him more and more. As He proves Himself faithful in the major and the minor dealings in our life, we grow to cherish the way He shows His love to us. Trust, trust beyond measure and beyond comprehension is the natural substance of our relationship with Our Loving Heavenly Father. We can do nothing less than trust Him with our lives. 
	Viewed in this reality, we see that the passage is not really a challenge; it is not really an admonition. It is the substance of how we live on this earth. As that life is manifested, so will our interaction with others be good. We will deal with one another and with all people in the love with which we have been loved. Our lives will manifest goodness, but none of our own. It will be the Lord Jesus Christ as He lives forth from our beings unto this entire realm. 
Ps 37:27+28 Depart from evil, and do good, So you will abide forever. For the LORD loves justice, And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever; But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. This passage is another expression of the same truth. We are not forsaken by God, because we trust and obey Him. Because He is our life, we will abide in Him forever. Oh, that we would truly come into the reality of this passage. That we would learn that the only way to find life, is to live forth in complete trust unto God to be our everything. Please understand the fact that this will not make life easier. Actually, we will find that we are facing greater and greater challenges in our lives simply because God is able to trust us. Yes, that is a fact. God trusts us to seek Him with all our heart, soul, and spirit. He trusts us to desire Him in all His fullness. He trusts us to seek after Him as the trials and tribulations descend upon us. It is because of this that we can expect that our lives will never be dull or uneventful. There will be that constant awareness of the One, Who is our Life. There will be a complete recognition that God is active in us and in our loved ones to bring forth His glory to the utmost.
In line with this, please consider Ps 18:1-3 "I love Thee, O LORD, my strength." The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies. God has made every provision for those who love Him to be sheltered in the rock of His salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. 
As a result of that love, we find that there is a welling of praise within us. This welling becomes overwhelming as we try to find any manner of giving back to God the richness of our worship and praise. This is a stirring of God within our beings that also finds expression in our fellowship together. We seek after Him to show us, individual and corporately, how to worship Him. To teach us how to touch the chords of His heart with the love for Him that is in our heart. It is at that time, that we experience our place as the bride of Christ. It is as our heart is overwhelmed with the intense need to let Him know that we love Him. Love Him beyond all measure. Love Him beyond all words. Love Him beyond all the comprehension of heaven and of earth.
	This brings forth one of the great mysteries that is ours in Christ, the relationship that we have in Him. There is an earthly representation of this in the marriage of a husband and wife. This is nothing new to our ears. But, there has been something new added to my understanding of it, and hopefully it is your understanding as well. I have been finding that there is no way that I can express the thanksgiving that is in my heart unto God for my wife, Laura. Since our time with Leah, we have been clinging to each other every day. We have found that we utterly need each other. That it is painful and lonely to be separated from one another, even at work. I am not stating that everything is perfect between us, but I am stating that I have come into the realization that I need her and would be absolutely lost without her in my life. This is a coming into the oneness of husband and wife that God tells us is the natural course of marriage. This is what makes marriage so near and precious to the heart of God. Marriage represents, in a very real manner, the relationship that is to be true of each of us with Christ. Without Christ, we would not know how to live in this world.
We should be finding that we are craving, yes, literally craving, the presence of the Lord in our lives. We should be evidencing the reality that we very literally cannot make it through an hour without that presence of the Lord. Do we disappoint Him on occasion, of course? But, when we do, it is a serious upheaval within us because that is the last thing we want to do. We want to find ways of telling Him how much He means to us. Telling Him how much we love Him. Telling Him how thankful we are for the fact that we belong to Him. There should be a stirring inside us to praise and to honor Him beyond all our abilities. As we gather together as a fellowship, in any of our meetings together as His Body, it should be done with hearts that are attuned to this relationship. Just as we seek to give Him all praise and glory and adoration in our individual lives, so ought the Church, corporately, have that same single heart, multiplied by each member to the extent that our entire focus is on Him; is unto Him; and is desiring to completely bless Him Alone. 
Trust in the LORD, and do good; Again, we have one of those elements of our relationship in Christ that comes to the fore-front. We seem to be told that we are to do good, until we realize the connection with our heart of trust in God. As that relationship develops into utter dependence and reliance upon Christ to be our life, there is no other manner that we could live before God. There is no other life that we could live before man but in the goodness of God. Yes, in the goodness of God. This is a two pronged part of our lives in Christ.
First, we are fully partakers of the complete goodness of God shed upon us in Christ Jesus. We are absolutely covered in all the grace and mercy and love, all the good things that we thank God for on a continual basis. We recognize that because His hand is upon us, we are benefiting in all the glory that is His in Christ Jesus Our Lord. This is a good thing, a very good thing into which we are translated by the Holy Spirit’s active power in our lives. We realize that our lives are fully blessed in Christ, and we have that knowledge daily reinforced by the loving work of God in our lives.
The other aspect, the one most in line with the wording of this passage, is that we are to be good. It can be no other way. It is not up to us, it is not dependent on our efforts or our determination. It is the simple fact that because we are covered in Christ’s righteousness, we are good. We trust God to carry through the promises of His Word. That includes the fact that we have our proper standing in His presence through the holiness of Christ Jesus, Who is our life. As we live on this earth, it is the natural course of our new spiritual life to be good before man and before God in the walk of our sojourn. It really can be no other way because it is Christ‘s life that we live. Do we have difficulties? Of course. Do we sometimes fail to be truly good all the time? Yes, because we are daily learning that the way of Christ is death to our self-life, and that self-life tries to hang on to every shred of our beings. Praise the Lord that He is working mightily in us to eliminate those last vestiges of our old man. But please realize that it is an ongoing course while we are yet in this world. The key is the heart with which we live forth our lives. Are we focused, with all our heart, upon Christ? Christ in all His goodness! Christ in all His holiness! Christ in all His love! If so we must be the living expression of Him in the course of our day. There is a desire that wells up within us to be true witnesses of Christ in all that we say, do and think. That desire will be honored by God. It will become more and more infused into our daily life. It will be there even when we stumble, because we have the absolute assurance that God still has all things well in hand. We ask the Lord to cover our mistakes, our indiscretions so that no one will be able to lay any charge against God. We make amends. We apologize. We seek forgiveness and we seek after God to help us not repeat that error of judgment, that self act, that hidden vice. We open our beings unto God, even in the aftermath of that sin. We humble ourselves before Him, with no alibis, no excuses, no ulterior motives, and no fear of reprisal. We come before Him with hearts that are filled with the desire that He Alone will be glorified in our lives. That He Alone will be the expression seen by others in our realm. It is in the goodness of Christ that we are called to live on this earth. It is in the trust that we have in God that Christ is free to guide us. Guide us to any extent that He knows will bring glory to the Father in the testimony that we are to others.
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. This is the direct result of the work of God in building that perfect trust in Him and in His goodness expressed in our beings. We dwell in the land and our faithful service becomes more and more perfected unto Him. Not perfect, but perfected. Many people would count this passage as only dealing with the Children of Israel and the Promised Land. There is the misconception that this passage probably no longer applies in today’s realm. It is easily dismissed as having been true then, but no longer relevant. How unseeing is that concept of this precious Word of God. This is directly applicable to the Church today, this moment. We are dwelling in the land, the land of this world. We are being presented with the daily opportunities to make a mark, in Christ, in the realm of our physical world. There are ample opportunities to cultivate faithfulness in every aspect of our dwelling here – now! 
Faithfulness - how is faithfulness cultivated in our lives? It is as we are dwelling in this world that we see the Hand of God operating in all His glory. We see the work of the Holy Spirit calling those who will respond to Christ. We see the active hand of Grace manifested in the circumstances and the dilemmas that are far beyond our abilities to handle. Yet, these trial and tribulations are so perfectly dealt with by Him. We open our hearts unto Him to have His way, not only in our lives, but in the lives of those in such need. We pray, as His Body, to be of service unto Him. To bless Him. To Glorify Him Alone. As we trust Him, and as He proves Himself, we have that complete growth of faith from within that knows, that concretely holds fast to the reality that God is doing all that He promised. That we have nothing to fear in Him. Though mountains may collapse, though rivers may flood, though everything in our lives will be shaken asunder, we know that God is holding us close and covering us in His unending grace; His limitless mercy; His unfailing love; and His endless patience. We have faith that He will perform that which He said He will do in His Word. 
 Ps 91:14-16 "Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. "He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him. "With a long life I will satisfy him, And let him behold My salvation." What greater expression of the faithfulness of God is there than the truth of the salvation that He purposed in His heart even before the foundation of the world was laid. He made complete provision, as recorded throughout the Old Testament, for the giving of His Only, Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our salvation. As we ponder that tremendous act alone, we must be in awe of the greatness of God. In awe of the faithful manner in which He has dealt with us, with all His people in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
	All of this is indicative of the faithfulness that God cultivates in us through the work of His hand as He is active in our lives. How about the other aspect of the cultivation of faithfulness? It is not a single sided aspect of our dwelling in this land, don’t you know? He has proven Himself faithful. Have we proven ourselves to be faithful unto Him? Ah yes, it is so easy to simply point the finger at God and say He is the One Who needs to do it. But, what He is doing is making His Bride perfect. That includes the truth that His Church, His Body, will be wholly faithful unto Him. Throughout the Old Testament, we see the Children of Israel turning again and again away from God. They seek after those things that the other nations of the world have. Rather than trust God, they demand a king. Rather than worship God Alone, they worship the lifeless idols of the other nations. They seem scarcely to be delivered from one crisis in the faithfulness of God, than they turn their hearts after something else in this realm, denying the Lord God Almighty.
	Are we seeing our faithfulness unto God developed as we dwell in this land? Or are we being distracted by the things of this age? Do we treasure the Lord above all else, or is He simply a part of our lives, but not the center? Are there other things that have a hold on our hearts, which are idols for us? Do we desire to be faithful unto God, or is that too much for us to bear? Cultivate faithfulness! I know we cannot do it on our own, but we can ask God to make that our life. We can earnestly seek the Lord to bring into being a love for Him that transcends every other desire of our hearts. That is the perfect, unblemished Bride that Christ will have. She will be glorious in her unending and unhindered faithfulness unto Him. That is His promise, after all. He will have it. It will come to pass. Let us ask Him, please ask Him, and seek Him with all our hearts to be kindled in that faithfulness this day forward. Do not let us allow the things of this age, the fears of this realm, and the insecurity of man to hinder the relationship that can be cultivated in Christ, if we desire it with all our hearts. Let us not lose the joy of being faithful unto God in all things. We, individually and corporately, need to see that His promises are worthy of being treasured. They are worthy to be returned to Him with all majesty unto Him Alone – now and forevermore!
Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.