Finding Commitment

I am a firm believer in the truth that God can and does speak to us through anything. Nothing is just "random chance" or fate. All truth is God's truth, and he can use even the words of the smallest person or the greatest.

At church on Sunday, I joined my mom's class, a group of wonderful women of all ages. I always get good bits of wisdom from what is shared in that class, but this past Sunday, I got something really good. One of the women shared some encouragement from Psalm 37:1-5 (I went to verse 6 myself), and I felt like she had shared it just for me.

This passage is packed with good material, and the next day I studied it a little on my own. I came away with some key points that I felt were important for my life.

First, verse one speaks to not being envious of those who do wrong. I don't always necessarily envy those people, but I don't always try to separate myself from them either, whether by word or behavior. But as a child of the King, I know I need to be set apart. So I know in my life that's something I need to work on. I have been sanctified, so I need to live like it.

Second, Psalm 37 speaks often of not worrying, or fretting. This is something that is ongoing in my life, and a lesson I have to learn regularly. If I honestly believed and banked on the fact that God is in control of everything and taking care of me, then I wouldn't have to worry about anything. So in this time of upheaval in my life, I know that I don't have to worry about getting a job or finding a place to live. God will provide all that.

Third, verse four tells us to "delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." What this said to me was, stop being unhappy with what you don't have and how you wish your life was going. Just delight (find happiness, joy and pleasure) in the Maker of the universe, the Lord who loves you and created you for his divine purpose. Life will be much better and sweeter if I focus on God than on trying to make something of my life on my own. Through this delighting, God promises that he will deliver. He knows the desires of my heart, and truthfully, they're pretty simple.

Finally, verse five speaks to commitment. Oh that. Commitment is one area of my life that is lacking. I feel like that's pretty common for most people. We never want to commit to anything because we want to keep our schedule open, just in case something else we'd rather do comes up. But this verse specifically mentions commitment, committing our way to the Lord.

So I decided to make some changes based on what I found in these verses. Some specific commitments. First, I'm committing to getting involved in church programs and ministries. This also includes finding ways to contribute on a small level by loving on people, giving of my time and talents, and participating in Bible studies.

Second, I'm committing to delighting in the Lord. I thought for a while about what this would look like for me, and the biggest thing I came away with was that I need to allow time to simply focus on God. This means separating myself from the areas I tend to let "take over" my life, the areas that will get in the way. So, that being said, I've committed to not dating/remaining single for a select period of time. In that time, I'm focusing on God and the areas of my life I know he wants to work on.

Verse six follows-up on the instruction that we are to commit our way to the Lord. It says, "He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." This is what the Lord promises to do when we commit and trust in him. Our righteousness will be so unignorable, it will be like the sun. This isn't for our benefit, to make people stop and notice us. It's for God's glory, that people will stop and praise him. And really, isn't that what our lives are about as believers? Giving glory back to God in all things.

So this is part of what God's been teaching me. I know that it will bring an awareness of greater things, of his will and divine plan. I hope that you will find Psalm 37:1-6 encouraging as well, and that you will find commitment to the Lord.