“Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.”
~~Psalm 37:5-6~~

As I read these verses this morning, what struck me was how it seems they can be broken down as a statement of MY PART and GOD’S PART.  So I’m going to approach it that way.  Today we will investigate “my part”, and we will move on to God’s part tomorrow.  Let’s get started. 

MY PART: 

• Commit my way to the LORD
• Trust also in Him

GOD’S PART:

• He will do it
• He will bring forth my righteousness as the light
• He will bring forth my judgment as the noonday

MY PART 

Commit my way to the Lord.

I smiled as I looked at the Hebrew definition for commit <galal> because it brought back a fond memory of going to VBS when I was in sixth grade.  <Galal> means to roll (literally and figuratively); to transfer or to roll away a thing from oneself to another.  I remember a song (complete with hand gestures) Mr. and Mrs. Hardy taught us called Rolled Away.  A line of the lyrics said, “Rolled away, rolled away, rolled awayyyy.  Every burden of my heart is rolled away”.  That song is now stuck in my head as I write.  haha

PAUSE TO PONDER “to roll a thing from oneself to another”.  If what I was transferring to another was a light object, I could pick it up and give it to the other person; however, if I have to roll it to them, generally it’s too heavy or cumbersome to pick up to move.  

The word way <derek> denotes a road (as trodden); figuratively, a course of life or mode of action; the mode of worshiping God, religion.   When it says to commit your way to the Lord <Yehovah>, it is describing the self-existent One, the eternal One.  

PAUSE TO PONDER.  Put the concepts of  “committing”– rolling away or transferring something, and “my way” — a course of life/mode of action — together.   Notice that we must choose to roll off the pressures that come with “being in control” of our lives, and instead choose to follow Jesus.  If I am choosing to follow, that means that I am also choosing to allow Jesus to take the lead.  It is seeing where He is working and joining Him in that, instead of doing my own thing.  Satan wants to deceive me into thinking that being “in control” is what I need and that I am responsible for “making things happen”, when what I truly need is to humble myself and acknowledge that I must rely on my Sovereign God, the One who is truly in control of ALL THINGS.  Managing life is a heavy thing sometimes, but it doesn’t have to be, if we choose to cease to struggle with it, and instead “roll it” from myself onto God. We must confess that this is beyond our ability to figure it all out, and instead choose to follow the Lord’s directives.  He is the One who is past, present, AND future.  He is the only wise Guide for today and for tomorrow.  So get to “rolling”!  

PAUSE TO PONDER the second definition of “my way” — the mode of worshiping God. What comes to mind is Matthew 11:28-30. 

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, 
and I will give you rest.  Take MY yoke upon you 
and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, 
and you will find rest for your souls.  
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

In that day and time, the Pharisees had so many laws for people to follow.  It was burdensome.  Jesus was telling them, “Take MY yoke (My teaching) upon you and learn from ME”. 

To worship and obey Jesus, there are only two commands:  Love God — Love People.  That had to be such a relief to those people.  To “roll off” the burdensome laws of man and instead to take on the yoke of Jesus, what a blessed relief for their souls.  We can experience that same soul rest today. 

People require so many things for us to do in order to be “good enough” or to “serve enough”, when all Jesus asks of us is to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love people.  In all reality, if we loved God with all our heart, soul and mind, the second part would actually take care of itself.   

Trust also in Him.

The Hebrew word for “trust” <batach> means to hie for refuge; figuratively, to trust, be confident or sure; to fear nothing for oneself.  “Hie” means to cause oneself to go quickly.  

PAUSE TO PONDER  the little word, “cause”.  To cause oneself to do something denotes that it is not a natural inclination.  I don’t know about you, but I sense a great conviction in my spirit as I process that.  How often, when I face something that I deem small, I think “I can handle this”.  And when it comes to something big, well sad to say, God is not usually the first person I run to.  I will text a friend or talk to my husband about what is bothering me.  I turn to people, human beings just like me, neglecting an All-Powerful God who loves me fiercely and wants to be my everything – my shelter, my comfort, my guide.  

Let’s take a minute to look at a few dictionary definitions and see what we can glean.  

• Trust: to rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of : believe : to place confidence in : rely on : to expect confidently : to commit or place in one’s care or keeping
• To be confident: full of certainty : having and showing assurance 
• To be sure: marked by or given to feelings of confident certainty : characterized by a lack of wavering or hesitation : admitting of no doubt : indisputable

PAUSE TO PONDER the phrase, “having and showing assurance”.  “Having” and “showing” are two very different things.  I can say that I “have” confidence in this chair’s ability to hold me if I sit on it, but it’s quite another thing to “show” my confidence in this chair’s sturdiness by actually sitting on it.  It’s in the “showing” of my confidence in the chair where my legs find relief from standing.  So I can say I “have” confidence God can help me when I run to Him, but it’s in the “showing” of my confidence by actually running to Him that I experience relief.

Confession time.  As I sit here processing “Trust also in Him”, what is coming to mind is my unsettled thoughts and fearful emotions concerning where our country currently is and the direction it’s heading. I listened to a podcast yesterday that was both enlightening and scary.  The status of our country is definitely not something that gives me any sense of peace.  The information of the podcast has run through my mind multiple times since yesterday and not once have I run to God for refuge.  

So as I sit here, having dug into the Scriptures, the Spirit of God is reminding me that, had I run to Him yesterday when I first began to feel afraid, He could have reminded me that the peace that Jesus gave wasn’t based on absence of troubling times, but it was peace IN THE MIDST OF troubling times.  (John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; MY peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, not let it be fearful.”) 

Regardless of the condition of this country, the economy, the friction between races and political parties, I have to remember that Jesus ALREADY overcame the system of this sinful world when He died, was buried and rose again victoriously.  (John 16:33b “In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage.  I have overcome the world.”).  Anything that I am seeing in society, my God is allowing because it is fitting into His divine plan and timetable.

Commit my way to the Lord.  Trust also in Him.   I must make the CHOICE to roll the heaviness of my burden onto the Lord.  Make the choice to cause myself to go quickly to Jehovah, the self-existent and eternal One.  

Oh Spirit of God, please remind me, when I begin to be fearful and worried, to GO QUICKLY to God with all my concerns, and to redirect my heart and mind toward the truth that You have already won the war against evil.  Anything I see happening today is merely a small little battle in which it “appears” that wrong is winning, when the Truth is that Jesus has already won the war.