Streams in the Desert - May 22
by L. B. E. Cowman and Jim Reimann
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this. (Psalm 37: 5)
The literal meaning of this verse is: “Roll your way onto Jehovah and trust upon Him, and He works.” This brings to our attention the immediacy of God’s action once we commit, or “roll,” burdens of any kind from our hands into His. Whether our burden is a sorrow, difficulty, physical need, or concern over the salvation of a loved one, “He works.”
When does He work? “He works” now. We act as if God does not immediately accept our trust in Him and thereby delays accomplishing what we ask Him to do. We fail to understand that “He works” as we commit. “He works” now! Praise Him for the fact that this is true.
Our expectation that He will work is the very thing enabling the Holy Spirit to accomplish what we have “rolled” onto Him. At that point it is out of our grasp, and we are not to try to do it ourselves. “He works!” Take comfort from this and do not try to pick it up again. What a relief there is in knowing He really is at work on our difficulty!
And when someone says, “But I don’t see any results,” pay him no attention.
“He works” if you have “rolled” your burdens onto Him and are “looking unto Jesus” (Heb. 12: 2 KJV) to do it. Your faith may be tested, but “He works.” His Word is true!
~V. H. F.
I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me. Psalm 57: 2
One beautiful old translation of this verse says, “He will perform the cause I hold in my hand.” That makes it very real to me today. The very thing “I hold in my hand”— my work today, this concern that is beyond my control, this task in which I have greatly overestimated my own abilities— this is what I may “cry out” for Him to do “for me,” with the calm assurance He will perform it. “The wise and what they do are in God’s hands” (Eccl. 9: 1).
~Frances Ridley Havergal
The Lord will follow through on His covenant promises. Whatever He takes and holds in His hand He will accomplish. Therefore His past mercies are guarantees for the future, and worthy reasons for continuing to cry out to Him.
~Charles H. Spurgeon
Reference
Cowman, L. B. E.; Reimann, Jim (2008-09-09). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (pp. 203-204). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Categories: spiritual