Feeding..er...Feasting on God's Faithfulness

On Wednesday I shared with you a verse from Psalm 37. Do you remember what it was? Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. Well, let me tell you, that verse has been on our minds and hearts the last few days.

I shared that verse with you on Wednesday, in part to encourage myself with the whole job search thing. There were moments in the last few weeks that it has been difficult to trust in the Lord. Well, Wednesday I was offered a job. I was blown away. Thanks God for showing me Your faithfulness. I was satisfied with God's tremendous answer to my prayers.

Tonight during the service I shared that verse and the new job with the congregation at Belgrade Bible Church. Little did I know that God was not done showing me His faithfulness. After the service we had a fellowship supper, which on the second Sunday night of the month is routine for BBC. What I didn't realize was that the folks here at church came together and gathered groceries and cards for Alicia and me. All in all, our freezer is packed to the MAX, our kitchen table is covered with pantry-type foods (all gluten-free by the way) and our coffee table is covered with beautiful cards and gift cards from our church family. The gift-cards and cash totaled more than $700. Wow!

The Lord has shown us that when we feed on His faithfulness, it is not just eating the crumbs that fall from His table. It is a banquet feast, prepared with God's very best. I can't think of a more exhilarating way to live life than to trust in the Lord fully and do what you know He has called you to do. We rejoice this evening knowing full well that our God is a faithful God. When we put Jodie down for bed we pray that the Lord would help us to remember this day so we can tell Jodie and Kendra years down the road about how faithful our God is. Great is Thy Faithfulness! 

How To Get Everything You Want

"Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness." -Psalm 37:3


Perhaps one of the most memorized verses in Psalms is 37:4 - "Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." I believe it is so popular because its a verse the tells us how to get what we want. That is appealing to our sinful hearts. Hey look here! A verse that tells me how to get what I want. Right? Not even close.

People, we must remember that verse 3 comes before verse 4.

First of all, trust in the Lord. Trust Him. Let Him guide you. Don't trust yourself. Don't trust your job. Don't trust your parent's faith. Trust in the Lord. All too often we are guilty of placing our trust in something other than God. We trust our own abilities or our bank accounts. Undoubtedly, we will find that these things fail. But if we trust in the Lord, we will find that He never fails.

Secondly, do good. Don't just trust the Lord, act upon it. Do the things that He has called you to do. God has prepared good works for you to walk in. Don't do evil. Don't give in to your flesh. Do good.

Third, dwell in the land. God has you where you are for a reason. Have you found it? Don't get impatient to go somewhere else to do those good things God wants you to do. Do good right where you are. Minister to the people around you. If you stop and look, those around you need the Lord maybe more than you even realize.

Fourth and last, feed on His faithfulness. God has prepared a banquet table before you. Everyday the table is set afresh and anew. Everyday the main course is set before you--His faithfulness. Did you know that you can live on God's faithfulness? Did you know that His faithfulness is the one thing you need to live? Think about it. His faithfulness gives you breath each moment of the day. His faithfulness provides the food, clothing, and shelter that you need. His faithfulness has placed you where you are. His faithfulness has given you the family that you have. His faithfulness is all you need.

Now read verse 4: "Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." 


Feasting at the table of God's faithfulness is a delight, isn't it? I can't help but think of the joy that comes from the Lord providing our needs at precisely the right time. Have you experienced that? Have you ever been in a situation where things seemed impossible, but God provided at precisely the right time? It is a delight to live by faith. It is good and desirable to delight yourself in the Lord. Enjoy Him. Enjoy His faithfulness.

Did you know that your desires are controlled by your appetite? If you feast on sin and indulge yourself with selfishness, your desires will be selfish and sinful. But if you feast on the faithfulness of God and delight in Him, your desires will be holy and pure, just as He is. God wants good, faithful things for you. Feast on His faithfulness and He will give those things to you.

Steadiness in an Unsteady World

“Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words, and it shall be, that whatever the LORD answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back.” –Jeremiah 42:4

As I read through the book of Jeremiah, I’m amazed at Jeremiah’s faithfulness. He was faithful when there wasn’t any opposition, and he was faithful when the people to whom he was speaking tried to kill him. I believe that Jeremiah had to hold on to his first experience of hearing from the Lord. He remembered his calling, and what God had promised to him. This enabled him to walk steadily with his God and faithfully fulfill the words God wanted Jeremiah to speak.

It is easy to lose sight of your calling, especially in the midst of a conflict or major crisis. We get focused on the circumstances. We forget that God has called us and promised to protect us. We start trusting in our own ability and then undoubtedly we get frustrated with ourselves. We end up stumbling along, riding the waves of emotions and circumstances. This makes it much harder--even impossible--to keep a steady walk with God. 

Remember your calling. Remember what God has promised to you. Only then will you be able to be faithful as Jeremiah was faithful. He was able, even in the midst of a crisis, to say that he would declare the words of the Lord and keep nothing back. Only then will you be able to keep steady in the midst of an unsteady world.

God's Man Got God's Protection

‘Now it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die!”’ –Jeremiah 26:8

Have you ever found yourself in perfect obedience to the Lord, yet people still want to kill you (or at least drive you out of town)? Jeremiah faithfully proclaimed God’s Word to the people exactly the way God wanted Him to, yet the people went off the deep end because the word that Jeremiah spoke was against their city. It wasn’t the word that they wanted to hear. Jeremiah found himself taken by an angry mob of people just for obeying the Lord.

I believe that the people were angry because Jeremiah’s words uncovered the sinfulness of their hearts. Jeremiah showed that the people didn’t love God. They loved their city. They had a great big idol that they worshiped. Jeremiah uncovered the ugly reality of this idol. He showed that it was putrid to the Lord, and that the Lord was going to take it all away. The people got angry because the Lord was going to take away what they loved. He was going to take away their object of worship.

When we faithfully proclaim all the words that God wants us to proclaim, we will undoubtedly confront sinful, idolatrous people. The word of God is…a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God reveals man’s sinfulness through His word. For most people, their perverted pride makes them angry when they are confronted with sin. They don’t like to hear that their lifestyles are sinful and that the Lord opposes them. But that is exactly what they need to hear.

Jeremiah’s people were angry because of this word from the Lord. But they realized that the word was from the Lord and they didn’t kill Jeremiah. Truly the Lord protected Jeremiah through this situation, and caused the people to see their sin for what it was. Jeremiah’s responsibility was to faithfully proclaim the Lord. God would protect him, and He did.

Jeremiah is an example to us ministers to faithfully proclaim all the words that God has given us to proclaim, regardless of what sin it might uncover. May God use His word as He sees fit, and grant us divine protection in the process!

The Wicked Sin of Complacency

This is a note that I had written back in 2009:

Yesterday I was having my devotions in the book of Zephaniah. It is a book that doesn't see the light of day very often, but it is full of practical reminders to us as believers. One verse that stood out to me is Zephaniah 1:12 - "And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled in complacency, who say in their heart, the LORD will not do good, nor will He do evil."

This verse is a wakeup call for leaders. Notice that the Lord will be searching for men. Men in the church need to be leaders of vision. They need to expect God to do great things. Based on that expectation, they need to take action. Too many times we see that the Lord puts on people's hearts to accomplish a task, but we don't take action. 

The men that Zephaniah was addressing were men that had fallen into the sin of complacency. They didn't expect God to do good or evil. Complacency is being satisfied with where you are. These men were satisfied with God not doing anything! How wicked!

Complacency is a matter of the heart. These men perhaps spoke great things for God outwardly, but inwardly, they didn't believe. Complacency can only be cured by believing that God is going to do great and awesome works. The church today needs men who will stand up and not only proclaim that God is going to do great things, but also believe it with all their hearts!

God is searching for faithful men. May God give us the boldness to stand for Him. We serve a great and mighty God, who WILL do great and mighty things. Beware of the wicked sin of complacency! Don't be satisfied with where you are. Expect God to do great things, and take action!