Trust The Lord, Do Good, Stay Faithful
Written by David W. Hegg | Senior Pastor
Last September, we began the new ministry year with our eyes focused on the reality of the Kingdom of God. We began with studies in 1 and 2 Samuel, looking at David, Israel’s King. Then, we spent the weeks of Advent looking at Jesus, God’s King. In January, we opened Matthew’s Gospel to learn about The King and His Kingdom.
Our study of Matthew found us up on the mountain listening to Jesus’ sermon. Our survey of Kingdom Character (The Beatitudes), Kingdom Witness (Salt & Light), and Kingdom Conduct (Matthew 7 & 8) brought us face to face with this reality: Following Jesus is a call to a radically distinctive life!
But what does that mean? Jesus said, “ ... let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
“The distinctiveness of our lives is meant to draw the eyes of those around us to the reality that God is shining His redeeming grace through us!”
Sadly, too often, when we talk about good works, we only remind ourselves and others that good works alone won’t get you into God’s family. Of course, that is true. But it is also true that the family of God is to be known for good works. Doing good is a family trait!
Paul said every Christ-follower is “his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works ...”
So, the critical text for the 2024/2025 ministry year at Grace Baptist Church is Psalm 37:1-4 where David told his heart and his people a simple paradigm for doing good in a not-so-good world:
1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass and
wither like the green herb.
3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in
the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will
give you the desires of your heart.
You’ll notice the first verse instructs us what not to do while the second verse tells us why. Looking around our world and seeing evil on the rise can be frustrating, especially if those perpetrating wrong seem to be prospering. But David reminds us to look at the world through God’s lens. He sees it all and is administrating His world perfectly and when all the accounts are settled, those who pushed God aside to accommodate themselves will have faded and withered under His justice.
David’s structure carries through to verses 3 and 4 as well. First, he tells us what to do and then explains why. How must we respond to the evil around us? How do we live for Christ in a world of rapidly eroding morality, integrity, and piety? The answer is an informed and firmly formed trust in our Heavenly Father. He isn’t asleep! He isn’t blind to what’s happening! And He certainly has kept control of His creation. Instead, He is providentially administering His universe according to the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11). David extolled God’s rule and reign in Psalm 103:19:
The LORD has established his throne in the
heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.
“So, rather than fret or envy, we, the people of God, are to trust in Him and find refuge in His sovereign power and loving providence. We could say this is our vertical focus, looking up to God.”
Then David gives us simple yet profound instructions about our horizontal focus, looking around at the people in our lives. Our trust in God means we can act differently, distinctively, even in a broken world. We can do good.
Imagine going to a party and being asked, “So, what do you do?” As a Christ-follower, you could say, “Oh, I do righteousness; I do good!” Of course, that would be snarky and downright rude, but think about it. That’s what we’re called to!
When Peter was in the home of Cornelius, the Roman commander, he preached a sermon about Jesus to a large group of Gentiles. He described him this way in Acts 10:34-38:
So Peter opened his mouth and said:
“Truly I understand that God shows no
partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone
who fears him and does what is right
is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word
that he sent to Israel, preaching good
news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is
Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what
happened throughout all Judea, beginning
from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed:
38 how God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with
power. He went about doing good
and healing all who were oppressed by the
devil, for God was with him.
Isn’t that great? When Peter described our Savior, he emphasized that he “went about doing good.” And that is precisely what our Lord Jesus calls us to do. Trust in the Lord and do good!
In our Psalm, David continues with another charge: Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. He uses a theme that describes true success in his day. That is, to dwell in the land. When God promised Israel a land of their own, they longed not only to enter the land but ultimately to “dwell” there in peace, with permanence. Even later in the days of David, they looked forward to the day when they would no longer have to be on guard against the enemies that surrounded them. In Psalm 37, David charges us to recognize that where God has put us is where he desires us to trust Him and do good.
My Dad used to tell me, “David, bloom where God plants you!” If we understand David’s charge in this way, we could paraphrase it: “Grace Baptist Church, trust God, and go about doing good in your neighborhood, in your workplace, in your school, and, in fact, everywhere you are! Bloom where you’re planted, exhibiting Kingdom Character and Kingdom Conduct as Kingdom Witnesses to the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Oh, and one more thing: Befriend faithfulness! Please understand that I rarely differ in how the English Standard Bible translates the original text. But, befriend doesn’t do David justice. And I’m not the only one who thinks so! The Hebrew word here can mean tend or shepherd when referring to sheep. It can also speak of a field or pasture that needs to be cultivated and used correctly. But here, it has as its object the spiritual quality of faithfulness, of remaining uncompromised, true to the mission without drifting off in a new direction.
So, what should we understand here? Here’s my simple suggestion: Trust in the Lord. Go about doing good. Dwell and bloom where you’re planted. And stay faithful.
And David is not quite done. He started with our vertical focus (Trust in the Lord) and then described how our vertical focus impacts and enables our horizontal focus (Do good, Dwell, Stay Faithful). Now, he further unpacks what our trust in the Lord looks like:
4 Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Don’t miss this! If we fail to connect trust with delight, we’ll find it hard to trust when adversity surrounds us and life’s challenges overwhelm us. David’s charge here is significant: We can trust fully in our God, even when the darkness closes in, because we have come to know Him so well that our hearts delight in Him!
Ours is not a blind trust. We’re not jumping off a cliff into the darkness, hoping to be caught safely. We knowingly and confidently jump into the arms of our sovereign Heavenly Father, whose essential perfection and faithfulness in the past guarantees His promises for our future. And the more we know Him and understand His heart, the more we will delight in Him and strive to order our lives to be useful to Him, the Master of the House.
Lastly, David wants us to know that a heart that genuinely delights in God and trusts wholly in him will be a heart that is shaped by all that pleases God himself. And God, being a loving Father, loves to give good gifts to his children. In that way, the godly desires of our hearts will be met by the only one who can meet our every need. Paul put it this way in Romans 8:32:
He who did not spare his own Son
but gave him up for us all, how will
he not also with him graciously give
us all things?
As we move confidently into a new ministry year, let us move together, united in our desire to engage with the people around us, trusting in our Lord, finding ways to do good, and always remaining faithful to the mission of Christ, in whom is all our delight!
Let’s take this challenge and live out this pledge:
“With my heart delighting in Christ, I will live each day with courage and hope as a living witness to the Gospel.”