Allowing Christ to Define Us

3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

7 Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

– Psalm 37:3-7

Some of us today may be in a time of conflict – family or marital problems, financial struggles, a crime committed against you, issues in workplace politics, or others. Some of us might even be the cause of these issues (Whether we have admitted to it or not). Trying to find forgiveness and grace in these moments have not been easy and we may even have let these circumstances define who we are.

David gives us some hopeful but also tough advice in the midst of such times. He says to: “Trust in the Lord and do good”, “dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture”, “Delight in the Lord”, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him”. All these instructions tell us in essence to do this: to trust and obey God with everything. We may have been told many times in the past that God is always with us, but today we ought to be reminded to be with God in return. We often insist on being elsewhere, but where we will always truly find a sense of belonging is with God our creator and savior.

If we try to make logical sense out of this scripture, it would be hard to see how this would work at all in modern day life. We could ask “how is trusting in the Lord going to solve my problems?” David writes that it is the Lord that will give us the desires of our hearts, make our righteous reward shine like the dawn, and the one who will bring vindication for the injustice we face.

In order to face our adverse circumstances with utmost confidence, we ought to be sure of the truth that our identity and eternity is not defined by them. When God becomes the leader of our lives and our actions, and we allow him to become the author of our situation – He is the one who can begin to define them.

To trust in Him with such things is to acknowledge that our lives belong to God – for Him to have His way.

“So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” – Romans 14:8

The Westminster shorter catechism states: “I am not my own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.” To know that we truly belong to God gives us the fullness of hope and confidence to live as God intended each day with the enjoyment and satisfaction of knowing His love and providence for us.

Today, may we be challenged to live continually acknowledging that we, and our circumstances belong to God and are in His hands. Thus we act as Christ calls us to live: to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Deut. 1:1); To do good, even when evil has been done to you. And if you have done evil, then know that it is not too late in God’s eyes to return to Him and live in Him…

..Because you and I belong to Him.