(This post is based off an email I sent to my book discussion group a few weeks ago.)

Do you ever get scriptures stuck in your head? 

Does God ever use a scripture or a passage of scripture to work on you, like you just keep ruminating on it, stuck thinking about it, gaining more nutrients from it day by day? 

The scriptures that I keep ruminating on are Psalm 37:3-7. And I really like The Passion Translation. 

Keep trusting in the Lord and do what is right in his eyes. Fix your heart on the promises of God, and you will dwell in the land, feasting on his faithfulness. 

May we not just profess to believe but may we be found TRUSTING in God. Reading His Word. Talking to Him. Listening to Him. Developing our relationship with Him. Which all deepens our TRUST of Him!

Find your delight and true pleasure in Yahweh, and he will give you what you desire the most. 

Delight in Him! Think about how good God is. He is faithful. He is Sovereign. He is our Hope, our Strength, our Help, our firm foundation. He is Peace. He is Healer. He is Counselor. He restores. He transforms. He is miracle and mystery!

Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust him along the way, you’ll find he pulled it off perfectly! 

Keep TRUSTING. It is an on-going process! Moment by moment. Day by day. Week by week. Month by month. Our entire lives. Ask daily to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Trusting that He is flowing through you equipping, enabling, and empowering you for everything in your life. Every circumstance you face. Every challenge that arises. Every joy you experience.

He will appear as your righteousness, as sure as the dawning of a new day. He will manifest as your justice, as sure and strong as the noonday sun. 

God will do what He says just as sure as the sun will rise each day, as sure and strong as the sun in the middle of a summer’s day. And even when it is cloudy outside during the day, the sun is still there, we just can’t see it. Or when a storm comes in the day, the sun is always there behind the storm. We don’t doubt the rising of the sun or the dawn of the new day, so why do we doubt the Righteousness and Justice of God?!!?

Quiet your heart in his presence and wait patiently for Yahweh. Psalm 37:3-7a TPT

May we take the time to sit quietly in His presence. (May we “be still and know that He is God” Psalm 46:10) May we practice quieting our heart in His presence so that we can hear His still small voice. May we rest in His Love absorbing it deep in our souls. (I have found practicing being still and calm helps me to know how to be still and calm in the storms of life.) 

I am not saying this is easy to do. I am not saying we will ever get to the point where we get it “right” all the time.

We are human. We will have doubts and fears and mess up. This is something we must practice. 

We must be opening God’s Word and reading it. We must be spending time talking to God and listening to Him. We must be doing our work of becoming and allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in us. Because the storms of life will come.

In the middle of typing this, after having typed my commentary to the scriptures, I was informed that one of our aluminum suppliers at work is no longer even taking orders because they have no aluminum, and they do not know when they will begin working again. Some of our other suppliers have been pushing lead times out and increasing prices, so we knew that there is a scarcity. All we sell is aluminum products. 

There is so much uncertainty and weirdness in the world these days. We are all facing things we have never faced before. We have no idea what will happen next and/or how bad or good it will be. Sometimes I feel like we figure out a solution for one problem just to have two more arise. We seem to be continually getting bad news. It can start to feel like a real challenge for me to stay optimistic. 

To be honest, it makes me want to curl up in my bed and hide. Sometimes, like yesterday, I don’t want to have to deal with it anymore. I don’t want to feel the weight and responsibility of decisions and the effects those decisions will have on other people’s lives. My job can feel lonely and overwhelming at times. Sometimes in my worst moments, I wonder if it’s all worth it.

Then, thankfully, the Holy Spirit reminds me to practice mind-management. He prompts me to be grateful. He reminds me to focus on Him. To give Him ALL THE HARD stuff!!! To keep trusting! Remembering God is Sovereign. He is in control. He makes me brave! He gives and takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:21) God makes me resilient. 

And so, I sing worship songs in my head, and I claim scripture over my life, and I ask God to fill me with His Peace. I pray for wisdom to make good decisions with the information I have. I pray against hoarding and ask for discernment to be prepared to the best of our ability with the information I have. Then I must choose to be kind to myself no matter what happens knowing I did the best I could.

“I am trusting you, Lord Jesus, trusting only you.”

“Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!”

Amen.

We are all facing something. Every day. We face multiple different trials, and/or joys, and/or hardships, and/or celebrations, etc.

Through it all. We have a choice.

We choose how we are going to think about our circumstances.

We choose how we think about the challenges before us.

We choose how we think about our work.

We choose how we think about our relationships.

We choose where we put our trust!

We choose the thoughts we allow to ruminate in our heads!

We choose what thoughts get stuck in our head.

May we be found choosing wisely and thinking on Truth!