Rolling

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness.  Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord.  Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.  He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him."  (Psalm 37: 3-7 NKJV)

"The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever." (Psalm 37: 18 NKJV)

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way.   Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand."  (Psalm 37: 23-24 NKJV)

I want to explain a bit before I get into the story, so:

In the above scriptures where we are told to feed on His faithfulness, the word "feed" is defined: tend, pasture, graze, feed, associate with, be a friend or companion.

Where we are told to Delight yourself also in the Lord, the word "delight" (Hebrew word "anag") is defined:  delicate, soft, pliable, relaxed, pampered.

The word "commit" (Hebrew "galal") is defined: roll (together, away, down, upon) 

When He delights in us, the word "delights" is defined:  takes pleasure, to move, bend down.

A few years back, I was working as an Army civilian deployed to Iraq.   The Army provided me with body armor, boots, belts, uniforms, etc.    

This little squatty body was quite a sight to see wearing all that garb.   But I loved it and I was astonished that I was living in a combat zone in Iraq and wearing a military uniform representing my country.   

I had actually lived in Iraq for 2 years as a child, and always wanted to return.  I also had always regretted not joining the military as a young adult.

So in mid-life, God, just out of the blue, gave me the opportunity to do both.   

He has a way of giving us the desires of our hearts, in His timing and in His way.  

Which is always perfect.

I was coming home for an R&R.   Anytime you flew out of Iraq on the military flight, you had to wear the body armor that was provided.   

So I donned the bulky and heavy vest and steel toed shoes and climbed aboard the C-130 to fly out.  

Once we were all on board, the pallet full of all of our belongings was loaded.   

This load was massive. It contained things that everyone on the plane needed.  It filled the entire rear of the plane.  There was no room to walk around it and it reached to the ceiling.   

It was so big it was a bit intimidating.

Lucky me!  I was sitting right next to it and just used it as a lumpy bumpy cushion to rest against during the flight.

I thank God for all the adventures He has brought me through and for the current new adventure I am on now. I am not traveling physically; however, I am traveling through a trial.

In this trip of life we are on, God has provided so much.   He has given us the Armor of God to protect us. To protect our hearts and minds, our spirit, our walk, our talk.  

If we will just use it.

But more than that, He tells us to trust Him.  To 'feed' on Him.  He wants us to associate ourselves with Him as a friend and companion, to stay and graze on His Word and His love and faithfulness.  To fill ourselves with Him, to get to know Him, to pamper Him with our focus and attention.  

He tells us to be soft and pliable or malleable so He can shape us  and form us.  To just relax and let Him do His work.

I don't know about you, but sometimes it is hard to just relax.   

Have you ever had a massage?   Every time I have ever had a massage, when the masseuse begins her work, I immediately tense up.  My muscles tighten and I have to literally make myself relax and give in to the work that she is doing.   

But by the time the massage is done, I am limp as a wet noodle!

So just relax.   Chill.  Give in.   Let God do His work and enjoy the results!

He tells us to commit our ways to Him and trust Him so that we will shine like the sun.   To roll all our heavy burdens onto Him, to roll our concerns, our wants, our needs onto Him.

In other words, to give Him control.

Letting go of control is one of the most difficult things to do.   

I recently lost my job which I loved.   

I was literally in the middle of a project on my last day of work and had to stop.   I couldn't finish it.  I had to give it over to my co-worker and trust that she would finish the job.  (Which of course she did and I knew that she would)

But it bothered me so much that I no longer had control over that work.  I fretted about it for days.

God says that whatever it is we think we have to manage or control, He's got it.  He can do it better.  He says "Let it go.  Let ME roll with it."

Just have a little faith that He has your best interests at heart and will never let you down.

God says...

 "Let it go.

  Let Me roll with it."

"Delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." 

"The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever."

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way."

What are your desires?   What are your needs?  

Become a friend and companion of God.   Relax and lean on Him like I leaned on that monstrosity of a load of bagged up cargo.  Like finally giving in and letting that masseuse do her work. 

He is going to keep His promises.

He is going to provide and protect.

Just like that pallet full of provision reached to the ceiling of the plane, God's pallet of provisions reaches beyond the ceiling of Heaven.    Beyond all we can think or imagine.

He wants to move it our way, to bend down and put it in our hands.   

He wants to show Himself as a bright and blazing light to the world through us, to show what a life with Him looks like, through our relationship with Him.

All he wants from us is our belief, our commitment. 

Belief that He is who He says He is.   Belief that He will do what He says he will do.

Outrageous Belief.

Unusual belief.

Unconventional Belief.

Extravagant Belief.

Remarkable Belief.

Belief that shines!