NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 113 - Doing good Scripture focus: Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:3-4 NLT "Tell me what to do!" "Do good." "Any other options?" "Nope." "Ok. That settles it. Thanks for the awesome advice; I feel great; I'm going to "do good" at home, at work and at play. My big dream is in sight! Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get started with my do gooding." Some day, maybe once in my lifetime, it would be fun to have a conversation like the one I just made up! I've never actually had this conversation before - but a girl can dream! Why is it that I'm not holding my breath, waiting for this conversation to become reality? Because We confuse trusting and believing. We assume that if we believe, we must trust. Therefore, we read this verse and skip right over the first instruction: trust. We think - hey, got that! What's next? Do good. Yikes! Now we ask for other options. We ask for other options any time we skip over the trust and rush to the doing good. We lack the discernment, wisdom, character, and courage to know what it means to "do good." (Stop and hear my heart - I'm saying that sometimes we're doing good and don't even know it! Or the opportunity to do good is right in front of us - attainable and sustainable - but because it doesn't involve herculean efforts, we miss our cue to do.) I used to think that doing good probably would require me to live in a third world country - an awesome calling - if that's where trusting God leads. I've found that there's plenty of need in my neighborhood and for the moment, that's where I seem to be called to plant myself. I've also discovered that doing good can be as simple (and profound) as taking time to listen to a friend, even though I had other plans for my day. Or sitting in the den, just in case my boy decides that this is the night he wants to share a particular struggle or discuss a theological point or rant and rave about a teacher or show me a funny video on You Tube or play a favorite new tune for me or lament about a favorite sports team that has yet again disappointed him. Just in case - I wait. I used to believe doing good required doing a lot. That's because I lacked discernment, wisdom, character and courage. That's ok. Once we settle into trusting, God has an amazing capacity to provide us with all that we lack. We get so busy telling God what we desire and how he should provide, that we never quite get around to delighting ourselves in him. Here we go again - getting it bassackwards! If our focus of concern continues to center around our own perceived desires (brain cravings) then you know where that takes us? We'll run right down that road of trying to please God. (We think if we please him, then surely he's going to give us what we desire.) What's wrong with that? GOD'S ALREADY PLEASED WITH US!!! HE DELIGHTS IN US!!! He's not asking us to please him; he's asking us to trust him. Big difference. Recommended reading: Joshua 24 in the morning; Luke 21 in the evening