Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The steps of a man are established by the Lord. When he delights in his way, though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.
That's Psalm 37, 23 through 24 and part of the text from today's message. Pastor Rich lays out what it looks like to walk through life trusting the very one who establishes our steps. How boldly and freely we can live life when we're devoted to the omnipotent all-knowing master who uses his power on our behalf.
Let's listen in. Contentment. Contentment. That is to see things, the stuff of life, to see things for what they are.
And then to see God for who He is. If you're going to experience the contentment of the life that God has for you, you must see things for what they are and only for what they are and nothing more. They're not your definition. They're not your satisfaction. They're not your identity. They're not your future. But see God for who He is.
He is all those things. And so rehearse the why of life. I'd love you to take out a half a sheet of paper right now and give you a quiz. What is the why of life? Do you know the why of life?
It's encapsulated in one brief verse. All things were created by Him and for Him. And so the why of life looks like this. You were created to know God and enjoy Him. That's the why of life.
When you come to grips with that, you understand life. That is the measure of success. To know God and enjoy Him is the measure of success. And then review your status in Christ. Your status in Christ. Ephesians 1 to 3. Know it.
It's who you are. Peter also mentioned the same thing in 1 Peter chapter 1. It is a profoundly beautiful exposition of our status in Christ. We need to know these things as we consume the Word of God on a regular basis.
It is a regular part of our diet. And then in verses 3 and 4, the theme was on faithfulness. First of all, contentment.
Living by faith is contentment. Secondly, faithfulness. Trust in the Lord. There's five imperatives in verses 3 and 4.
It's a very, very commonly known text of scripture, isn't it? Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land. That is, practice the presence of God and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord. That was the five imperatives, one promise. And He will give you the desires of your heart. Living by faith looks like this.
God delights to give you the desires that are formed by your delight in Him. That's living by faith. Now we come to verses 5 and 6. Again, very familiar verses. Commit your way to the Lord.
Trust in Him and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noon day. There's one imperative here.
It's said in two different ways. And the imperative is this, to commit your way to the Lord. Another way of saying it is, trust in Him. What does it mean to trust God?
What does it mean to live by faith? It means committing your way to the Lord. The fact that it is an imperative here in the text means that this is a reasonable act of the will. To commit your way to the Lord is a reasonable act of the will.
That's what David is calling for. So let's look at this word to commit. The Hebrew word that is translated commit here means to roll on. To roll on. Now if you're having to roll something onto and it's commit to the Lord, right? So you're rolling it onto the Lord. Question, what are you rolling onto the Lord?
Well, the text says your way. Why would you need to roll something? Because you can't pick it up. It's too big. It's too overwhelming for you to pick it up. So you need to roll it onto. And what is that?
What is too big for you to carry on your own? Let's see, how can I put this? Your life. You can't do it.
You can't do it. It's when you roll your way onto the Lord. You commit your way to the Lord. When you roll your life onto the Lord, it's you in surrendered faith telling God you define my life.
You direct my life. You protect my life because I can't do these things you must. And it is nothing short of a delusion to think that I can do those things.
And so when I commit my way to the Lord, when I roll my life onto the Lord, it is a recognition of two things. Number one, I cannot. Why? Because I am limited and I am broken. I cannot carry the weight of my own life. It is impossible. I had nothing to do with my existence and I cannot even keep myself alive.
And I am wholly inadequate to be a reference for myself to determine the meaning and the purpose of my life. I can't do that and neither can you. And so when I roll it onto the Lord, I am recognizing that He can. I cannot do these things, but He can. Why? Because He is infinite and He is good.
He is infinite and He is good. So let's present a contrast here. You need to get from here across the pond over to England, right? You need to cross the Atlantic. Are you going to swim or are you going to get on the cruise ship?
If you choose to swim, good luck. Right? You can't do that. You are wholly inadequate to be able to do that. And so our destiny, if all things were treated by Him and for Him, your end is God. You can't get there on your own.
You must roll your life onto Him. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him.
The word trust means to be confident, to rely on. And as I said before, anything short of this is simply fighting for your agenda in life. And that is contrary to what you were designed for.
And in the end, you will be left with nothing if you think you can carry your life on your own. Let's use the illustration of a farmer, if we will. A farmer does what?
A vegetable farmer. He goes out in the field. He tills the field.
And what does he do? He has to do something, doesn't he? He can't just send back and say, I'm a farmer.
Now watch the field grow, right? He has to do something. What does he have to do? He has to plant the seed. And then what does he have to do? Now is when he just kind of sits and waits because the rest of it is up to God's ordained rules, isn't it?
He can't make that seed grow. Only God can do that. You see, there are things that happen in life that are utterly beyond your control. There are elements of stewardship in life, and we are called in obedience to that stewardship, but there are things in life that are beyond your control. That's why we need to go back and review verses one through four. And as we go through this thirty-seventh Psalm, continue that progression.
It's necessary to have the continuity of the study of the Word of God. Review verses one through four, the imperatives that are there to delight in the Lord. This is very parallel to what Proverbs says in a very familiar passage of chapter three, verses five and six, trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Think about that now. Your heart is the seat of desire. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. And so David here is writing, commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and then here comes the promise. He will act. Another translation says He will do it. He will do what? Now, it's very important that we get the right order here.
What comes first? Trust in the Lord and He will act. Trust in the Lord and He will do it. Commit your way to the Lord and He will do it.
It is not the opposite, which by the way is what we tend to do. We tend to bargain with God. And you know what makes faith hard? Is when you're bargaining with God. I said last time faith is hard in the same way that playing the violin or running a marathon is hard for the one who refuses to practice it on a regular basis faithfully. Here's another thing that makes faith hard is when we bargain with God. God, I want to see you act and when you do then I will trust you. Do you not know that the record of scripture shows us beyond any doubt the ways that God has acted? That's why we have it. And so we need to trust Him because God is like what God has done. And so it's not, we cannot come to God and say, God if you do this then I will do what you say.
That's very self-serving. Look back in the Old Testament scriptures when the people of Israel were crossing the Jordan. The priests had to go first carrying the Ark of the Covenant, right? And God says cross the Jordan and I will part the waters.
Did you get the order there? Cross the Jordan, step into the Jordan and I will part the waters. The priests, what did they have to do? They had to start walking in the water before God parted the waters.
You willing to do that? Do you trust God? Do you understand that He is infinite and He is good? Peter in the New Testament. Lord, if it's He's there in the boat right on the Sea of Galilee and Jesus is walking on the water because He's infinite, He's sovereign over creation, He can do that.
It's His prerogative, He can do it. Lord, if that's you, Peter says, command me to come to you. You know I wish I was an angel in heaven at that point. Hey, get this, watch. Jesus said, come. One word, come. So Peter, what does he do?
Lord, promise me you'll uphold me. No, that's not what he does. What does he do? He gets out of the boat. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
