This Land is Your Land

Dwell: To abide as a permanent resident, or to inhabit for a time; to live in a place; to have a habitation for some time or permanence.  Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

When you move into a home, you would never consider only taking some of your furnishings inside and leaving the others outdoors.  If you did, dinner time might move you to the garage to eat at the table and bedtime might take you to the front yard.  When you move in to a new house, you move all the way in.  You make that house your home.  You invest in it and care for it; you dwell in that home.

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” Psalm 37:3

The Lord has placed each one of us in a ‘land’.  That land is not just the country in which we are residing, it is the home in which we are living and the job where we might be working.  He tells us in Psalm 37:3 to trust Him and do good, dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness.  We are not to halfheartedly, sort-of live there.  We are to jump in, do good, and enjoy the Lord’s provision and constant faithfulness regardless of the circumstances around us.

 “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

I would venture to say that if I am unsatisfied in the land I have been placed, it is because I am not delighting in the Lord.  He promises that He will give me the desires of my heart if I delight in Him.  Therefore, if I am not satisfied it is because I am not delighting. 

If I am delighting in the Lord my home is large enough, my children are worth giving of my time and energy to homeschool, honoring my husband is a pleasure, and my days have purpose even if it means serving fries at McDonald’s or changing diapers over and over again.  And why is that? Because HE is my desire, and HE is completely satisfying. 

Dwelling in the land and doing good brings immense and true satisfaction when we are doing it for the glory of God.  The days might be hard and long, the people we have to be with might be highly irritating, and the paycheck might be small or even non existent, but His faithfulness abounds. When we desire Him, the desire is always met with more of Him.

Fully dwell in your land and be fully satisfied in the Lord.

Prayer:

Father, it can be so difficult at times to dwell in my land.  I want to pack up and go live at the coffee shop, surrounded by adults who all want to talk about stuff I am interested in and who clean up all the mess after I leave to go shopping for clothes that are not on sale.  Please focus my heart daily on the privilege of serving You where You have placed me.  You have a greater purpose in everything I do.  Let me delight in You!  Please give me more of You!  Amen.

Challenge:

Guard your thoughts and your words about the place the Lord has placed you.  It is incredibly difficult to delight in Him when you are crabbing about His plans for your life.  Search for Scriptures that draw your mind to His goodness and faithfulness.  Psalm 37:5 is a good one to keep in mind: Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.  What is the ‘it’?  I think it is the desires of your heart mentioned in the previous verses – Himself. 

Jen G. 2012