Psalm 37:23-26 (NCV)
When people's steps follow the Lord, God is pleased with their ways. If they stumble, they will not fall, because
the Lord holds their hand. I was young, and now I am old, but I have
never seen good people left helpless or their children begging for food. Good
people always lend freely to others, and their children are a blessing.
If you read this passage for the first time or
perhaps had read it before but not as carefully as you just did now, what do
you think? Are not these verses awesome,
encouraging, and comforting? Let’s
review four promises.
Promise 1. When you follow the Lord with your
life’s actions, He is pleased with you.
Another way of stating this promise is that the Lord grants success
to the one who desires to obey His commands or whose
behavior He finds commendable. You want
to be successful in life, right? Yet,
likely your definition of success involves status, wealth, and power. These are worldly views of success. The spiritual view of success in life is a
life that pleases the Lord. Joshua 1:8
is the only verse in the Bible that uses a word that is translated in English
as success. Joshua 1:8 says that success
results from being careful to do what the word of God commands.
Promise 2.
If and when you stumble you will not fall because the Lord upholds
you. The Hebrew word for stumble means
to make a mistake, even to fail, and the Hebrew word for fall here means be
hurled down or thrown out. If you are a
person with whom God is pleased, while you still might make mistakes in your
life, none of these mistakes or stumbles will hurt you permanently. Why?
Because the Lord is always with you and protects you from getting
seriously hurt by your stumble. You
might make a lapse in judgment, make a bad decision, and/or say or do something
that is regrettable. Yes, you will
experience some momentary hurt, but the Lord will not allow you to be
irreversibly hurt by your mistake(s).
Promise 3.
Good people (righteous people……..people right with God) are never left
helpless nor are their children ever starving or not taken care of. You might know of examples where it appears
that righteous people are in a state of helplessness or their children not
cared for, but you may not know the true state of righteousness of that person
or that their dire situation is not permanent.
The Lord will deliver them if they please Him with their actions.
Promise 4. Children of parents who are pleasing to the Lord will be blessings to others and blessed themselves. No hope of a parent can be greater than this.
Are not these four promises awesome,
encouraging, and comforting? The key to
all of them coming true for you is to trust in the truth of the word of God and
do your best to follow (obey) His word every day of your life. Yes, you will stumble from time to time in
your efforts to be obedient, but praying and confessing your stumbles (sins)
will enable the Lord to forgive you and make you righteous (I John 1:9). Then
you will be able to claim and stand on the promises of God.
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