WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE CALM AND CONFIDENT IN ALL THINGS?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house
of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.
(Psalm 52:8)

MEDITATION:
Do you ever get the feeling that everything is going great
for others, but not for you? Things just seem to fall into
place for them and they appear to be happy and at peace.
It may cause you to wonder.
    “What are they doing different from me? There
      must be something that I’ve failed to pick up on.”

You might take an introspective look at yourself in an effort to see
what you may have missed. You may examine your personality,
your job, your interactions with others, your attitudes, and possibly
your faith.

You may spend a lot of time searching but you can’t figure out what
is missing in your life. All you know is that you don’t seem to have
the same calmness and confidence that others do and it’s having an
effect on your peace and confidence.

When we read the 52nd Psalm, we see the Psalmist make the claim that
he is flourishing. What could possibly cause him to think this way? He
tells us that one thing he does is, “I trust in God’s unfailing love”. He
knows God’s love will not fail to give him the confidence and calmness
he needs in all situations.

Why? Because God assures him that He will never leave his side.
The Psalmist’s trust was in God and not in anything material.
We need to keep our lives free from the love of money and learn
to be content with what we have, because God has said,
    “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
    (Hebrews 13:5)

The Psalmist also says that it’s as if he is living in the house of God.
What could give him that kind of feeling? Anything or anyone living
in God’s house would feel protected, wouldn’t they? If we feel safe,
and secure, we find that our fears disappear and we can experience
peace, joy, confidence, and boldness.

ACTION:
If we are trusting in everything visible, then our trust is in the wrong
places. We need to be looking up and trusting in God’s unfailing love.
His love is real, and we need to acknowledge His presence. God is not
some mystic being in the sky, He is our Creator, and He is who He says
He is – He is God.

Questions to consider:
    – Do I want to flourish and feel as if I am in God’s house?
    – Do I want to feel safe and protected?
    – Would I like to have calmness and confidence in all situations?

If our answers to these questions are “Yes”,
then we need to do like the Psalmist did:
    Turn our eyes away from the things of this
    world and put our trust in God’s unfailing love.

The Psalmist ‘connected’ with God! How can we ‘connect’
with Him too? It is the same as connecting with others; it
begins with communication. The more we communicate
with God, the more we ‘connect’ with Him. So, the first
thing we should do is evaluate our prayer life.

How often do we pray? How do we pray? Do we offer up prayers
of thanks when we are on the mountaintop, or do we only offer
up petitions when we are in the valley? Compare the content of
our prayers with the types of conversations we have with other
friends and family and make the adjustments we need to make.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for Your unfailing love.
Forgive me if I have been putting my trust in anything
or anyone other than You. I want to become calm and
confident in all situations. Teach me the value of putting
my trust in You from this day forward. I look forward to
my new life of trusting You in all things. When my days
are dark, I want to put trust in You and know that You,
my loving Lord, will always be there.”

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