“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:3-4 seems a little short and simple to study for a full week, but the longer I sit with these two verses, the more I’m finding new troves of treasure in each of them. Truthfully, I find myself focusing on that last part – the Lord giving me the desires of my heart – with much more excitement and passion than I feel in the instructions before those words. I spend so much time chasing a calling or a desire of my heart, that I forget the instructions he has so beautifully laid out before me: Trust in Me. Do good. Dwell in the land. Befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in Me. 

I’d love to spend this week together turning our attention to those things and seeing how the Lord transforms and grants us the desires of our hearts when we put things in their right order.

Befriend Faithfulness

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 

Psalm 37:3

What beautiful words: “befriend faithfulness.” It creates a picture in my mind of walking hand in hand with faithfulness, of being known and being loved – a picture of me leaning upon faithfulness in the good and bad.

I’m learning that befriending faithfulness is as simple as befriending Jesus. He defines faithfulness, and it is because of Him that I know faithfulness. But what does it look like to truly befriend faithfulness?

It surely is not easy, and it’s not something that happens overnight. Befriending faithfulness is walking by faith and not by sight. It’s a sum of daily decisions that begin with trusting the Lord, trusting the journey, and praising God for His faithfulness to us.

Much like we have to spend time with people to build friendships, we must spend time being faithful in the smallest things to become more faithful.

To be a friend means to stick it out come hell or high water. One of my dearest friends is one who walked with me through four years of college—every high and low—and who has stood faithfully and joyfully beside me as I’ve been oceans away. Her faithfulness to our friendship has inspired me to grow in my faithfulness to her but to so many others. In the same way, looking to Jesus and His faithfulness to us should encourage us to grow more and more faithful.

To be a friend of faithfulness means to stand by and hold on, even when circumstances aren’t ideal. Befriending faithfulness means looking to Jesus first, even when life has robbed you of a job, a community, a home, or something you so deeply desired.

The deeper we learn the faithfulness of the Father, the deeper our faithfulness grows. It’s not easy because it requires daily commitment to the smallest things, but befriending faithfulness gives us the strength and the courage to trust, to do good, and to dwell in the lands that we have been given.

Let’s make faithfulness to God, His Word, our neighbors, families, and coworkers – let’s make that way of faithfulness our friend.

Chelsey