LIVING IN THE CYCLE OF VICTORY Psalm 37 has been a favorite Psalm of mine for many years since I read Dr. and Mrs. Earl Lee’s little book “The Cycle of Victorious Living” based on Psalm 37. It was written when their son was taken hostage and as parents they were worried. There will always be something to worry about; God says trust instead. Psalms 37:1-8. “Don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong. For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither. Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper— it only leads to harm.” King David says a couple times in these verses, Don’t worry (fret or be anxious) or loose your temper in anger. Worry and rage do more harm than good. Instead King David and Dr. Lee encourage us to practice the cycle of victorious living. The Cycle requires us to Commit, Trust, Delight and Rest in God. First COMMIT everything in our lives to God. Instead of working the issue over and over in your mind in anxiety, commit it to God in prayer. Often you have to do this step several times because we revert to worry or fret and that removes us from the victorious cycle. After we commit we must actively TRUST in God. David says that active trust involves doing good. Find some action step that is good that you can do in the situation and do it. Instead of being paralyzed by anxiety, be proactive by doing something good. God will help you find something good to do. Next comes DELIGHT or ENJOY; this is learning to enjoy the presence of God and all that he has done for you. No matter what is happening in our world or lives, it isn’t too big for God. It didn’t catch God by surprise. We must learn to stay in his presence. The last part of the cycle is REST. It is the goal, but it is also the normal result of committing, trusting and delighting. The Apostle Paul said in Phil. 4 that he had learned the secret of contentment in every situation. He described this as peace that transcends human understanding. When we commit, trust and delight ourselves in the Lord we will discover real peace and rest no matter what the current situation is. Worry ejects us from the cycle of victorious living every time. Rest/peace can never exist with worry. If your life is like mine, there are many things that I can get worked up about. If you don’t have anything, just turn on the news, there are serious things going on in our world. We can chose to worry, get angry or we can chose to commit, trust, delight and experience rest. I pray that we will choose to live in The Cycle of Victorious Living. Amen.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 11:48:03 +0000
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