Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.Trust in Jehovah, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on his faithfulness.
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Regardless of what we see happen, we will remain faithful because he has been so perfectly faithful to us. Verse 3, trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness. Whenever you see dwell in the land, it's a picture of Israel in the promised land. What does that foretell? It foretells the kingdom living lifestyle that is available to every New Testament believer. When Jesus said the kingdom is at hand, repent for the kingdom is at hand, what he's doing is he's saying dwell. In fact, here's another way to put it. Abide in Christ. Live in that place of communion and fellowship, because in that place you have perfect peace and you have continuous access to unlimited resources that enable you to accomplish all you were assigned to accomplish. Dwell in the land. feed on his faithfulness that's a command to review the testimony feed yourself on the record of what god has done i concern i'm concerned a little bit that if i were to give uh to the bethel family specifically if i were to give you a questionnaire and ask you to ask certain questions you could answer the right answers but is it what we do when we're in crisis is it what we do when we're in trouble Is it our first response? …
… and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Wow. Listen, no matter what the world does, people, we are to trust in the Lord and do good. Why? Because there are people who will do wickedly. Why? Because that's what they do. And that's what they're going to do until they come to Christ if they do. But look, we're not to point at them. We're to trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and feed on what? His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. Oh, I love that. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Look at this next verse. Rest in the Lord. You just want to fall into his arms. And wait patiently for him. That's the hard part. Do not fret. …
III. Now I must pass on to the next point. We have viewed these words as a quotation and as a proverbial saying. Now the practical outcome of this subject, according to the text, is that we are to VIEW THESE WORDS AS A MOTIVE FOR CONTENTMENT. "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have. For He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." That is to say, do not be grasping, do not be seeking to rake all the world to yourself, do not stretch out your arms, like seas, to enclose all the shore! "But," says one, "I have so very little." You have as much as God has been pleased to give you, so be content with such things as you have. "I wish I had a great deal laid by," says another. Do you need more than this—"He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you"? "I wish I had a large regular income," says another. This looks pretty regular, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Someone asks, "But does that mean temporal things? "Do you think that God will let your body die of starvation when He promises to take care of your soul? There is an ancient promise for the man who walks righteously and speaks uprightly—"Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure." And it shall still be so in this matter, also—the Lord will not leave you, nor forsake you if you trust in Him. It seems to me that the man who can claim this promise has his fortune made for him. If he had made large investments, they might turn out badly. If he possessed large estates, they might have to be sold. If he had wealthy friends, they might all forget him, for memories are not always very strong in the direction in which some people wish they might be. Many a man has fallen from the pinnacle of personal wealth to the pit of personal need—and many others who were waiting for dead men's shoes, have had to go barefoot to their own graves. It is poor confidence that trusts in men, but it is blessed confidence that rests in this glorious Truth of God, "He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you." "Trust in the Lord, and do good: so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed." …
Very briefly on each point. He is blessed first of all, for life. "He shall be like a tree." Not a dry, dead, sapless pole. His life is such that unregenerate men are strangers to it. He has been begotten again unto a living hope. The sap of God's Grace is in him—he is united to Christ, his Root—and because He lives and lives in him, he lives also. He has stability. The tree planted. Well-rooted in the ground. The wicked are like the chaff which the wind drives away, but the Christian's life is stable. "Solid joys and lasting pleasures" are his portion. He has, too, the gladness of growth. The tree remains not the sapling, but grows upward, downward, abroad, spreading its branches. So the godly man is always learning more of his Heavenly Father and endeavoring to be more conformed to the image of his Lord. He has the blessing, too, of favored position. Planted by God, Himself—not self-sown or the foundling of the wind. If he is a servant, he believes God has put him where he should be. Poor or rich, he learns to be content for he is a tree Divinely planted. He is well sustained. Whatever is really good for him, God has pledged Himself to give. Not a tree in the desert, but placed where the water comes rippling to his roots. He hears his Master say, "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed." …
Again, our life is compared in the Psalms to a dream. Now, if a tale is singular, surely a dream is still more so. If a tale is changing and shifting, what is a dream? As for dreams, those flutters of the benighted fancy, those revelries of the imagination—who can tell what they consist of? We dream of everything in the world and a few things more! If we were asked to tell our dreams, it would be impossible for us to do so. You dream that you are at a feast and lo, the food changes into Pegasus and you are riding through the air! Or suddenly transformed into a morsel for a monster's meal! Such is life. The changes occur as suddenly as they happen in a dream. Men have been rich one day and they have been beggars the next. We have witnessed the exile of monarchs and the flight of a potentate. Or in another direction, we have seen a man, neither reputable in company nor honorable in station, at a single stride exalted to a throne! And you who would before have shunned him in the streets, were foolish enough to throng your thoroughfares to stare at him! Ah, such is life! Leaves of the Sibyl were not more easily moved by the winds, nor are dreams more variable. "Boast not yourself of tomorrow; for you know not what a day may bring forth." How foolish are those men who wish to pry into the future! The telescope is ready and they are going to look through it, but they are so anxious to see that they breathe on the glass with their hot breath—and they dim it so that they can discern nothing but clouds and darkness! Oh, you who are always conjuring up black fiends from the unknown deep and foolishly vexing your minds with fancies, turn your fancies out of doors and begin to rest on never-failing promises! Promises are better than forebodings! "Trust in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and verily you shall be fed." Thus I have spoken of the changes of this mortal life. …
Then I will remember His power. If I am in such a strait that I cannot help myself, He can help me! I have needs and sharp pinches, but there are no such things with Him. There are no emergencies and times of severe pressure with God. With Him all things are possible! Therefore will I remember the Lord. If the difficulty is one which arises out of my ignorance, though I know not which way to take, I will remember His wisdom. I know that He will guide me. I will remember that He cannot make a mistake and, committing my way unto Him, my soul shall take courage. Beloved, all the Attributes of God sparkle with consolation to the eyes of faith. There is nothing in the Most High to discourage the man who can say, "My Father, my God, in You do I put my trust." None who have trusted in Him have ever been confounded. Therefore if your soul sinks within you, remember the Nature, Character, and Attributes of God! When you have remembered His Nature, then remember His promises. What has He said concerning souls that faint? Think of these texts if you think of no other—"I will never leave you, nor forsake you." "Your shoes shall be iron and brass; and as your days, so shall your strength be." "My Grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness." "Trust in the Lord, and do good: so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed." "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." When we get upon this strain and begin to talk of the promises, we need hours in which to enlarge upon the exceeding great and precious words, but we mention only these—we let fall this …
And, once again, no crisis that can by any possibility ever arise can compel God to be unfaithful to His people. Even though the whole world should go to wreck and ruin, yet He would still bear up the pillars of His people's hope. When His saints cannot be safe under Heaven, He will take them up to Heaven. When He shall bid the great fountains of fire leap up to consume this world and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, if we are alive and remain at the coming of the Son of Man, we shall be caught up together with the Lord in the air! God provided an ark for Noah before He sent the deluge. And He had a mountain refuge ready for Lot before He destroyed Sodom. If David must be driven from the court of Saul, he shall be sheltered in Engedi. And if, by-and-by, the Philistines shall come up against the land, God will still take care of His servant! At the worst pinch, God will always be there—you may reckon it as certain that He has never forgotten His people! When the clock strikes and the bell tolls the hour, God will arise for their defense and show Himself to be strong on behalf of all those who put their trust in Him! Settle it in your minds, Beloved, that God cannot lie! Believe every man to be a liar if you must, but never believe that God can fail you! If you speak in your soul after this fashion, "Sometimes I see the wicked prosper and I am in tribulation and distress. And my spirit says, 'Has God forgotten me? Will He give all the good things to those who curse Him and cause His people to be chastened forever?'" Say that to yourself very softly and then add, "Yet, though all things seem thus contrary to the Lord's people, I know that God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart." Say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him...The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Say with old Eli, "It is the Lord: let Him do what seems good to Him." "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." "Trust in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and verily you shall be fed." "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which has great recompense of reward." Hold to your faith as the ancient warrior hung to his shield, for therein lies your safety. God help you to cling to him! When you cannot rejoice in the light of His Countenance, trust in the shadow of His wings and even there, like David, you shall find a safe retreat! …
namely, faith in Jesus. Come repenting, come believing in the Savior and He will remove the ills which the gourds of earth's wild vines have brought upon you! "Ah," say some of you, "we can understand how the Lord Jesus can fill our emptiness and heal our soul's sicknesses, but how shall we continue in the right way? Our past experience has taught us our weakness—we are afraid that even the great pot will only last us for a little while and then our souls will famish." Then remember the other part of our text, in which we read that when the few loaves, and the ears of corn in the husks, were brought to Elisha, the Lord multiplied them. Though you may have very little Grace, that Grace shall be increased. "He gives more Grace." We receive Grace for Grace, daily Grace for daily need! Between this and Heaven you will need a Heaven full of Grace and you will have it! No one knows what drafts you will make upon the sacred bank of the King of kings, but His treasury will not be exhausted! "Trust in the Lord and do good—so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed." III. Our third and last word is TO THE SEEKING SINNER. …
But in the second place, it was a necessary question for them to hear, and it is a necessary question for us to hear, too. I should like to individualize a little, to hold the mirror up before some of you that you may see yourselves. There are some here who are doubting Christ because they are in temporal trial. You never were in such a sad position as you are in just now. Business seems to go all contrary to your designs. Your flood tide has suddenly ebbed and your vessel threatens to be high and dry on a shoal. You have a promise from God that it shall not be so, for He has said, "Trust in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed." He has said, "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." Yet for all that, you are still doubting. There is a trouble coming upon you tomorrow, or there is a season of trial coming in a week's time. You have taken it before God in prayer and yet, even after you had prayed over it, and asked God's help, you said to a friend, "I do not know how I shall ever get through it." Now, was that right? Was that trusting your heavenly Friend? Has He not helped you before? Has He not delivered you in six troubles, and in seven shall any evil touch you? Come, dear Sister, come, dear Brother, come at once to the Mercy Seat with your burdens and may God give you faith enough to lay your case before Him, and you shall then hear Him say, "As your days, so shall your strength be."— …