Psalm 37:5

NASB	NLT	VOICE
5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.	5 Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.	5 Commit your path to the Eternal; let Him direct you. Put your confidence in Him, and He will follow through with you.

Share Everything with God

The Hebrew word for “commit” can be translated to the word “roll.” It describes a complete transfer to giving our burdens and plans to God. To commit our lives to the path that God created for us. In ancient Israelite culture, people lived with a deep reliance for guidance. For us, it’s a call to surrender our want of control and to align ourselves with God’s power and wisdom. We are always called to trust in God. Trust is an active act of relying on God’s faithfulness and provision. In the New Testament, this trust is expanded to include Christ’s redemptive work. While we trust, God is actively fulfilling His promises and bringing about His purposes. What God can do is above anything humans can do. Our trust in Him is not in vain. Peter calls us in 1 Peter 5:7 to share our anxieties with God for He cares for us.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: A lot of what the Psalmist describes is a path to giving all our hurts, habits, and hangups to God without judgment. What do you need to share with God right now?

Roll Your Burdens Up

Committing to God’s plan for life can free us from anxiety. It’s been a hard realization for me for this, as I’ve suffered with an anxiety disorder for over a decade. Life can feel like a lot is happening in a short time, and being able to release my concerns, my anxieties, and my fears to a being I cannot tangibly see, nor can I tangible see helping me is difficult. The psalmist uses a way to describe sharing these feelings as rolling everything on to God. The imagery of this brings different scenes into my mind. I see myself molding everything that I try to control, everything that brings my anxieties, everything that scares me into a ball – like adding Play-Doh to a sculpture. When I’m done with everything I needed to add in the current moment, I roll the ball onto a pressure plate. The pressure plate is depressed with the weight of the ball and ignites a switch. Something that frees me, lightens me, and unburdens me to do everything that God had called me to do. When something new arises, I can add more play-doh to the ball, and the pressure plate can be repressed. I will also mention that sometimes that our anxieties need meditation and therapy to be worked through. This can be part of the freedom given when we give our anxieties to God as well. I think of it as a free and clear path forward, with the appropriate help being given.  This is how I see what it means to commit everything to God. The more we do – the more we do it for God. The more we deal with stuff – the more we give it to God. The more we live – the more we live to bring God’s will down to earth.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: What does it mean to you to commit your life to God? What can you roll onto God?

PRAY Action

Praise God for all the promises that He has fulfilled, is fulfilling, and will fulfill for you. That there is nothing that you can do to miss out on these promises.

Read 1 Peter 5:7

Ask God to hear all your anxieties. Ask God to take the burdens and weight off of your shoulders and to use your newfound lighter feeling to do everything that God has called you to do.

You are not your past. You are not your anxieties. You are not your fears. You are a human walking through a broken world, so you can live for God and reflect His goodness to all you meet.

Next slice of manna: Faith as Victory || 1 John 5:4 || Manna for the Mind #332