When I read this passage last week, as one of the Responsorial Psalms to the first Scripture reading at daily Mass, I quickly associated the “commit to God and get help” with my tendency to question my own worthiness in receiving God’s help. I understood the grace of God as being freely given to anyone without any precondition or worthiness, which made sense because we all fall short of the mark.
Going back to the Psalm that we receive God’s help when we commit our lives to Him, if we could just get past our imbedded sense of unworthiness due to our sinful tendencies, then perhaps our minds and hearts could be open to the truth that the free flowing love and favor of God is divinely bestowed to anyone (including each of us) who is striving to make the Lord God the focus of one’s life.
When Jesus suffered death at Calvary and then rose from the dead, our sin debt was satisfied once and for all. Salvation and life everlasting in heaven was made possible, so long as we believed in Jesus as our Savior and lived our lives in a manner that is pleasing to Him, meaning obeying the commandments and confessing our sins when we fall. A growing disposition toward Christ will draw us closer to Him, as reflected in our relations with our neighbor. Thus, His blessings will be poured out to help us along the journey, to bolster our spirit and to build our confidence that all will be okay, and one day we will be with Jesus in heaven.
Jesus laid it out nicely when He said: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). This wasn’t a call to perfection, as Jesus only asked that we give our lives over to His will and direction, and follow His lead, and He will guide, protect, and help us along the way. A reason to rejoice!
It gets better – Psalm 37: 4 reads: “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart”.
Have a Blessed Week!
Joe
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!