“Trust in the LORD, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.” Psalm 37:3
We’ve all heard it said, and whether or not we’ve actually uttered these words and meant them, we’ve certainly thought them at one point or another:
“The grass is greener on the other side.”
It’s this common deception that we buy into that causes us to believe it will be so much better over there than it is right here. So, instead of trying to invest into our current circumstances, we covet someone else and theirs. We wallow in discontentment while constantly striving for something “better” than we have, thinking that if we could just have this or get that or become something that somehow our lives would be happier. And some of us have achieved what we’ve desperately sought after only to find that happiness didn’t lie within.
So, why do we believe this statement to be true? Is the grass really greener on the other side? No, it’s not. The grass is green where you water it. For some, that one statement is huge, and you needed to hear that today. I’ll say it again:
The grass is green where you water it.
Are you lacking contentment in your life? Are you constantly wanting all that you don’t have, assuming that if you could just (fill in the blank) you would finally be happy? How about we bag that foolish thinking and replace it with the truth of God’s Word. The Bible instructs us again and again to live according to Psalm 37:3. It is said in many different ways throughout Scripture, but the concept remains the same.
Do good where you’re at. Be faithful where God has planted you.
It’s as simple as that. If we could just for a moment remove our focus from the world and all the things that it suggests to us that will satisfy and make our lives fulfilled and complete…if for just a moment we could focus on doing good where we’re at and with what God HAS given us…if we could just choose to be faithful where God HAS planted us and stop desiring to be planted somewhere else…imagine how different this world would be.
The grass is green where you water it. Are you watering your grass – the life that God has given you, the people He’s placed around you to influence – are you watering all of that by being faithful to Him in it all? Perhaps you find yourself in a season of waiting…waiting for God to come through for you, waiting for prayers to be answered, waiting for things to change, waiting, waiting, waiting…
While you wait, trust in the LORD, the One who formed you and created you in your mother’s womb; the One who by the sound of His voice calms the storm and the raging seas; the One who knows the desires of your heart and delights in blessing you in His perfect time. While you wait, trust. And while you trust, do good. And while you do good, befriend faithfulness. The grass is green where you water it.
So true, and so easily forgotten! I think I will read it to our HS small group to tonight. We've been discussing measuring up and comparing ourselves. This will fit in perfectly! I never would have broke this verse down that way. Thanks Cherie!
Always get much encouragement from that verse and just used it in a talk a few weeks ago. So good. Hope your group goes well!