Living Dependent on God

Last year, about this time, I came across the verses below in Psalms.

 ^{Psalms 37
(NIV)
25} I was young and now I am old,
       yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
       or their children begging bread.

 ²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
       their children will be blessed.

 ²⁷ Turn from evil and do good;
       then you will dwell in the land forever.

 ²⁸ For the LORD loves the just
       and will not forsake his faithful ones.
       They will be protected forever,
       but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off; 

(Message)

^25-26 I once was young, now I'm a graybeard—
      not once have I seen an abandoned believer,
      or his kids out roaming the streets.
   Every day he's out giving and lending,
      his children making him proud.

 ^27-28 Turn your back on evil,
      work for the good and don't quit.
   God loves this kind of thing,
      never turns away from his friends.

 ^28-29 Live this way and you've got it made,
      but bad eggs will be tossed out.
   The good get planted on good land
      and put down healthy roots.

I noted these verses because they related to a conversation I was having the night before with Ron and Dan about whether if we could completely and faithfully rely on God, He would completely care for our needs (of course there is question about what that means).  These verses seem to say that God will not let us go hungry or forsake us if we depend on and follow him. Yet, as Ron pointed out to me, this does not always appear to be true in our modern times as many "righteous" people are currently being persecuted and there are believers in third world countries that die of starvation every day.

So this brings us to the questions below which I continue to struggle with:  

• Will God be faithful to provide for those who live fully dependent on Him?
• What does it mean to live fully dependent on God?  How does that affect employment and insurance?
• What if God chooses to provide physical death and eternal life instead of simply physical life?  Is He still faithful?

As Ron said to me back then, "I really want to trust God fully, but I'm finding that I don't even know what that really looks like".  Another piece of the puzzle I guess.  I think his prayer for me then pretty much sums it up...


God help us to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness and let you take care of the rest.  Help us to understand how we should live differently to really do this and help us have enough faith to really do it.  – Amen

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