“Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him, and he will act.”
– Psalm 37:5
Oh, I love the way Psalm 37:5 describes our actions, and God’s actions, and how they go together. So, “Commit your way to the Lord.” This is acknowledgment here in the Psalms that we are walking in a certain way. Every single one of us today will walk in a certain way. We will make decisions, we will say things, we will write things, we will do things, we will think things will desire things, we will walk in a certain way, in a certain path today.
This Verse Reminds Us to Honor God in All Aspects of Our Lives
And the Psalm was just saying, “Commit that way to the Lord.” Say, “Lord, I want you to be honored and glorified in the way I walk in, and the path I take, in every thought that I have, and every desire that I possess and every word that I say in every single thing that I write, I commit my way to you, and I trust in you.”
The only way you and I can walk in God’s way is by his grace at work in our lives.
God’s Way is the Best Way
So commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, trust in him because you know his way is good. His way is best. You want to walk in his ways. God make my ways, your ways. So I trust in you. This is the essence of what it means to worship God. And what it means to be a follower of Jesus, is to trust in him, because this is what sin is, right? Not trusting in him, turning from his ways to our own ways.
And so, trusting in him is saying, “I want to follow your ways. I want every thought I have, and desire and possess, and word I say, and thing I write, and every decision I make. Everything I do, I want to glorify you and then I want to obey you, and then I’m trusting in you that your ways are better than my ways.”
Psalm 37:5 Tells Us to Walk in God’s Grace
And then, verse five says, “Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will act.” And you’re like, “Wait a second. I thought this whole verse was about what I’m doing? Committing my way to God and trusting him? But verse five says he will act.” And this is the beauty. This is the beauty of what we see all over the Bible. It’s in a sense, so much of the essence of Christianity, what it means to be a follower of Jesus. The only way you and I can walk in God’s way is by his grace at work in our lives.
In other words, the only way we can act in all the ways that we know are good and that we desire, as we commit our way to him, the only way we can do that is based on his power at work within us; his spirit, his grace, his wisdom, his guarding, leading, guiding, comforting direction in our lives. His enabling in our lives. So our action is totally dependent on his action, which is why we pray. Because prayer is maybe more than anything else in the Christian life. The clear, evident expression of our need for God’s help, for us to do that which we cannot do apart from him.
Psalm 37:5: Asking For God’s Guidance
Our need for God, to give us, grant us, lead us, guide us in every way, everything we need. So we pray. Oh God, right now, today, together based on Psalm 37:5, we commit our way to you. God help us. In every thought we have, desire we possess, word we speak, write, everything we do, every decision we make, we pray that you would be glorified. That we would obey you out of trust in you, and God, we know the only way that’s possible is by your grace, by your power, by your spirit, working in us. And so we pray for your help.
We pray for your help to walk in your ways today. To live with trust, and you keep us from trusting in ourselves. We pray, save us all day long from ourselves and sin, from trusting in ourselves. God help us to keep our eyes fixed on you. And as we pray that. As we pray Psalm 37:5, we commit our way to you and we trust in you right now in prayer, we trust, based on your word, that you will act. And in that trust we live today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
