Scripture: Psalm 25:1-10 (NRSV)
Last Saturday morning I filled my husband’s weekly pill dispenser with the 15 different kinds of medicine he needs to take because of his heart transplant in 2011. A stab of panic struck when I found only two pills left in one of his two most important medicines. He must take this medicine every day for the rest of his life to stave off rejection of the transplanted heart.
Because the prescription had no refills left, we had requested a new one two weeks ago, but I now realized that we hadn’t received the pills in the mail as expected. What went wrong? It was a weekend. Could we really get more medicine by Monday?
You would think that after four years of exercising my “trust muscle” while dealing with my husband’s rare heart ailment, trust in God would come easily to me. But too often my first impulse in a crisis is still panic rather than trust.
Psalm 25 begins with the very words I needed: “To you, O LORD I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust.” These are the words we all need as we begin each day.
God is worthy of our trust because “all the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness.” Steadfast love and faithfulness are the hallmarks of the character of God, and God cultivates those virtues in us as we seek God’s paths.
With five phone calls last Saturday morning, the medicine we needed was waiting at our local pharmacy. And my “trust muscle” grew a little stronger.
Scripture: Psalm 25:1-10 (NRSV)
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.
3Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
4Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
5Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.
6Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
7Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness sake, O Lord!
8Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
10All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.