Joel M Bradshaw

3Trust in the LORD, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
6He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.

7Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!–Psalm 37

I enjoy assembling jigsaw puzzles. It’s a family hobby from my childhood that I continue today. When you do a puzzle you depend upon the picture on the box to tell you what the jumbled pieces inside are supposed to look like.

The inside you might sometimes seem like those unassembled puzzle pieces. You want to follow God, but you lack structure and direction. You know that lasting change begins on the inside, because otherwise it will seem false. So here are four images on the puzzle box that remind you what the unseen inner you should look like.

1. TRUSTING GOD. Remember trust is something you can’t fake. You either trust or you don’t! It shows itself in goodness and faithfulness.
2. DELIGHTING IN GOD. You long for the things of God more than the things of you. God’s opinion of you matters most. Self-control is pursued over selfishness.
3. COMMITTING TO GOD. These are your motivations. Your WHO directs your WHAT and WHY.
4. BEING STILL BEFORE GOD. Remember, you can be still on the outside and still be nervous, anxious, and angry on the inside. Therefore, the best stillness begins inward and flows outward.

The inside you consists of thoughts, feelings, convictions, and motivations. How has looking at King David’s puzzle box helped in assembling those pieces?–JMB