Colossians 2:6-10; Psalm 91:1-2

Col 2:6-10

vv. 6-7 are about growth. We have accepted Christ as our Lord. In order to grow, we must continue to follow him. Our roots are to grow down deep into Him so that our lives are built on Him. We do this by nourishing our souls regularly with God's Word. We can't go very long physically without food, or we grow weak and cranky! The same is true spiritually. Our "faith will grow strong in the truth" we were taught, and we will "overflow with thankfulness." v. 7  Our faith will grow strong in the truth. I've been thinking about faith lately. We cannot conjure up faith outside of God's Word, and we cannot have peace in our hearts without faith. So there you go.

This grounding in God's Word will help protect us against the wrong teachings that Paul warns about in v. 8. He calls them empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. "For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body." v. 9 This verse emphasizes the deity of Christ. He is God in the flesh with all the attributes of God. And so if we have Christ, we have all we need for salvation and right living and joy and peace. We are complete in Him! God Himself is right here with us, and He is stronger and mightier and more capable than any ruler or other authority. "So you also are complete through your union with Christ,..." Our world is full of people empty on the inside, desperately trying to fill that uneasy vacuum. We are not among those people, but we are complete in Christ!

Psalm 91:1-2
This is a Psalm about trusting God. "Trusting"--we know what it means to trust a person, or a bridge, or a bank, etc. Do we TRUST God, or do we secretly fear that He will somehow fail us? In the first 2 verses of this psalm, we see four names for God: Most High, the Almighty, Lord, and God. Each of these names tells us something about God: The following notes come from the Ryrie Study Bible.
1) Most High. This name emphasizes His strength and sovereignty.
2) Almighty. He is all powerful. (The name literally means mountain, thus picturing God as the overpowering, almighty One.)
3) Lord. The active, self-existent One. It is associated with God's holiness and His provision of salvation.
4) God. This is the proper name for the one true God. It means "strong one, mighty leader, supreme Deity." It's interesting that the original word is plural allowing for the truth of the trinity.

So Psalm 91 is talking to us who live or dwell or abide in Him and love Him. These promises do not really apply to people who only seek God in a panic when they are in trouble--though of course, they should still seek Him. But the confidence that these verses talk about come from a habit of living in God's presence. We can rest because God is ever watchful over us. We can hide in Him; He is our place of safety. He is our God, and we trust Him.