Sustains

“I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.” Psalm 3:5 NIV

Today is Thesaurus day. I appreciate the thesaurus tool that is built into my “word” program and use it with some frequency. Employing the thesaurus helps with eliminating the overuse of ubiquitous or repetitive words. Many times over, it has assisted with increasing my knowledge and understanding of different words. However, something to keep in mind when availing oneself of the thesaurus is that no two words “mean exactly the same thing and are not directly interchangeable” (Dictionary.com). One such example is the word “sustain”. I knew that sustain connoted maintain, nourished, but did not understand that it also means suffer.

How do you answer the question, “what sustains you”? What is your understanding of that word? Is the question asking what maintains you, what nourishes you? Or is it asking about how you suffer? The question is best answered through understanding the context within it is being asked. Suffer, though, means to endure. Thus, asking what sustains you can be equivalent to asking how you are enduring.

Living in a privileged world, I enjoy and utilize the many different translations of the Bible. The different translations provide just a slightly different perspective of the word and often clarify something that is hazy. And yet, each translation still offers the same meaning for the verses. Incredible isn’t it?!

So, I ask, what sustains you? For me, the answer is simple. “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.” (Psalm 3:5 NIV). Sustains, supports (GWT), watches over (NLT), preserves, protects, upholds, feeds, aids, assists, bears… and the list of verbs can go on and on. God’s sustain is a peace that transcends understanding, resting on faith through belief.

Praying that today you will fully know the peace that sustains through everything can be yours.

Digging deeper: Psalm 4:8; Proverbs 3:24; Psalm 55:22