God is trustworthy! The writer of Proverbs proclaims the promise that God will direct our pathways through life if we simply put our trust in God. The Hebrew word picture for this “trusting” or “confiding” in the Lord is when someone takes another person’s burden or load upon his or her back. That God is able to handle all of our burdens when we give ourselves wholeheartedly, not relying on our own wisdom.  Within this text, I saw something I hadn’t previously noted. That there is a sacramental message of God’s nurture of his people in verse eight. I believe that the text is relating the truth that God nurtures and nourishes us as a mother nurtures and nourishes a baby. Verse 8 of the King James Version states, “It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.” In the Hebrew, the language refers to health and healing, the navel or umbilical cord, marrow/drink/water/wine, and bones/body/firmness/strength. Consider that God is the one who gives life and provides all that is necessary for life. Through trusting in God through Jesus Christ, we receive the bread that sustains and the cup that saves. God’s word, then, is an agent of health in body, mind, soul, and spirit. Even in times of God’s rebuke or discipline, God’s love for us is expressed in his continual nurture and nourishment.  Grace and Peace, Pastor Bob