Psa 37:1 Of David. Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!
Psa 37:2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.
Psa 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Psa 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psa 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.
Psa 37:6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Psa 37:7 Be 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!
Psa 37:8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
Psa 37:9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
Psa 37:10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
Psa 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.
Psa 37:12 The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him,
Psa 37:13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.
The people of God should not fret over the wicked. All around us we see wicked people prospering and think that they get away with what they are doing while we try to walk the straight and narrow way. God tells here through David that there is way we should look at the world, and things we should do.
How should we look at the world? God will judge the whole earth one day. Those who are in Christ are without condemnation - Rom 8:1. The rest will be judged for eternity.
What we we to do? Here are 5 commands to the people of God from Psalm 37.
- Do not fret. The wicked will be judged. Do not get worked up, do not be afraid.
- Don't be envious of evildoers. Their time is only temporary. Why would we want to envy them? We should live in the fear of the Lord always. What would it benefit you if you gain the whole world and lose your soul?
- Trust in the Lord.
The wicked trusts in themselves. We should trust in the Lord. Your life should stand in contrast with the world. Trust in God is to belief in Him, to rely on Him.
- Cultivate faithfulness:
Some translations read "befriend faithfulness". Cultivate is the opposite of fading away. The wicked will fade away. Cultivate is preparing for a crop. We will reap what we sow. If we are faithful to God - you will reap the benefits of it. The wicked are not faithful.
Make a friend of faithfulness. We must feed on HIS faithfulness. It nourishes you and gives you perspective on life. If we want a life of substance we need to feed on His faithfulness. We need to feed our souls with His Word.
The world has no capacity to be faithful.
- Delight in God
We have a command to delight in the Lord. We benefit from the decision to delight. Our decisions in life will have an affect on our lifes. We should take pleasure in God. We have pleasure when we are with friends and family, then so much more can we have pleasure when we are spending time with the living God. It is an enjoyable, beautiful and a good thing.
It contrasts envy. If you can delight in God why would you want to envy the wicked. If you are full of God there would be no space for the world.
JC Ryle put it so well. " Look to the cross, think of the cross, meditate on the cross, and then go set your affections on the world if you can. " Well of course if you are full of God there would be no space for the world.
This is such an encouragement from God's word. Cultivate, trust and delight all verbs that require faith and work on our part.
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