Psalm 37 - Don't Worry About The Wicked Ones!!!
We see those who promote death, violence, hatred, segregation (yes, that is precisely what the identity politics is doing!), debauchery and lies - just flourishing in this wicked world in which we live.
When we are struggling and we are trying to live the right way, it’s really difficult to see people just living however they want and succeeding. Like, it’s real hard. Almost soul destroying hard. We strive to be the best person we can be in our relationship with god, with our relationship with others, yet those who turn their backs on all that is good and wholesome seem to get whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want it.
King David knew what that was like too. Surrounding his kingdom of Israel were a group of nations and cultural groups who engaged in barbaric acts of violence, child and human sacrifice, idolatry, and pagan occultism.
Sounds sort of familiar doesn’t it???
Psalm 37 says…
Verse 1-2: “Don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong. For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither.”
It is really easy to watch the news these days and see all the evil that is being perpetrated around the world. And it is easy to get discouraged by all of it, especially when you are trying to live your life the best you can, by living as godly a life as you can - but those that do evil seem to have everything going their way at the moment.
King David basically says about those who do evil - “Yeah, I wouldn’t worry about them too much - they’ll disappear and fade away to nothing.”
Verse 3-4: “Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.”
What are we to do in the face of evil in our communities, and in our nations, and in our world??? - We trust in God and his perfect will and we do good towards others.
This instruction by David preempts what Jesus taught on the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (Matthew 5).
If we place our trust and our focus on God, and do good to others then God will protect us (even when it seems like HE isn’t), and HE will grant us the desires of our hearts.
Now this phrase “desires of our heart” has been taken out of context by many preachers all over the world. It does not mean that if you follow God you will receive everything that you desire and want.
Rather, it means that as you re-orient your life to fully and completely trusting God, and God’s will for your life, your heart moves away from worldly desires and pivots to the desires that God has for our lives. It is in that way that God grants the desires of our heart - when they align with HIS perfect will for our lives.
Verses 5-7: “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.”
When we are faced with the evil of the world, and with struggles in our own lives then our first reaction should not be complaint - but to take those concerns straight to God.
Philippians 4:6 informs us that “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer andpetition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
It is in this way that God will fight our battles, and we don’t need to strive to solve all our issues ourselves. Sometimes we need to learn to give it to God and let Him do HIS thing.
It is that stillness in the Lord and the patience we need to learn. Most of us are impatient and want our circumstances to change immediately. We forget that God has been working in humanity and through humanity for thousands of years - HIS timeframe is different to ours. So we should not be surprised when things in our lives don’t get sorted out immediately.
This is even more important when we see evil happening all around us.
Verses 8-15: “Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper— it only leads to harm. For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land. Soon the wicked will disappear. Though you look for them, they will be gone. The lowly will possess the land and will live in peace and prosperity. The wicked plot against the godly; they snarl at them in defiance. But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming. The wicked draw their swords and string their bows to kill the poor and the oppressed, to slaughter those who do right. But their swords will stab their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.”
There is so much anger in the world - much of that is demonically driven, and satanically inspired - because anger always leads to violence and hatred towards others.
There are too many angry Christians out there. Christians are angry about who is getting elected to run their country, they are getting angry at what medical procedures are being forced on people, they are getting angry about inappropriate things being promoted within our school and governments. The issue is not that we shouldn’t be upset by those things - there is a place for righteous indignation - but there isn’t a place for ongoing anger within the church.
Why??? Because God will judge them. We actually should do two things. The first is protect our families, and our friends and those we interact with from those things as best as we can. The second is to sit back and truly taught at the evildoers because we know that God is going to judge them, and judge them harshly.
In the end their own evil is going to bring them down.
Verse 16-19: “It is better to be godly and have little then to be evil and rich. For the strength of the wicked will be shattered, but the Lord takes care of the godly. Day by day the Lord takes care of the innocent, and they will receive an inheritance that lasts forever. They will not be disgraced in hard times; even in famine they will have more than enough.”
“It is better to be godly” is not a phrase that we hear very much - even in Christian circles. But when you add in the extra statement by David “…and have little then to be evil and rich” - in the modern westernised (prosperity gospel driven) church - well that is tantamount to blasphemy. But yet here it is in the word of God.
What David (who was a man after God’s own heart) says is true. It is better to live in poverty but living in a godly moral existence than to give yourself over to every whim and desire that the flesh craves and so dive headlong into evil.
There is a time coming for the western believers where we will have to make this choice. We will have to choose to hold onto our godly principles (as shown in the Bible) - or we will choose to compromise our beliefs to be comfortable in our lifestyles.
Matthew 6:26 - Jesus says “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” - This backs up what David is saying in these verses.
God does look after those who try their best at living a godly life. I have seen this in my own life, and the lives of my parents as we have served the Lord.
Verse 20-22: “But the wicked will die. The Lord’s enemies are like flowers in a field — they will disappear like smoke. The wicked borrow and never repay, but the godly are generous givers. Those the Lord blesses will possess the land, but those he curses will die.”
God’s judgement is real, and it is just.
All you have to do is read the Bible from start to finish and you can see that whatever evil God curses those people, that land, those kingdoms - they all perish. And if things do come after them then those communities, kingdoms or even lands are not what they used to be.
A great example of this is the region of the Dead Sea. Currently, it is a barren wasteland where a lot of technology needs to be used to grow anything there. The reason for this was the desolation and curse God brought on that region because of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Yet, prior to that curse it was a very fruitful and beautiful place - which is why Lot chose it.
This can be seen in Genesis 13:10-11 which tells us that, “Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:...”
This should serve as a warning to us and others not to follow the paths of evil that the world so easily places before us.
Verse 23-24 “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.”
If we place our trust in God and HIS will for our lives, and we come to HIM in prayer and petitions about the decisions that we face in life (be they small are grand) - then HE will direct our path, even if we don’t understand the why sometimes.
Verse 25-29: “Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread. The godly always give generous loans to others, and their children are a blessing. Turn from evil and do good, and you will live in the land forever. For the Lord loves justice, and he will never abandon the godly. He will keep them safe forever, but the children of the wicked will die. The godly will possess the land and will live there forever.”
It is interesting that David brings up the concept of God’s provision for the godly over and over again in this psalm.
David is obviously writing this psalm when he was older, and had seen much of God’s provision in his own life.
But David also heard from God, and God seems to have let David know that for all of the remainder of human history - those who place their faith in God will be provided for and protected by God in this life and the next.
Verse 30-33: “The godly offer good counsel; they teach right from wrong. They have made God’s law their own, so they will never slip from his path. The wicked wait in ambush for the godly, looking for an excuse to kill them.
But the Lord will not let the wicked succeed or let the godly be condemned when they are put on trial.”
In these few verses David provides a glimpse into the character of a godly person (an by connection the character of God) - when he tells us that it is the godly who offer good counsel (or they should) - and they teach others the difference between that which is good and that which is evil.
Whereas the ungodly…their sole focus is for personal gain, and they do so by lying, and through violence.
And again David lets us into the future world where God judges the evildoers - past, present and future. When Jesus comes back to rule the world for a thousand years one of HIS duties is to put every person who does not believe in HIM, on trial for their sins. HE will also put the demons on trial for what they have done to humanity over the eons.
Verse 34 - 36: “Put your hope in the Lord. Travel steadily along his path.
He will honor you by giving you the land. You will see the wicked destroyed. I have seen wicked and ruthless people flourishing like a tree in its native soil.
But when I looked again, they were gone! Though I searched for them, I could not find them!”
David begins to close out Psalm 37 with a encouraging, hope-filled instruction.
First he says “Put your hope in the Lord” - it sounds simple enough, but when you really look at our own lives, do we actually do that - or do we only give God part of our trust, part of our hope? And the rest we place in ourselves, in our own strengths and our own abilities. Something to think and pray about.
Verse 37-40: “Look at those who are honest and good, for a wonderful future awaits those who love peace. But the rebellious will be destroyed; they have no future. The Lord rescues the godly; he is their fortress in times of trouble.
The Lord helps them, rescuing them from the wicked. He saves them, and they find shelter in him.”
If we put our hope in God - then we won’t end up like those that do evil.
If we put our hope in God - then we won’t disappear from God’s presence like those that do evil.
If we put our hope in God - then we will have a restored relationship with God, and we will spend eternity with HIM. That is the fullness of our hope that we have through Jesus Christ.
I hope and pray that these words have encouraged you in these days, in this season that you find yourself in. We do live in perilous times, and we do live in evil times. And it is very easy for us to get discouraged and lose our hope. Yet, we should hold onto the hope that God knows what he is doing and he has a perfect plan to redeem humanity (through Jesus Christ) and that those who believe in Jesus as the son of God, who died and rose again - they will have an restored eternal relationship with God. Whereas those who do evil and follow the whispers of demons and the unrighteous paths of Satan - God will judge them, and they will pay for the ungodly things they have done. That should be a source of encouragement for us who are still enduring the evil being inflicted upon us.
Intersting note: This psalm is a Hebrew acrostic poem where each stanza begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.