Peace from Yahweh

A Present Relationship v. 1-9

There are 12 Proverbs in the first 9 verses that lead a life of peace in God. This life is an emotional roller-coaster. Having peace from God begins with being at peace with God. This of course is only found when we know Christ. Eastern mysticism has always sought but never truly found inner peace. A Buddhist monk may lock himself away from the world and forsake all possessions in search of peace, but is peace what they find or just some vague sense of nothingness. Throughout history there have been those who have denied themselves physical and psychological desires and in extreme cases even harmed themselves out of some misguided thought that they can purify themselves through the process. In truth the Bible teaches the opposite. Knowing Christ results in the joy of the Lord and believers are called to delight themselves in the Lord. Do we seek to restrain our fleshly desires? Yes, but not because we think by so doing we are earning God’s favor. Inner peace is more than the absence of sin it is the presence of the Holy Spirit. Peace is a byproduct of a life lived in and for Christ. This Psalm was written to help us do just that.

Negative Proverbs - Four things we must not do if we want the peace of God to rule our hearts.

“Fret not yourself” v. 1,7,8

Repeated three times for emphasis.

Primarily we told in this Psalm not to fret over evildoers and specifically why they seem to always prosper.

For some reason we tend to forget that the wicked prospering is a clearly a result of the fall. It has nothing to do with the supposed inactivity of God. God has allowed things to go the way they have because it is a part of His redemptive purposes for His glory.

So we are encouraged to “fret not”. No matter who gets elected; God is still in control and His redemptive purposes have not been thwarted.

“Fret not yourself, it leads only to harm.” v. 8

“Be not envious” v. 1

Envy is a tricky one, isn’t it?

It sneaks up on us so that we are indulging it without even realizing it. It is so easy to look at the world and be deceived by their masks of plenty and abundance.

While there is a godly form of jealousy there is no redeeming form of envy. It is always sinful.

Envy often leads to practical difficulties such as:

Broken relationships

Credit card debt

How long did it take for envy to come on the scene after the sin of Adam? Cain killed Abel out of envy because God looked on the sacrifice of Abel with favor.

For our purposes understand you will never have peace as long as you indulge envy.

Why should we envy those whose end is destruction? We should pity them.

Psalm 37:2 “For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.”

Psalm 37:9 “For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.”

Psalm 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.”

Psalm 37:20 “But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.”

Psalm 37:22 “for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.”

Psalm 37:28 “For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.”

Psalm 37:34 “Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.”

Psalm 37:38 “But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.”

The verse that has been jumping out at me throughout my study of this Psalm is v. 16 “Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.”

“Refrain from anger” v. 8

Hopefully this doesn’t come as a surprise to you, but anger doesn’t produce peace.

It doesn’t produce external peace.

In our homes

In our places of work

In our churches

It doesn’t produce peaceful hearts.

It promotes anxiety

It is inherently self focused (Righteous anger focuses on affronts to God’s holiness.)

Angry people are miserable. Have you ever looked at a angry person and thought, “I wish I could be more like them.”?

“Forsake wrath” v. 8

This is really a repeat of the previous proverb for emphasis.

I like how the CSB puts it here, “give up your rage.”

Positive Proverbs - 9 things we must do if we want the peace of God to rule our hearts.

“Trust in the Lord.” v. 3

The more sarcastic among us might be tempted to say, “well duh.”

While perhaps this is stating the obvious it is not easy to practically implement in our lives.

Some signs you may not be trusting God as you should:

Worry over things you can’t control or are not your responsibility

Easily frustrated

Act first and pray second (or not at all.)

An unbiblical fear of people or circumstances

Being pessimistic

Self Indulgence

A sense of conviction about it.

How do I trust God?

You cannot trust someone you don’t know.

Trust is earned. Has God earned your trust, is He worthy of your trust? We trust doctors and nurses, we trust pilots and taxi drivers.

Perhaps you need to remind yourself who God is and what He is like. I don’t mean a quick Bible study, but rather I mean daily being in the Word.

“Do Good” v. 3

Pretty straight forward isn’t it?

Psalm 37:21 “The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;”

“Dwell in the Land” v. 3 - We will come back to this one because it forms the basis for v. 10-40

“Befriend faithfulness” v. 3

We don’t really know how to translate this phrase. If you look at the six major Bible translations they all say something slightly different.

It is probably one of two ideas.

To shepherd faithfulness

To live securely

“Delight Yourself in the Lord” v. 4

What does it mean to “delight yourself in the Lord?” - As I consider it I believe that it means to find in God your primary source of joy and motivation.

Serving Him is what gets you out of bed in the morning.

There is no better place to be than in God’s will.

When you delight yourself in God your greatest desire is to do His will and He will always give you the desires of your heart.

A sure fire way of always getting what you want is mold your desires to His will.

“Commit Your Way to the Lord.” v. 5

Psalm 37:18 “The Lord knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever;”

A life committed to the Lord is a life that strives for blamelessness

“Be Still Before the Lord.” v. 7

Psalm 37:11 “But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.”

Sometimes in order to really know the presence of God in our daily lives we have to stop and be still for a moment.

This requires a certain level of meekness or humility. I have to remind myself that I am not in charge or sovereign over my circumstances.

“Wait Patiently” v. 7

Psalm 37:9 “For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.”

A Determined Future

The Wicked

As we have already seen, those that God determines as wicked have a determined future, and its not good.

As the Psalm describes it:

Fade

Cut off

No more

Perish

Destroyed

The Righteous

However, clearly the righteous also have a determined future.

The main concept in this Psalm is that the righteous will dwell in the land.

Isn’t this during the reign of David? Are they not already in the land? The Promised Land?

The truth is that Israel has ever completely inhabited the entirety of the Promised Land as it was promised to them by God. The Promised Land includes modern-day Israel, including Gaza and the West Bank, and Jordan, as well as parts of Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.

For the people of Israel the Promised Land represented their future inheritance as the followed the will of God. God was certainly not opposed to taking them out of the land when they rebelled against Him.

How does this apply to us?

We too have a promised inheritance.

1 Peter 1:4 “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,”

Our inheritance in Christ includes heaven, but is not limited to heaven only. It is all that God has promised us in salvation.

Conclusion: If you lack the peace of God that passes understanding then remember -

Your present relationship with God.

What are you doing to nurture it?

Reject the allure of the world. Delight yourself in Him. Commit yourself to Him. Do good in His name.

Your determined future.