Psalm 37

Introduction

Passage: Psalm 37

Hey everyone, Today we are going to be shifting our focus sort of away from the main theme of love this month. We are going to be talking about delighting in the Lord even in little. While this may sound like a completely different topic, whether you are married, currently in pursuit of marriage, or are single, it’s important for us to delight in the Lord even if what we have may seem like little. We are going to be taking this Bible study in a bit of a slower pace going through it verse by verse so feel free to add to discussion and we are going to have a decent amount of discussion questions as well. So If you will look down at Psalm 37 we will be going through the whole Psalm.

A Psalm of David.

1Do not get upset because of evildoers, Do not be envious of wrongdoers.2For they will wither quickly like the grass,And decay like the green plants.3Trust in the Lord and do good;Live in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4Delight yourself in the Lord;And He will give you the desires of your heart.5Commit your way to the Lord,Trust also in Him, and He will do it.6He will bring out your righteousness as the light, And your judgment as the noonday.

7¶Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;Do not get upset because of one who is successful in his way,Because of the person who carries out wicked schemes.8Cease from anger and abandon wrath;Do not get upset; it leads only to evildoing.9For evildoers will be eliminated,But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.10Yet a little while and the wicked person will be no more;And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.11But the humble will inherit the landAnd will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.12¶The wicked plots against the righteous,And gnashes at him with his teeth.13The Lord laughs at him,For He sees that his day is coming.14The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To take down the afflicted and the needy,To kill off those who are upright in conduct.15Their sword will enter their own heart,And their bows will be broken.

16¶Better is the little of the righteousThan the abundance of many wicked.17For the arms of the wicked will be broken,But the Lord sustains the righteous.18The Lord knows the days of the blameless,And their inheritance will be forever.19They will not be ashamed in the time of evil,And in the days of famine they will have plenty.20But the wicked will perish;And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures,They vanish—like smoke they vanish away.21The wicked borrows and does not pay back,But the righteous is gracious and gives.22For those blessed by Him will inherit the land,But those cursed by Him will be eliminated.23¶The steps of a man are established by the Lord,And He delights in his way.24When he falls, he will not be hurled down,Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.25I have been young and now I am old,Yet I have not seen the righteous forsakenOr his descendants begging for bread. 26All day long he is gracious and lends,And his descendants are a blessing.

27¶Turn from evil and do good,So that you will dwell forever.28For the Lord loves justiceAnd does not abandon His godly ones;They are protected forever,But the descendants of the wicked will be eliminated.29The righteous will inherit the landAnd dwell in it forever.30The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,And his tongue speaks justice.31The Law of his God is in his heart;His steps do not slip.32The wicked spies upon the righteousAnd seeks to kill him.33The Lord will not leave him in his handOr let him be condemned when he is judged.34Wait for the Lord and keep His way,And He will exalt you to inherit the land;When the wicked are eliminated, you will see it.35¶I have seen a wicked, violent personSpreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil.36Then he passed away, and behold, he was no more;I searched for him, but he could not be found.37Observe the blameless person, and look at the upright;For the person of peace will have a future.38But wrongdoers will altogether be destroyed;The future of the wicked will be eliminated.39But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;He is their strength in time of trouble.40The Lord helps them and rescues them;He rescues them from the wicked and saves them,Because they take refuge in Him.

I.1-6 Stewardship

So starting off of course, it should say in your Bible who the Psalm was written by David. King David wrote a ton of Psalms, Psalm 51 being one of my favorites. But starting in verse 1 of this Psalm it goes, “1Do not get upset because of evildoers, Do not be envious of wrongdoers.” Now already we are given quite the difficult task. Today we look at the world around us and most of what we see is evil. Most of what we see is wicked, and yet they always feel like the ones on top. The more you climb the economic ladder the more you can see the corruption. The greed, the selfishness, the pride. While we might look at those things as negative traits, which they are, at the same time you can feel envious of them right. They have everything it feels like. No financial worries. All of the carnal desires fulfilled. Endless pleasure. No worries. that stuff can feel desirable and even if it was offered to you to have it all if only you steeped to that level, would you be able to resist it? Or would you give into the evil of this world. This verse urges us here not to be envious of the wicked, the wrongdoers. Why? how could we not be jealous? We are given an answer. Verse 2, “For they will wither quickly like the grass,And decay like the green plants.” They will wither away. Now I don’t know about you, but this comparison feels pretty reminiscent of James right? Life is a vapor. All material things will fade away. You see these wicked people have a clock that’s ticking. They might be reaping the “rewards” of there wickedness right now but that’s going to end. And they will have no other blessings later. Don’t be envious of these people, they are temporary. See what is the point in caring so much about the abundance of the wicked when they are destined to wither away. Their future is bleak.

So David moves it over to talking about how we can have security. You see the wrongdoers, they will wither away, they don’t have security at all. But by delighting in the Lord. 3Trust in the Lord and do good;Live in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4Delight yourself in the Lord;And He will give you the desires of your heart.5Commit your way to the Lord,Trust also in Him, and He will do it.6He will bring out your righteousness as the light, And your judgment as the noonday. Just trust in the Lord and do good. Stop your fussing about how the wicked people out and about. Look it’s important to keep your head on a swivel and to not be ignorant of the things going on. But complaining and whining about why some people are succeeding and you are not is foolish. Instead just trust in the Lord and do good. That should be our plan. Our focus. What does that look like. David says here it is living in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Do good with what you have. Be faithful with it. Be good stewards of what you have. David says to commit your way to the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Tony Evans put it best,

The Tony Evans Bible Commentary Psalm 37

You can expect God’s movement in your life when your thinking and desires match his. He desires to bless you more than you want to be blessed, so commit your way to the LORD (37:5). If you entrust your entire life to the King’s agenda, he will act on your behalf with righteousness and justice (37:5–6).

Are you going to have all of your desires met? No. Are you going to lose things things have hardship? You bet you are. But the Lord is not this sadistic God who loves to torture us and make us go through constant suffering. Now Satan might try to twist that narrative and say that God is sadistic but that is a far cry from the truth. He wants to bless you! All your job is is to just focus on your commitment to the Lord, trusting in Him and doing good. It’s that simple. The question you need to ask yourself is are you letting it be that simple? Or are you caught up in the wicked and what they have going on instead of walking in the Lord’s way. It’s simple but not easy. With social media today it’s a constant comparison game. We talked about that last week. I don’t look like them. I don’t have the life that they have. I don’t have the spouse that they have. It’s just this perpetual spiral because your too focused on evil people instead of trusting in the Lord and doing good. Stop overcomplicating it. We talk about how tunnel vision can be bad. But in this instance, just lock in on God. Don’t be comparing the wicked’s success to what you got going on. Their path is wide. Your path is narrow, so just keep walking.

II.

Alright guys that was a quarter of the chapter haha! I’ll do my best not to go over but this is good stuff. David then shifts the perspective to our patience. 7¶Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;Do not get upset because of one who is successful in his way,Because of the person who carries out wicked schemes. Rest in the Lord. Why is that just about the most difficult thing to do ever. To be patient and rest in the Lord can feel like the most difficult thing in the world when you feel left behind. Now not everyone that’s “ahead” of you is necessarily ahead because of evil, but there are people that masquerade their evil as success. But again it’s simple. Just rest in Him guys. David asserts that there is no point in getting upset over the success of the wicked. Now that can be hard. It can feel unfair, and it can feel like evil is just honestly running rampant. But we don’t need to get upset, or be wrathful, because that anger leads only to evildoing. Not sometimes it does. It only does. It’s a rabbit hole. Again, looking at the wicked, and getting angry at their success is just going to mess you up and make you do something you shouldn’t.

9For evildoers will be eliminated,But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.10Yet a little while and the wicked person will be no more;And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.

They are going to wither away. Their time is coming and they don’t have forever. But those who wait in the Lord, they will inherit the land. The wicked are going to fade away, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Don’t get fustrated about the evildoers. It’s said in Deuteronomy, Vengeance belongs to God; He will repay.” The wicked have their time. Just allow God to handle it. The wicked can try to win all they want. They can chase the world and the lusts of the flesh, but they won’t win. Scripture says the Lord laughs at them. I love the imagery that David uses. The wicked draw their swords and pull out their bows, to kill off those of good conduct. But their bows will break, and their own sword will go through their own heart. I imagine the wicked just like falling on their sword. or their wickedness profited them a little bit, only for it to be double edged, taking away from them more than they ever bargained for. They are doing it to themselves.

Do you understand this? Are you Angry at what will wither away. Don’t let wrath consume you and feel like the unfairness of this world is too much. They will have their day and we don’t have to worry about it. Vengeance is the Lord’s. Don’t let it consume you.

III.

16¶Better is the little of the righteous Than the abundance of many wicked. 17For the arms of the wicked will be broken,But the Lord sustains the righteous. It might feel like you don’t have very much right now. It might feel like you’re barely making it by. But it doesn’t matter how much the wicked have. It’s going to fade away. It’s like smoke. And the great thing is, it doesn’t matter how much the righteous have, which when we talk about being righteous we are talking about those who follow the ways of the Lord in Jesus, God is watching over you. He has your back and you’re inheritance will last forever. A preacher said,

The Tony Evans Bible Commentary Psalm 37

God will keep their blessings secure until the time is right to dispense them—sometimes in history, but mostly in eternity.

We might not see all the blessings of the life we lead in this life. We could very well get a limited view on that. But nevertheless whether we do get to experience a lot of blessings in this life or not, we will inherit them when we are in eternity. One of the most comforting things we read here is that even when the righteous fall, even in stumbling, they won’t be hurled down because the Lord has their hand. God will never forsake his children and leave them abandoned! He is always there. The Lord is gracious scripture says.

Are you okay with the little you have right now. Maybe you’ve been wanting more. But instead of seeking God’s will, you’ve been trying to go outside of that to figure out the best way to get what you want. But I bring your attention to stewardship. Maybe you do have little right now. You don’t have very much and you feel like God isn’t giving you enough. But God knows what your needs are. He is the provider. And the little that you have right now, be a good steward of it! Be faithful with it, be grateful of it. Have that perspective to take care of the things that the Lord Almighty has seen fit to give you.

IV Goal Setter

David ends this Psalm shifting the focus to eternity. The wicked might be living great lives right now. They might be reaping the pleasures of sin, fulfilling the lusts of their flesh. But eventually that’ll be it for them. But you see those who delight in the Lord, those who seek after his way, will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. You see Christians are Goal Setters. They set their sights higher than anyone else. You see the wrongdoers they only see as far as the world. Their present life time. That is it for them. But Christians see eternity. As the wicked eventually release that they should have been chasing after Jesus the whole time instead, it will be too late. They might flourish in the present, but eventually scripture says that they will be uprooted. They traded eternity for the temporary. but we can turn from evil and dwell in what is good. 39But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;He is their strength in time of trouble.40The Lord helps them and rescues them;He rescues them from the wicked and saves them,Because they take refuge in Him. I love the ending to this Psalm. David paints the back and forth between the wicked and the righteous. But then at the end it lists more things that the righteous receive. How amazing is it that we can have strength in times of trouble because of the Lord. Or that we don’t have to fear the wicked. We have the opportunity to take refuge in Him! How amazing is that?

But the thing is have you truly turned from evil? Or are you back and forth still holding on the the things that are going to wither away? You don’t have to live that way anymore. Be all in and walk in his ways. You can take refuge in Him. You will never be alone. You can have strength in times of trouble, and safety from the wicked. Don’t push it off any longer. Turn from evil.

Conclusion

David in this Psalm compares that of the Wicked and the Righteous. Everything about the wicked is temporary. Their pleasures are fragmented. They have a ticking clock and their evil desires. But we have some eternal. The questions is are you a goal setter? Are you focused on trusting the Lord and doing good with what you have, or are you just caught up in what the wicked are doing. Let the Lord be your refuge. What the wicked have is just like smoke that’ll vanish away. Go to God who will never leave you nor forsake you. Let’s pray.