Befriend Faithfulness

Psalm 37:1-13

Psalm 37:1–13 ESV

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. 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! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

There’s a quote that has been attributed to Martin Luther, the German Reformer, but no one has yet to find it in any of his writings. Nonetheless, the quote is very good. Some of you may be familiar with it. It goes like this: Even if I knew the world was going to pieces tomorrow, I would still plant my apple tree today.

Again, this quote has been credited to Martin Luther, but has yet to be verified. But what makes this a good quote are 2 implications we can draw from it:

Trust in God.

The peculiar nature of the resolute Christian.

Let’s talk about this for a second...

Trust in God = means trusting God with our lives and with our future.

There are many who don’t quite understand how to trust God with their lives and future. They operate in a transactional or manipulative manner with God. That is, they attempt to manipulate God into acting on their behalf by throwing God a bone here and there. I’m talking about bumper sticker and hashtag Christianity. If I promote God in this way, he’ll give me the secret desires of my heart. That’s not trusting God, that’s trusting our own efforts.

Secondly, we don’t always get the importance of being resolute in the faith. We know how to be stubborn and to argue that we are right in all our positions, which often makes us contentious and cold people. But here, we’re talking the peculiar, steadfast, immovable confidence in God and faithful obedience to Him in every circumstance. This is the kind of resolute Christian we need to see more of.

Believe it or not, the first verse in Psalm 37 tells us why we struggle with trusting God and displaying the peculiar nature of a resolute Christian faith.

Psalm 37:1

Psalm 37:1 ESV

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!

Fret not = “Don’t lose your head!”

And what is the cause of losing our heads? It appears to be twofold:

We are not getting from God the things we want out of life.

Others, who aren’t even playing the game as well as we are, seem more successful than us.

But the Psalmist here, is inspired, not motivated, but filled with the Holy Spirit and God’s wisdom for us. This is David, in his older years, writing for us, the wisdom of God. Most of the psalms are directed to the Lord in the form of prayer, worship and even musings. But here, this is one of the psalms that is directed to man.

And what is it that the Holy Spirit is saying through David? He’s saying...

Nothing is hidden from God.

Not the wickedness of the wicked.

Not the mixed motives of the righteous.

Not the suffering of the saints.

The ancient conflict between the kingdom of God (KOG) & the kingdom of darkness (KOD) is local.

Your faith in Christ puts a big bullseye on your back.

There are many serving the KOD and don’t even know it.

Don’t obsess over this conflict but rest knowing that Christ is guaranteed the victory.

God has a multifaceted purpose in all these things.

Whenever God withholds, delays or denies you something, it’s for your own good and growth in Christ.

Whenever we suffer (not for doing evil) but because we live in world corrupted by sin, it is because God is showing us Christ in ways we would not otherwise understand.

God has appointed a day of judgment for the wicked. But in His great mercy and patience, He knows that this life is the closet some people will ever come to tasting heaven.

So, just because you are not getting what you want from God, don’t lose your head. When you encounter suffering and spiritual warfare, don’t lose your head. When you see the wicked at ease, don’t become envious and lose your head.

But rather, trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Trust God with your life and future. Really trust God by giving yourself fully to His commands, His calling and His community.

So the psalmist says, “Dwell in the land.” He does not say earth, implying go where ever you want, but he says land. In other words, where has God called you? Where has God placed you? Wherever this land is, take stewardship over it! Cultivate it for the glory of God. Resist evil by doing good and promoting good in this land. And for many of you, this begins in your own household.

If the conflict between the KOG and KOD is local, then the surely the calling to take dominion, to practice godly stewardship of all things begins at home.

Too often, many men refuse to see the spiritual environment that they have created through neglecting this call to take dominion over the home. Their homes are in constant chaos, their wives are weighted down with anxiety because she can’t have a peaceful thought in her own head in her own house. The children are out of control, but dad, has found a way to escape the chaos.

No, men, take dominion over this home. Establish order in it. Ensure that good is done in it. If it is an issue with the children, then take up your calling as a father and God’s representative and make sure peace is in the home.

If the problem is that your wife wants to make the home more lovely, than go make it happen, get her the resources that she needs to make the house more lovely. Take dominion! Improve on something in your home.

Wives, you also have a calling to begin the practice of stewardship and godly rule in the home. If you are too busy with keeping up with the outside world, then you need to slow down and learn to embrace first principles. And, seek to improve on something in your home.

The Christian must reject a false piety that says nothing in this life matters, but heavenly things matter. This is false. It mattered that Jesus Christ took on human flesh. And every meal mattered to him, including the last one that he ate with his disciples before going to the cross.

We don’t worship this world, but have a calling to make it more fit for our King. This is why I love the Bible, because it will have nothing to do with these false dichotomies of only spiritual things matter.

The Holy Spirit speaks through David and says, tell them to dwell in the land (where I’ve placed them and called them). Secondly, the Spirit says tell them to “Befriend Faithfulness.”

The phrase, “Befriend Faithfulness” can mean: to keep; to tend; to cultivate; to enjoy.

Imagine that! God wants you to dwell in the place where He has called you and He wants you to keep it, tend to it, cultivate it for beauty and improvement, and then, he wants you to enjoy it.

Perhaps, we lose our heads and become envious of others or to obsessed with our enemies because we are....

Not aware of our own calling in Christ.

Unthankful for the little things that God has given us.

And have no vision for improving anything to make it acceptable to Christ.

And God in His mercy, when He finds us living this uninformed way, he may choose to withhold, to delay and deny us some good things. Because we must grow up in Christ.

This psalm has Matthew 5:5 in the back drop.

Matthew 5:5 ESV

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

The meek are those who live lives under the yoke of Christ. The meek live to serve Christ, to make all things worthy of Christ and to see Christ glorified. The meek follow the leading of the Spirit of Christ. They enjoy Him and are thankful for the little blessings that He provides. They are not so distracted by what others have. They only aim to please Christ and to live a life worthy of His calling.

The meek, they trust Christ. They entrust their lives and future to Him.

They are not fearful of the enemy or of suffering, they know that Christ has suffered for them and that Christ has faced the enemy in open battle and has won the victory for them.

The meek know how to wait patiently on the LORD. Some of us, waiting means frustration and anger towards God and others. But the meek are not given over to anger and bitterness. They have entrusted themselves fully to the Lord.

Finally, the meek are resolved to their work in the Lord, even if the tomorrow’s forecast calls for the world to go to pieces. The meek will choose to stand upon the promises of God—chiefly that Christ is our salvation and hope. Let us pray.