Eyes of Faith
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Introduction
Introduction
Psalm 37 is another Psalm that is “of David”. This Psalm is written by David and is a different kind of Psalm. It is an acrostic which that in itself does not make this Psalm unique but this Psalm is a wisdom Psalm and because of this some doubt David wrote it. This wisdom Psalm is an acrostic as an acrostic while it doesnt have a linear flow of thought uses the alphabet to help make the Psalm easier to memorize and thus make the wisdom able to be hidden into the heart of the reader.
This Psalm deals with life during the triumph of wickedness. This Psalm is instructional and we will be looking into it in parts. Beginning with the first 11 verses we will deal with having Eyes of Faith - in this time of wickedness seeming to triumph in life - perhaps even against us. David had certainly suffered plenty at the hands of the ungodly. This Psalm is his writing as an old man sharing his wisdom from what he has learned.
25 I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging for bread.
Among other things, Psalm 37 recognizes the frustrating reality that the wicked often prosper, and the righteous often suffer. This seems unfair. The righteous try to live God’s way.The wicked reject God and live their own way. And yet… the wicked often seem to have it better than the righteous.
If YOU have ever been punished for doing the right thing, if you’re a good guy who seems to always finish last… then Psalm 37 is for you.
Psalm 37 is also good spiritual medicine for just about any problem a person might have.
There is a story about a little boy who wanted to wash his cat. The little boy went to the store and bought some Tide detergent.
The cashier said to the boy, “It’s nice of you to run errands for your parents. Do you do the laundry at your house?” The little boy said, “I’m not doing laundry.I’m washing my cat.”
The cashier explained to the boy that Tide was not good for washing cats… but the boy refused to listen.
The next time the boy came to the store, the cashier asked him, “How’s your cat?”
The boy hung his head in sadness. He said, “My cat died.”
The cashier said, “I’m sorry to hear that your cat died. Did it die from the Tide you washed it with?”
The boy said, “No. I don’t think the Tide killed my cat. I think it was the spin cycle.”
When life bombards us with problems… when life’s stress washes over us in waves… life can feel like a spin cycle.
The spin cycle killed the cat…and the spin cycle can kill people too. The spin cycle can kill us quickly, like in a heart attack.Or the spin cycle can kill us slowly…by slowly sucking the life out of us,until we become joyless, defeated zombies.
When life seems like a “spin cycle”or when a specific, major crisis strikes, or evil seems to be triumphing Ps. 37 provides God-given and David battle-tested wisdom, a plan of action for Keeping Your Faith
1 Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong. 2 For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender green plants. 3 Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely.
4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act, 6 making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday.
7 Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him; do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans. 8 Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated—it can only bring harm.
9 For evildoers will be destroyed, but those who put their hope in the Lord will inherit the land. 10 A little while, and the wicked person will be no more; though you look for him, he will not be there. 11 But the humble will inherit the land and will enjoy abundant prosperity.
Do Not Look Around
Do Not Look Around
1 Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong.
Psalm 37:7 (CSB)
7 do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans.
8 Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated—it can only bring harm.
David begins by writing to not be agitated by evildoers. The word agitated can also be translated fret or worry. Do not fret or worry because of evildoers. The verb however has a much stronger meaning as in burning with anger. Literally the admonition is to not become hot because of evildoers. Do not get worked up and heated over them, instead remain cool. David then delivers another admonishment alongside the first, do not envy those who do wrong. Do not get agitated and worked up at evildoers but neither should you envy those who do wrong. The wrongs done are those done with malice and injustice in mind.
Jump down to verse 7 and see again David admonishes to not be agitated. This gives us a clue to this evildoers and those who do wrong and why it would be agitating to see them. Do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the one who carries out evil plans. This is where the agitation and the heated feelings come from and where envy could be a problem because they are not only doing wicked and evil but it seems to be prosperous for them. This heated anger comes from envy toward the evildoers because of their apparent success and prospering in this world.
You cannot keep your faith by looking around you for things to work out right. It isnt the time for all things to be worked out. Instead you may be tempted to be envious of the evildoers and you may get angry and decide that nice guys (righteous) guys finish last. How can we not fret when we see that evil seemingly triumphs around and goes unchecked.
David says refrain from anger and give up rage - do not be agitated it can only bring harm. To refrain is to stop and discontinue from actively being angry. Give up your rage - your fury and intense anger. Do not be agitated for it can only bring harm - literally the word translates as an evil act. If you do not give up your anger and rage and cease being agitated it will only lead to committing a morally wrong act.
Ephesians 4:26 (CSB)
26 Be angry and do not sin.
It is very hard to be angry without sinning.
19 My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, 20 for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.
Our anger will not accomplish the righteousness of God. One suggests that this anger is almost certainly against God. This is a possibility if we do not check our anger and stop the envy and agitation before it brings us to harm or committing an evil act. Just a few evil things that Christians get angry and rage at.
Rights
Abortion
Sexual deviance
Trafficking
Politics/Policy
Movies and Programming
Schooling
CRT
BLM
How, how can we keep cool when evil is prospering, how do we not get agitated when we see that happening?
Instead Look Up
Instead Look Up
3 Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely. 4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act, 6 making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday.
Psalm 37:7 (CSB)
7 Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him;
In order to keep cool, not be agitated while evil prospers is to get our eyes off the wicked, off of even our own self and lock them on the LORD. David lists several ways to get your eyes on the LORD all of them encompass living a life for God - despite what happens around us or even to us.
The number one most important thing is to trust in the LORD. Trust by believing and having faith in the LORD. This trust is not some unfounded, easy breezy optimism. This is an abiding reliance on God to trust Him and trust in Him. Trust involves faith and faith involves action - do what is good. You cannot separate trusting God from doing good.
When we are tempted to walk in the path of the wicked because they are prospering - it is because we do not trust God that He will work it out. When we see evil and wickedness and we continue to do good - we have an abiding faith in God. If you are losing your faith and trust in God because of evil prospering, look to see if you have stopped doing what is good? David then adds to dwell in the land and live securely. This is to dwell in the land and live securely with a steadiness being immovable or fixed upon your position.
Resolution One: I will live for God
Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.
The next thing David shares is to take delight in the LORD. Have the highest degree of pleasure in the LORD. When you do this David says that God will give you your heart’s desires. Some read this and begin to think that God will give them whatever they want, but it is instead saying that God will give your heart’s its desires.
When we are delighting in God our heart’s desires are in line with His desires. When we delight in the LORD we are not tempted to be envious of the wicked person who seemingly is prospering or whose ways are prospering. When we are delighting in the LORD we have our heart’s desires and do not need to envy the wicked.
David also says we must commit our way to the LORD. This means to dedicated trust in our life, and direction of life to the LORD. Trust in Him and He will act. He is good and righteous and has promised to act and will act on behalf of His people and those who commit their ways to Him.
When we commit our way to the LORD we accept the things that happen in our life as being from the LORD or allowed by the LORD for a specific purpose and reason. These things are not capricious and without reason or purpose.
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Genesis 50:20 (CSB)
20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result
God will literally accomplish and put into effect entirely and thoroughly to make your righteousness shine like the dawn and your justice like the noonday. The word commit is literally roll - roll everything on the LORD everyday and let Him act on your behalf.
Now David says we are to be silent before the LORD. Without sound before the LORD but not in the sense of not talking or that He doesnt want to hear us. This silence is in the sense of nothing left to say and indicative of being at peace.
When we are silent before the LORD we are at peace. The silence before the LORD is being at rest from having committed our ways to Him, that now we are at rest. God is now carrying the burden and there is no reason for you to continue to carry it also. This is a calm surrender also because we give it over to God, the control and the outcome. We get the peace of God when we learn to be silent before God.
Last we are admonished now to wait upon the LORD, but to wait EXPECTANTLY for HIM. True faith and trust waits confident in God that He will fulfill all His promises and do all He has promised. Abraham chose to trust in God and to not look around at his situation to determine if what God said would happen - he trusted God because said it.
19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
20 He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.
When we wait for HIM it is expectantly looking forward to the arrival of Him - for Him to show in our situation, or for Him to show up on earth ready to put away all things as He has promised. This waiting also gets us ready for the last thing we need to do to keep our faith in such wicked days.
Remember To Look Ahead
Remember To Look Ahead
2 For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender green plants.
9 For evildoers will be destroyed, but those who put their hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
10 A little while, and the wicked person will be no more; though you look for him, he will not be there. 11 But the humble will inherit the land and will enjoy abundant prosperity.
It is easy to get off track looking around and seeing the wicked prosper. It is enough to get us hot and boil our blood. This is because we simply cannot see the end and how things play out. God has told us how things will end. It is important to have the long view in mind here.
The evil seem to prosper and they seem worthy of envy now while they seem to do and get what they want. This is to be tempered however with the truth of the matter. This life is temporary and fleeting. The evil wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.
Grass is said to wither quickly when the sun is blocked out even for a little bit - Golf has a rule addressing this. You are not allowed to stand with your shadow casting over the path of the ball to the cup.
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.
David then says to have the eternal perspective. Evildoers will be destroyed but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. The wicked will be no more and the humble will inherit the land and enjoy the abundant prosperity. The phrase “a little while” is the comparison of how it looks now as compared to what it will be in all of eternity.
The day is coming when all the wrongs of earth will be righted. At that time the evildoers shall be cut off and the trusting saints will possess all the blessings He has promised. It will not be very long until the wicked vanish from the scene. If you look diligently for them in their usual hangouts your search will be in vain! In that day the humble shall inherit the land and enjoy prosperity.
When will that day come? For the church it will begin when the Savior descends into the clouds to catch away (Rapture) His waiting people and take them to their heavenly home. For the believing remnant of Israel and the nations it will begin when the Lord Jesus returns to earth to decimate His foes and to reign for a thousand years of peace during the Millennial Reign of Christ.
5 Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Keeping your eyes of faith will not be one-time thing. Some days we need to go through changing the direction we are looking several times.
Remember, the wisdom right here in Psalm 37
And as we practice looking at things correctly we can enjoy God’s presence and God’s peace even in the storms of life and we can not only survive the spin cycle… but also come out clean.
We also can experience what Jesus was talking about, when He said,“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you… Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.” (John 14:27)
Lord, look in the right directions