Be Content In the LORD
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Introduction
Introduction
It is tough when you look around and see people doing wicked things and getting ahead. It amplified when we ourselves are striving to live righteously and we are afflicted and needy. The truth is that though we may face difficult times and circumstances we must learn to be content in the LORD. This Psalm doesnt come from someone writing it from an ivory tower. It comes from David’s hand written out of the difficulties of his life. As David recognizes the fact that the wicked seems to triumph over the righteous. In these verses we are going to cover tonight David brings out two areas that we must find complete contentment in the LORD.
12 The wicked person schemes against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him. 13 The Lord laughs at him because he sees that his day is coming. 14 The wicked have drawn the sword and strung the bow to bring down the poor and needy and to slaughter those whose way is upright.
15 Their swords will enter their own hearts, and their bows will be broken. 16 The little that the righteous person has is better than the abundance of many wicked people. 17 For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord supports the righteous.
18 The Lord watches over the blameless all their days, and their inheritance will last forever. 19 They will not be disgraced in times of adversity; they will be satisfied in days of hunger. 20 But the wicked will perish; the Lord’s enemies, like the glory of the pastures, will fade away— they will fade away like smoke.
21 The wicked person borrows and does not repay, but the righteous one is gracious and giving. 22 Those who are blessed by the Lord will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will be destroyed.
Be Content That God Will Judge
Be Content That God Will Judge
12 The wicked person schemes against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him. 13 The Lord laughs at him because he sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked have drawn the sword and strung the bow to bring down the poor and needy and to slaughter those whose way is upright. 15 Their swords will enter their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.
The wicked have an evil agenda. They scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them. David has experienced first hand that the wicked scheme against the righteous. Have you experienced that? They scheme against the righteous why? Why dont they scheme against each other? It would be easier to handle and to deal with if they were only out for those who are like them right? Instead they scheme against those who are helpful, trusting, loving, and without lying. These are not simply two kinds of people eyeing each other with a sort of disapproval; this is one group specifically eyeing the other with hostility and specifically targeting them and scheming against them. The wicked scheme against the righteous, and they scheme with much malice. They gnash their teeth or grind their teeth at them.
How do you react when the wicked scheme against you? We see here how the LORD reacts - He simply laughs at him - why because He sees that his day is coming. The point here is to emphasize the folly of those who go against God. It is not to suggest that God treats His people's sufferings lightly. He is not laughing at those. Nor does God have pleasure in punishing the wicked.
11 Tell them, ‘As I live—this is the declaration of the Lord God—I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?’
If God is able to laugh at the wicked cant we at least keep from being agitated by them and trust God content that He will judge? The LORD is the one who holds the future, He knows all about the wicked and their day - their coming judgment.
4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them. 5 Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath:
God is not the least bit worried about the schemes of the wicked. Their seeming victories and triumphs are only for a season.
An atheist farmer ridiculed those who believe in God. He wrote a letter to a local newspaper in which he boasted: “I plowed on Sunday, planted on Sunday, cultivated on Sunday, and hauled in my crops on Sunday; but I never went to church on Sunday. Yet I hauled in more bushels per acre than anyone who believes in God and goes to church.” The editor printed the letter and then added this remark: “The Lord doesn’t always settle His accounts in October.”
As Christians, we can be assured that if the Lord doesn’t settle the account in this life, there is a coming judgment when everything will be made right. We can leave vengeance to God, being content in Him.
27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—
19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord. 20 But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. 21 Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.
Though they plan to destroy others it is they themselves who are destroyed. They ready their swords and bows to bring down the poor and needy and to slaughter the upright. Their weapons and their plans will come down on themselves. Their swords will enter their own hearts and their bows will be broken. Any weapon against the LORD or the people of the LORD is futile and in the end they will be turned back on themselves. Sin carries the seeds of its destruction within itself. An evil empire can endure for a time in its own brute strength, but the corruption will weaken it from within and it will eventually fall. It is the same with individuals. People can cheat, scheme, and intimidate others for a time, but eventually their character is revealed and others refuse to deal with them or others destroy them with the same tactics.
Be Content That God Will Provide
Be Content That God Will Provide
16 The little that the righteous person has is better than the abundance of many wicked people. 17 For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord supports the righteous. 18 The Lord watches over the blameless all their days, and their inheritance will last forever.
19 They will not be disgraced in times of adversity; they will be satisfied in days of hunger. 20 But the wicked will perish; the Lord’s enemies, like the glory of the pastures, will fade away— they will fade away like smoke.
21 The wicked person borrows and does not repay, but the righteous one is gracious and giving. 22 Those who are blessed by the Lord will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will be destroyed.
This Psalm is very much like the proverbs remember. Although it doesnt seem like it by our standards by which we measure it the poor righteous have advantage over the wealthy wicked. The little that the righteous has is better than the abundance of many wicked.
16 Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure with turmoil.
8 Better a little with righteousness than great income with injustice.
Personal injustice often hits us in the bank account. There are some good lessons to be learned when the wicked win by scamming or stealing our money. They require special faith on our part as God’s people because the fulfillment often takes considerable time. Those who have trusted God over a lifetime testify to its truth. God provides for the blameless even in tumultuous times.
The arms of the wicked will be broken. They will be powerless, though they possess the power of wealth they will be rendered powerless. Their wealth cannot help them and they cannot help themselves. For the righteous however the LORD will support them. The LORD will strengthen and hold up the righteous even if everything is falling down around them - the LORD upholds them.
Be content that God will provide, and be content in all that God provides. God will provide for all your needs, be content and know that your needs may be less than you think. Be content for it may seem a small provision but because God is providing it, it will be enough. Perhaps this describes where you fall financially or materially, know that the LORD will support you and sustain you.
Sometimes the LORD takes away our things to reveal how we have placed our pleasure more in our things than we have pleasure in the LORD. I learned long ago - food and clothing is what the LORD has promised to provide.
25 “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?
27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.
30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
With these things provided and having also the LORD we can be content.
12 I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. 13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.
7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. 8 If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
If you expect the LORD to provide you must also trust Him by giving. The LORD sustains the righteous and the righteous are givers and they are marked by generosity.
21 The wicked person borrows and does not repay, but the righteous one is gracious and giving.
Many years ago a secretary of a British missionary society called on a Calcutta merchant for a donation. The man wrote a check for $250, a sizeable amount in those days. Just then an urgent cablegram was brought in, informing the merchant that one of his ships and all its cargo had been lost at sea. The merchant explained and told the secretary, “I need to write you another check.”
The secretary understood perfectly and returned the check for $250. The merchant wrote another check and handed it to him. The secretary was amazed to see that the new check was for $1,000. “Haven’t you made a mistake?” he asked. “No,” said the merchant, as his eyes filled with tears. “That cablegram was a message from my Heavenly Father which said, ‘Do not lay up treasures on earth.’”
If you’re walking uprightly before God and giving generously to support the Lord’s work, and someone cheats you out of money (or you lose it some other way), you can be content that God will provide for your needs. He’s not blind to what’s going on. Keep walking uprightly, keep being generous, and keep trusting Him, and He will take care of your needs and your family’s needs. The LORD watches over the blameless all their days - verse 18. He sees their life and its span (its entirety). He sees everything and is watching and will continue to provide. Both in days of adversity and in the days of hunger.
The wicked will perish. The wicked are the enemies of the LORD and they will perish and fade away. There will be no remnant of them, no trace, or evidence of them left. They have no future.
2 As smoke is blown away, so you blow them away. As wax melts before the fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God.
The wicked borrow and do not repay sounds like greed, selfishness and thoughtlessness. Some translations and some commentators take it to mean the wicked have to borrow and cannot repay. Now this is not necessarily in the text but it is in the context and it is related to the blessings and cursings in verse 22. Those who are blessed by the LORD will inherit the land but those cursed by Him will be destroyed or cut-off.
It is there that by Moses’ direction the LORD’s curses and blessings are pronounced is precisely what the Psalmist is describing in verse 21.
12 The Lord will open for you his abundant storehouse, the sky, to give your land rain in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.
43 The resident alien among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you, but you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.
So as the latter passage puts it, financially as well as in other ways the cursed ‘will sink lower and lower’ and the blessed ‘will rise … higher and higher’. We are encouraged to look beyond the anxieties of the present, as described in verses 12 and 14 in the previous section, to a time when what verse 16 called the wealth of many wicked will become poverty, and the little that the righteous have will become plenty. Be content in the LORD He will judge the wicked and He will provide for the righteous.
The righteous will be satisfied in days of hunger, but the wicked will perish (vv. 18–20). The text says that although the wicked flourish like “the glory of the pastures, they will fade away—fade away like smoke.”
We speak of “the beautiful people,” meaning Hollywood entertainers, high fashion models, those with exceptional wealth or influence, and other celebrities. These people seem to flourish like field flowers after spring rains. But, like flowers, they soon vanish. Beauty fades, popularity wanes, wealth overextends itself and is lost, and influence passes to other hands.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Triumphs of the wicked are temporary but the inheritance of the righteous is eternal.
Those who do the will of God endure not just for this life, but for eternity.
3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
Riches don’t make you content. Neither does poverty. Being a monk and living on nothing doesn’t make you content. So what is the secret of having plenty or having little and being content in either circumstance?
The secret of Being Content
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
More stuff will not make you happy. And more debt to get more stuff just feeds the monster called discontent that lives inside of you. The secret to being contented in life is reliance on God for and in all things.
Our destiny just like our contentment hinges on our relationship with the LORD. Those who trust in the LORD are both content in Him and sustained for eternity.