Security of Those Who Trust in the Lord, and Insecurity of the Wicked.
A Psalm of David.
37 Do not fret because of evildoers,
Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
2 For they will wither quickly like the grass
And fade like the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and [a]cultivate faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.7 [b]Rest in the Lord and wait [c]patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
9 For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
10 Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;
And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
11 But the humble will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.
The first couple verses really set the theme for this passage, but one other verse (4) also jumped out at me. The two ideas are a bit intertwined, but let’s look at verse 4 first. It would be easy to misconstrue “And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
Really, I could come up with a whole lot of things to desire, and you say God is going to give those two me? Well, not quite, since this is a conditional promise. Read the whole verse one more time, because the condition is “Delight yourself in the Lord.” Is He your delight? Does God’s heart direct your actions and decisions and even your very desires?
Now that’s not to say He won’t give you anything nice along the way, but that’s not His heart. His heart is for people, and if you’re not motivated by that, then your desires are out of whack. So let’s go back to the beginning.
Why don’t we fret when wicked people are prospering? Why shouldn’t we envy them when they succeed, and it seems we’re just struggling along, praying for God’s provision… every single day? How can we rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him when things don’t seem to be going our way?
If we truly trust God and we truly delight ourselves in Him, then we know two things. First, is that He wants what is best for us. Maybe that is a million dollars, but God knows exactly what that is, and He will make sure we have what we need.
Second, this world is not our home. That is, it is not our final destiny, it’s just a temporary place, a testing ground, a shadow of what is to come. Even if we never have what the world would call success in this life, what comes after will make it all pale by comparison. That’s hard to remember when we focus on the people who are “winning” today. But when we take our eyes off of them, and then get them on God instead of ourselves…
When we delight in Him, we gain true perspective of what really matters. Nothing in this world is eternal, except the people, and they are His desire. So certainly, be diligent with what God has given you in this life, whether great or small, but be sure your end goal is to serve and love the people God has placed in your life. Put away anger and worry, they won’t help anyone, especially not you. Find peace in Him, and don’t try to rush the perfect plan of the Father.