The Four-Way Look Psalm 37:1-7
PSALM 37 IS a psalm of great wisdom. In just the first seven verses alone, it gives a series of wise commands on how we are to get along in a world where bad people seem to prosper the most. And all these commands fall unto the category of Looking.
The principal command or advice of this psalm is that we believers should not fret nor envy when we see evil people prospering in their wicked schemes. Thus, verse 1 begins, "Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity." And the second half of verse 7 concludes, "fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."
The Hebrew term for "fret not" has a meaning that is not fully conveyed by simple English translation. It really means "do not burn up," or "do not boil over." What an appropriate word for believers today! True, it's distressing to see so much sin around us and so many evildoers getting away with all kinds of wickedness. But when these things cause us to boil over inside, we are liable to lose our Christian witness.
Look within. The Psalmist David is able to give us this practical advice out of personal experience, because he knows well the problem of being thwarted by evildoers. To keep ourselves from boiling over inside, he says, we need to look within, making sure that we ourselves do not end up in disobedience.
To help us from fretting, he first
assures us in verse 2, "For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." Across the whole landscape of recent time, think how many evil men have risenHitler, Stalin, etc. But like grass, they have all withered away since. So have all the rich and powerful in history. Hardly anyone remembers them anymore.In the first half of verse 7 David gives the second reason for not fretting: "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." We do not have to boil over because God is in control. Burning up in anger when we are ill treated only produces wrath in our own souls. So, David tells us to look within, making sure that evil people and their works do not destroy us by initiating a cycle of anger and wrath within us.
Have you been mistreated by evil people? Of course, we all have. The question here is not one of vengeance. It is not even a question of when and if they receive their judgment. The question is this: Is it destroying you? Fret not, don't boil over, don't lose the balance of your own soul. Waiting for God involves patience. So, look within.
Look ahead. Are you looking for guidance and answers in the midst of some struggles? Are you wondering how to do things the right way in the midst of a wrong world? Do not fret, for we have this advice in verse 5, "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."
The word for "commit" literally means to roll something over from one spot to another. It reminds us of Peter's command that we cast all our cares upon God. So, this verse is telling us to roll our waythat is, our whole lifeover to Him, and then trust also in Him. God wants us to look ahead to our future because He has a perfect plan for our life that He shall surely bring to pass.
For many of us, the "rolling or committing" of our problems and our future to God seems easy enough. We pray and ask the Lord to bless us. But to observe the second commandtrust also in Himis more difficult. After we've supposedly committed our problems to God, we keep on trying to solve those very same problems ourselves. We have not really trusted God with our cares.
But we should. We can trust God because verse 6 tells us, "And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday." In other words, God works all things together for His good and our good as well.
Look up. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, David further commands in verse 4, "Delight thyself also in the Lord." He implores us to fix our emotions and will on God above. This command carries with it a great promise. As we delight in God, he continues, "and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." The truth of the verse is this: when we look up and fix our eyes on Him, we become one with Him in our will, our goals and our desires.
Remember the words of Hebrews 12, "Looking unto Jesus..." or as the NIV translates it "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." When my eyes are 20/20
on Christ, my faith and life are perfectly authored and completed by God. What a promise!God's people have a duty to delight in what the Heavenly Father delights in for His people. His desires are to become our desires. God delights in righteousness that works itself out in my everyday life. This is His desire. Is it mine? You see, the will of God and His blessing is not so mysterious. It is simply a matter of looking up and delighting in our Lord. His will is then our desire and our desire is His plan.
Look around. There is a final command to consider or observe. Verse 3 says, "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." God's people were not placed on planet earth to simply gaze at pictures of Jesus, or to just study the Bible, or even to experience certain gifts. God has placed us here to "do good" as His ambassadors. We are to be God's salt, light and workmanship. As Paul stated in Ephesians 2:10, we are "created unto good works."
Notice the order in which the Psalmist gives us this command. We have to first trust in Him and then to do good. Unless and until we have become a true child of God, we would not have the grace to minister His good.
Christians have been the leaders in "doing good" in past centuries. Western civilization has known the effect of the couplet "trust and do good!" Hospitals, educational institutions, care of the aged, orphans, labor laws in England, these and many more have been at the instigation of believers.
May we not fail to creatively carry on the command to do good. And the best we can do for the people around us is to let them know that they, like us, can escape the wrath of God by trusting the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
So, instead of fretting in this wicked world, let us live a God-glorifying life by looking within, looking ahead, looking up and looking around. o
Dr. Kenneth M. Meyer is the Chancellor of the Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL 60015.