Wed. 3-23-22 - Psalm 37:1-11 (of David) - HE WILL NOT FORSAKE HIS SAINTS
1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend 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 in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
7 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!
8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
11 But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.
APPLICATION-King David's advice on what to do when the bad guys are winning:
1. Trusting God and submitting to His will means _________ ourselves of irritation, envy, and anger toward evil-doers. When we get irritated (i.e., fretful, vv.1,7,8)) by bad people who get away with their evil ways, we sometimes wrongly assume that we understand the solution to the world's problems better than God does. By ridding ourselves of this irritation, we are submitting to God's sovereign right to deal with the evil-doers in His time and way. When we envy (v.1) the ill-gotten gains of bad people, we sometimes marginalize the sins they commit and wish we could get away with the same thing. We are commanded to rid ourselves of the sin of envy, give it over to God in confession, and submit to God's judgment of the problem. We are also commanded to rid ourselves of anger (v.8). Becoming angry is not of itself a sin, but failing to control it surely is. Anger shows that we aren't in submission to God's sovereignty and in effect, we are saying, "God, I don't like the way You're handling this and I'm tired of waiting on You to take action. This sort of anger is selfish and therefore sinful. We must put it away and give it over to God, and submit to His solution and timing.
2. "Delighting" in God means __________ ____ trust, obedience, patience, and humility (meekness). When we see the bad guys winning, we need to shift our focus away from them and toward God. This involves applying several spiritual characteristics: (a) Apply _______ in the Lord (vv.3,5). This isn't just an empty wish but a deliberate course of action on our part to trust God with the problem. (b) Apply __________ (v.3). The words in the verse, "do good, dwell in the land, and cultivate faithfulness" all point to obedience to leave matters in God's hands, go on with normal life, and seek after truth (in God's Word) in order to avoid the temptation to try to right the wrongs using human effort. (c) Apply ____________ (vv.7,9). The words to "be still and wait patiently" is one of the hardest part of submission. God rarely acts on our expected time table and may take months, years, or longer to finally vindicate us. Yet, if we trust Him and obey Him as in (a) and (b), then we must submit by waiting for His timing. (d) Apply ___________ (v.11). "Meekness" as used in the verse doesn't imply weakness; it means brokenness; because you recognize you own weakness and sinfulness, you know you must depend on Jesus Christ for His strength and righteousness rather than your own. Humility also means being aware of our own in adequacy apart from God, but at the same time, realize our adequacy in Him (2 Cor. 3:5). Finally, this awareness of our own sin and weakness means we aren't entitled to self-righteously judge evil people, because, apart from God's grace, we're as bad as they are. In Mt. 5:5, Jesus quoted this verse in the third beatitude, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." The world says the opposite: those who are assertive and aggressive, step all over others to get what they want-will win. But David and Jesus disagree: the meek will win in the end. The term "in abundant peace" refers to spiritual prosperity, not material gains. The person who finds his adequacy in Jesus Christ as Lord rather than himself will have peace in great abundance.
