Oh, how Psalm 37 speaks to us today! Look at the very first verse of Psalm 37:1:
Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
We are surrounded by evildoers in these latter days. It seems like they suck all the oxygen out of the air. Sometimes as we consider the wicked works of their hands, it’s almost impossible to breathe. Yet, what does God say to us about such men (and women): Fret not! He says we have nothing to worry about.
But God… but God, did You read Psalm 37:12?
The wicked plots against the righteous
and gnashes his teeth at him,
<“Yes, Son. In fact, I inspired those Words.”>
But, Father, consider what Psalm 37:32 says about such people:
The wicked watches for the righteous
and seeks to put him to death.
<“Do you think men like this concern Me, My child?”>
Can’t you hear the Lord responding to our every cry as we see the daily carnage of the evil in men’s hearts play out around us? One thing after another confronts us. On every side, those who oppose God have their way. They’re pervasive in the culture, whether in government, the business world, or entertainment. They come against our children and corrupt them with depravity from ancient times, with things we could not even begin to imagine. The younger generation has been immersed in the sickness of men’s hearts, and there appears to be no remedy.
I’ve been watching this play out in our local school board. Some parents have finally awakened to what the public schools are doing with their children. They’ve begun to see the indoctrination – literally, the brainwashing – that their children have been undergoing for years. This effort at corrupting the youth is not a one-off thing; it’s not simply contained in a single program. Rather, it’s systemic in the system, pervasive within all the materials a school teaches. The teachers themselves have mostly been to colleges where they learned these anti-God practices. The members of the school board are largely comprised of liberal, progressive – even radical in some cases – people whose heart’s desire is to bring the children into their way of thinking and living. There is no room for conservative or Christian values. God has been ejected from the schools, just as He’s been thrown out of the public square in every other corner of society.
Reread this psalm and look at Psalm 37:14:
The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose way is upright
What is someone to do who opposes the way of the wicked?
That is where the rest of this psalm gives us assurance. God is on His throne. There is nothing that is done in this world that He does not see and take into account. For those who love Him, He is with them and will act for them.
If that’s so, what must we do? First, believe what God tells us in Psalm 37:4-5:
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
We must turn to God and delight in Him. The Hebrew word anog is used for delight (Strong’s #6026). It has the sense of having a soft spot in our heart, almost delicate or dainty. How we feel toward God should be with a heart that is so tender that it can be crushed easily. Of course, God would never do that to us, but how we approach Him should be in such a vulnerable way that such a thing could easily happen in other circumstances.
Next, we must commit ourselves to the Lord. This is also intriguing usage. The Hebrew word for commit is galal (Strong’s #1556). It has the sense of rolling away or taking away. It appears as if God wants us to remove any barriers, any rocks (a stony heart!), that come between us and Him. In our doing away with such obstacles, we draw nearer to Him.
When we delight in God and commit all our ways to Him, what can stop Him from acting in our lives? Nothing! In fact, as we do these things, we see in Psalm 37:23 how God operates for us:
The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
He orchestrates every step we take when we are fully His. What a blessing! What a promise!
But, what about those evildoers? Aren’t they still out there? Yes, they are. But, consider what God will do based on Psalm 37:20:
But the wicked will perish;
the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures;
they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.
It doesn’t matter how many of them there are. It doesn’t matter what they think, say, or do against God’s precious children. Such people are our enemies. This makes them enemies of God. And who is God? He is the sovereign king over all creation. These people are nothing to Him. In their wickedness, they will perish. It will be as though they never existed.
What are we to do in these evil days? Trust in the Lord. Believe that He sees our plight and will deliver us. When we take refuge in Him, we can be assured that He will not forsake His saints (Psalm 37:28). We can breathe a sigh of relief. If God is for us, who can be against?