Trust in God Because of Who He Is

Transcript

GRM 1235
01/19/2020
Trust in God Because of Who He Is
Psalm 37
Gil Rugh

We’re going to Psalm 37, Psalm 37 in your Bibles. I have been just looking at a few of the psalms, very practical lessons. We studied the book of Ecclesiastes together and we noted some of these psalms could be classified as part of what is known as wisdom literature in the Bible as they classify certain parts. We usually think of the book of Job, the book of Proverbs, the book of Ecclesiastes is wisdom literature. They’re instructions on how God’s people should live their lives in the midst of an ungodly and rebellious world in the midst of people who are opposed to God and opposed to the people of God. In a world that can be unfair, unjust, and particularly believers can experience not only the trials that come to all in the world, but added to that the opposition of the devil and his people against the people of God.

Psalm 37 is one of those chapters that are often identified as wisdom literature, now all the Bible gives wisdom, but wisdom in the context of giving particular instructions for the righteous living their lives in the midst of the ungodly. How do we deal with the situations that will confront us and deal with it in a way that is honoring to God, so very practical material. We’ll be looking at more detail in the opening part of this psalm. It’s a long psalm of some 40 verses, but then in the last part we’ll be looking through some of the details. We may not cover everything but it elaborates and explains, so you’ll have opportunity as you read it to put it all together.

This is what is call an acrostic psalm or the more common language for us, an alphabet psalm. Basically that just means that it was structured, so that each of the stanzas would begin with another letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Sort of, like if we were going to do this we might take the first four lines and every line would begin with the word (letter) A. Then the next four lines, verses 3 and 4, every line there would begin with the letter B, of course, they are beginning with Hebrew letters, aleph, beth, gimel and so on. Evidently, that would…, I don’t know the exact reason they did it, but one of the basic reasons obviously would be for memory. Remember, not everybody had a copy of the Bible so being able to work through the Bible would help. We still use this in more limited ways ourselves where we do often clever little things and we begin them with the same letters and so on, so that’s this kind of psalm.

It would fit the book of Proverbs, for that reason it doesn’t maybe outline, if you read commentaries, as naturally as some other portions. It’s more like the book of Proverbs as you get into Proverbs. They’re short, pithy kinds of sentences like verse 1 here, “Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers.” Well, that verse could be transferred to the book of Proverbs. In fact, we’ll look a little bit later, and it basically is repeated in Proverbs in substance, so this is sort of like a collection of proverbs around the idea of living our lives wisely in a foolish, ungodly world. Not allowing that to impact us in the wrong way, so that our conduct gets pulled off course, so to speak, has a negative impact upon us, because pervading through this, remember from our study of Ecclesiastes, God is sovereign. He has appointed the time for everything and the events that take place in the time as we saw in Ecclesiastes 3 for example, a time for everything. A place for everything, the events of the time, it’s all in God’s hands, so it’s a reminder to us as God’s people to keep that in mind.

We live in an environment that is not godly, we have to deal with situations that are unfair, and we sometimes can get worked up about that. We want to handle things properly. I’ve jotted down four possible ways to look at this. There are different ways used by different commentators because it is acrostic and it is more like a collection of proverbs, but I’ve just looked at the first 11 verses I’ve just titled: Relax and Trust the Lord. Then in verses 12 to 22: Remember the Judgment to Come; it puts things in perspective. Then verses 23 to 24: Live Wisely in a Foolish World, as he applies some of these things, live wisely in a foolish world. And then he wraps it up in verses 35 to 40: Keep Life in Perspective. Really the opening verses and the closing verses sort of form like the foundation and then the conclusion because what is said, like in the first 11 verses, then are going to be worked out for us in the following verses, then in verses 35 and following he’ll pull it all together.

Very practical way he starts out with some instructions as I’ve just put these first 11 verses as “Relax and Trust the Lord,” because you’ll note he starts out, “Do not fret.” He’s writing to believers, righteous people, David being the writer of this psalm, writing to believers in Israel and they’re living in the midst of ungodly people, some of the ungodly in Israel and the ungodly world around them. The first instruction is “Do not fret” and this’ll be important in these opening verses because he’ll repeat it two more times. Down in verse 7 the second line, “Do not fret,” in verse 8 the second line, “Do not fret,” so that’s an emphasis as he lays the foundation. “Do not fret,” the word means to burn with something and we use it that way. It’s usually used in connection with anger, and we talk about burning with anger even until today or we’ll sometimes abbreviate it and say, boy, he was really hot about that. Meaning really he was upset, really was angered, or you might say something like his anger was boiling over, so we use similar expressions 3,000 years after David writes. Similarities, different language, but the same kind of expressions, that’s the picture here, someone who’s extremely frustrated and upset, and not a mild word, but I am passionate about this matter, and he’s angry about it.

“Do not fret because of evildoers,” so here the advice to God’s people living in the midst of ungodly people, don’t let it get to you. Remember this when you watch the news, don’t get upset and we can get worked up about it, we have emotions, there’s a certain element. We want to be careful because pretty soon we get caught up in the world, what’s going on in the world, in a way that begins to have a negative impact upon us. We’re frustrated over it, we’re angry over it. We begin to act like the world and we think that these are major things. What’s going to happen if this group wins or this happens here or they do this? Don’t get worked up about it because of evildoers, these are ungodly people. This is one thing we find the repetition in what we call the wisdom literature. Now remember this is wisdom literature, we give it that title because it is wisdom for living in this fallen world. We talked about this repeatedly in the book of Ecclesiastes, for example.

The world has not changed, David wrote this 3,000 years ago, nothing’s changed. Believers have to be careful, they live in the midst of evildoers, they are ungodly people, they are not God’s children. We need to be careful about the impact of what they are doing, their lives, their lifestyle, and their influence in our lives, and the other side of that is” be not envious toward wrongdoers.” Depending on how we’re being impacted directly, indirectly, personally or not personally but sometimes we look and it’s not a fair world. And you may have been passed over for promotion, have lost your job, a variety of things can happen. We shouldn’t be envious of the wrongdoers, they seem to be doing well and the righteous seem to be losing ground. And we see what’s going on in the world and in our own country, it could get worse for believers, more and more pressure applied, more and more things, you’re viewed in a negative way. Don’t envy them, they may be prospering, you may be losing ground, so don’t fret, don’t get angry about it, don’t be envious of them.

We’re two different people, we live in the same world but we live differently. So again, we don’t want to become accepting of sin. I’m not glad that our country continues to decline and become more degenerate, more open in its defiance and rebellion against God, but remember, God is sovereign. And even as Israel would experience, David is writing this, Israel’s future is bleak. The northern 10 tribes are going to be conquered by a godless, vile people, the Assyrians, but that was part of God’s judgment. Then the southern kingdom Judea is going to be conquered by Babylon and other godless, vile people. Remember what Nebuchadnezzar did to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego because they wouldn’t bow down and worship a statue of him. Throw them in the furnace, heat it up, we’ll turn them to ashes. Now God intervenes, but you see we live in this world and the world honors its own. Jesus said, if you are of the world the world would love you because the world loves its own, but because you’re not of the world, Jesus said, because I chose you out of the world, the world hates you.

We have this fixed division that permeates scripture and we must keep it in mind if we’re to live wisely in this world. Otherwise, we’ll begin to get frustrated, upset, angry, and even envious. Why are they doing so well? It’s not right, they deceived, they cheat, they lie, and they prosper, and we begin to get envious because I work hard, I’m honest, I’m fair, I try to live in a way that would please God and would be better for our country, and I keep losing ground. Well, don’t be envious of them. So you get the perspective from the beginning. It’s a reminder you don’t fret because of evildoers, you don’t get envious of those who do wrong, because they will wither quickly like the grass, they will fade like the green herb, that reminder. Remember Ecclesiastes, everything in this physical life is temporal, ephemeral, it’s a breath, (sound of a breath), gone. The wicked that prosper, they’re soon gone and forgotten, and the reminder, God is in control, God is in control.

You know, we have a lot going on about governing leaders, elections, impeachment, and everything else, but you understand, God is sovereign in it. Remember Pharaoh the godless leader of Egypt, what does God say? “I raised you up for this purpose.” Daniel reminded Nebuchadnezzar that he needed to bow and recognize the true and living God, that he wasn’t sovereign. But God raises up for His purposes some of the ungodly. I want to recognize this about the ungodly no matter who they are or what they have. We don’t have a listing, it usually comes out every year, of the richest people in the world. We don’t have the listing of the righteous people in the world because they don’t matter. But you know what’s going to happen to the rich, they’ll soon be gone and pretty soon what they have will be gone, so they flourish for a while, but then they’re gone.

We’re not going to go to the book of Proverbs often because we’d spend too much time, but come over just for an example to Proverbs chapter 23. Just after the book of Psalms, the book of Proverbs, and you see what is being said in Psalms is often just repeated again in the book of Proverbs because its wisdom. God doesn’t repeat Himself because He ran out of things to say. I mean, there are many things the omniscient God could have made known, but He repeats Himself again and again these truths because they’re important for us to get a hold of. Proverbs chapter 23 and look at verse 17, “Do not let your heart envy sinners.” Well, that’s basically what he is saying there in verse 1 of chapter 37, “Be not envious toward wrongdoers.” “Live in the fear of the Lord,” he’s going to bring that up as we move through chapter 37 as well.

Come over to, chapter 24 verse 1, “Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them.” You know, you begin to think, well, if I had, you know, more involvement with them I might get ahead as well, but then pretty soon the involvement with them means I have to do things with them and I have to take on some of their thinking. Look down at verse 19 of chapter 24, “Do not fret,” and there we are, “because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked,” that’s almost exactly verse 1 of chapter 37 of Psalms. You see these proverbial statements that what we have really comprise chapter 37. And what’s he go on to say? There is “no future for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” Another way of saying that is Psalms 37:2, “they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb.” (Proverbs), there is “no future for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked will be put out,” so these proverbial statements that are fixed in our minds and easy to call to mind, so to speak, so that we don’t forget them. And when we’re confronted with it and the thought comes up, boy, it would be nice to have what they have, boy, if I could have what they have, what a difference. And then I catch myself, but remember, they wither like the grass, they’re temporal that will soon be gone. And the contrast drawn through Psalm 37 is the righteous have eternal things, the unrighteous have temporal things. What the unrighteous have will soon be gone, what the righteous have will be forever. Remember, Jesus said, don’t lay up treasures for yourself on earth where moth and rust and so on can destroy, lay up treasure for yourself in heaven, that’s what lasts; that’s the contrast in the wisdom literature.

Verse 3 we pick up a series of words here. I’ve underlined them in my Bible just as a reminder; I don’t know how you mark your Bible or electronic device. Verse 3: Trust in the Lord, Verse 4: Delight yourself in the Lord, Verse 5: Commit your way to the Lord, and then the second line, trust also in Him, Verse 7: Rest in the Lord. You see these words, trust, delight, commit, rest, a reminder of our relationship with the Lord, He repeatedly brings us back to that, that brings us to stability and permanence so that we’re not moved from here to there and caught up with the world. We have to be honest, we’re bombarded by it all the time, you need to get what you deserve, that’s what politicians running for things, everyone deserves this, you deserve that. And pretty soon if we’re not careful we begin to think, you know, why am I struggling, I deserve better, I deserve more.

Well, wait a minute, I have something the Lord has promised me that I am sure, treasure in heaven that will be mine forever. And it’s not wrong to enjoy the blessings of the Lord, we saw that in Ecclesiastes. But that’s not what grips my heart, the stability that I am to have, so “trust,” verse 3, “in the Lord.” We know what trust is, its faith, believe, have a settled faith in God and His sovereign work. “Trust in the Lord,” it’s in the midst of evildoers and wrongdoers and he’ll go on further to describe them, those who might oppose us in every way, may do what they can to make our life difficult and unpleasant. They bring problems into our lives, but the reminder, trust in the Lord, have a settled faith in Him.

We talked about this in Ecclesiastes, I remind you of it because the misunderstanding of Ecclesiastes, I want to remind us how it fits with the rest of scripture, its wisdom. We can’t control the future; you know, you drive as carefully as you can but that doesn’t change…, you know, you can have a drunk driver come blasting along and run into you, you’re stopped at a light, and they plow… And you say, a- a-ah, was that out of God’s control, is it in God’s control? Does that mean what I did was not sin and wrong? No, but I belong to God, there are no accidents in my life. That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences when people do the wrong thing, but for me I understand for whatever purpose God determined to do that to bring that. I trust in the Lord. I don’t have to understand everything but I have to act on what I do understand, and I understand He told me: trust Him.

And the reason he’s putting that in the context of evildoers, as we’ll grow, as we work through this psalm, is because the evildoers can have an evil impact on us, and that pressures us to be sure that we trust in the Lord in that. We don’t unravel and begin to fret and get upset when all of a sudden it’s not just tracking along. I didn’t count on this, I didn’t plan for this. Probably not but you know Who did, the God that we trust. Well, I don’t see why that would… wait a minute, what’s trust? Well, it’s hard for me to trust when I don’t see any… well, that’s what we’re learning. Job couldn’t understand why God would take all ten of his children at one time. Who can survive that? He doesn’t understand why his wife didn’t… why would God take your health, you’d be better dead. You don’t have to understand, but you know toward the end, God is gracious, God understands, but God is firm. Job, there’s no excuse for you not to trust Me. There’s no reason for you to doubt Me or to question Me, so that’s what we’re learning here and it’s a blessing.

Don’t fret, trust in the Lord, but it’s not a passive ‘let go and let God” kind of approach. That passive approach that Christians… what are you doing? Nothing, I’m just kicked back and letting it all up to the Lord. Well, there’s a little bit of truth in that but not kicking back because the next thing says, ‘and do good,” as we’ve been talking about in the book of Romans, justification and sanctification always go together. Those who really trust the Lord live for the Lord, I do what would be pleasing to Him, I do what would be consistent with His character. “Trust in the Lord, and do good,” the evil of the unbeliever, the wrongdoing of the unbeliever is not going to deter me. I trust the Lord, and I do what is pleasing to Him. The life that flows out of that trust follows on.

“Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness” or feed on His faithfulness, as some would translate it as you have in the margin. The land is key through this chapter for Israel. Remember, God’s plan for Israel focused on the land and still does, and if they would trust Him and do good He would bless them and the land that He promised to them would be the place where they would dwell, experience God’s blessing, security and safety, and so on. It’s because of their persistent refusal to trust God that the Assyrians would come and carry the northern ten nations away into captivity. The Babylonians would come and carry the southern two nations into captivity and to this day the nation of Israel lives under the judgment of God. But the promises of God still hold and we’ve studied this and we’ll come to it in Revelation in our study there as well, the promises regarding the land. So what He’s saying here is dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Be faithful, that God is faithful and you be faithful, these go together, Israel abandoned that and they experienced the consequences.

The next thing in verse 4, “Delight yourself in the Lord,” Verse 4, “Delight yourself in the Lord,” our joy, our satisfaction, is in the Lord. Come back to Psalm 1, remember Psalm 1, some time ago we studied this psalm and you’ve studied it since. In Psalm 1, you have sort of an introduction to the psalm and you have the contrast that sets the pace for what will pervade the Psalms. It starts out, how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight (the joy and satisfaction of his life) is in the law of the Lord.” It’s the same thing as saying “in the Lord,” because how do I know about the Lord, How do I grow in the Lord? Through His word, “in His law he meditates day and night,” that’s what nourishes my soul and as I read that I come to know my God better and my joy and satisfaction in honoring Him, and doing good by living obedient, obediently to Him.

Come back to Psalm 37, so “delight yourself in the Lord,” however you do that, “and He will give you the desires of your heart,” but He doesn’t say He’ll give you everything you want. Put these two together. Delight yourself in the Lord, your joy and satisfaction, desires, are what the Lord wants, what His word tells me. And so He gives me the desires of my heart, because the desire of my heart is to please Him, to have joy in serving Him and being obedient to Him, His truth. And He doesn’t withhold any good thing, and I believe that and that’s what can give me joy. We talked in Ecclesiastes we don’t live for pleasure, but we are to have pleasure in living, and even in difficulty I can find the peace and joy of knowing that God. The God in whom I trust, in whom I’ve placed my faith is working His purposes, so we read the prayers of scripture, Old and New Testament, and we find them praying things in accord with the will of God.

Remember we talked about Abraham and he prayed for God not to destroy the righteous in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because Lot was there with his family and Lot is a righteous man. Would You destroy the city if there were only this number of righteous there? No, I wouldn’t. Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? He’s not telling God what He has to do or He has to meet an outside standard. That’s what God has said about Himself, He always does what’s right because He is the standard, what He does is right. Righteousness characterizes Him so he prays in accordance with what God says He is. What He says God will do, so delight yourself in the Lord, He’ll give you the desires of your heart, and He gives us more than we could want. As I look back at my life, I thought, the Lord has done more and given me more than I asked for in so many ways. That’s our testimony, that’s what the psalmist is saying, delight in the Lord, find your joy and satisfaction in Him and that won’t change. Circumstances change, we don’t have control over what is going on, but I can have a heart settled on the Lord and a commitment to honor Him whatever takes place.

“Commit your way to the Lord,” and another word, to commit, it means to roll it over, cast it on someone. First Peter chapter 5 verse 7, I think you have that in your margin off this verse, Peter probably is building on this verse, cast all your care upon Him because He cares for you. Now think about that, God cares for me and He wants me to give all my cares over to Him, roll them over to Him rather than fretting, getting worked up, worrying. Relax, the Lord can handle it. That doesn’t mean I’m indifferent, that’s why I have to be turning them over to Him. The frustrations, the concerns, the worries build, the agitation grows often, the irritation. I have to settle, Lord, I need to stop, I need to settle down. I need to remind myself and that’s where often we come to a place like Psalm 37, that everything’s fine. Not the way I would have chosen, not what I would have picked, but You have picked it for me, You’ve ordained the time, You’ve ordained the events for the time.

I didn’t expect this, humanly speaking it’s not fair, and because of the working of unbelievers my reputations been destroyed, I’ve lost maybe a job, I’ve suffered this, but Lord that was out of my control, but it’s never been out of Your control. I don’t have to know why You did this; I trust You did it for my good to accomplish Your purposes in my life and perhaps in the lives of others. There are many things we have to leave there. I don’t want to act like I have an answer to every situation, I don’t, you don’t, but God has every situation under control, that’s the answer. It doesn’t give the detail. Why did my loved one die? Why did I get this disease? I don’t know. To this day, I don’t know why Job’s ten children had to die at once. Couldn’t God have done it another way? Well I can look back; I can say He did it because He wanted to reveal something. Yeah, that’s easy to talk about, other people. If it’s my kids that are dying, if it’s my health that’s gone, I have to face it a little more really. That’s where God keeps reminding us here, verse 5, “Commit your way to the LORD” and then He reminds us that means “trust also in Him,” you roll it over in Him, you trust Him.

You know, how many times that I pray about it and I don’t leave it there, sometimes the best thing in my prayers is that I pray about it and I leave it there. Otherwise, I’m constantly telling God. I want to be persistent in prayer, but I want to be careful that that prayer is turning it over to God, not telling God what He has to do and then waiting for the answer, and that only increases my frustration and worry. ‘Trust also in Him, and He will do it,” He will do it, that means He appoints the time, He appoints the events in the time. I am praying for His will to be done. Lord, you know what is best for me far better than I know what is best for me, You know what is best for my family far better than I know. I have such limited knowledge of my life here and the world in which I live. I have to trust You and know You will do for me. I’m asking You according to what I know to this point. Not wrong to pray. I pray for things that the Lord will act, that He’ll open the hearts of unbelievers that I have contact with, the family that I love, but I’m not telling the Lord He has to do that. It’s the burden of my heart. Lord, I’m human, you know the desire I have for that, but if He says, no, that will be okay too, because I trust Him.

Verse 6, “He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.” That sort of gives you a little package there. He started out, “Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb.” “He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday,” that’s a contrast. Why should I worry, why should I fret, what do I have to fear? He’s appointed what my end is, what the end of the evildoers is. Now I’m living my life in this framework, so what’s verse 7 say? “Rest in the Lord,” you have in the margin it can also be translated “be still.” That means rest, be still, quiet down, relax, it’s the next line, do not fret. The opposite of that, if you will, you’re still, you’re at rest, I’m relaxed, at peace. Don’t fret, don’t get worked up. Again, it’s not this passive indifference, because we are active. We’re waiting patiently for Him.

I’m doing good but you know that doesn’t make the bad go away, that doesn’t always stop the evildoer. Paul faithfully ministered and he’s going to end up on the executioner’s block. He didn’t lose what it says, verse 6, is true and so at the end of his life as he anticipated that execution in 2 Timothy he could say what? ‘I have fought the good fight…, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,” so verse 6 will be true, so the point. “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.” We have to be careful, the Lord is in charge. Come back to Romans 13. You know, much of the news is about what’s going on politically and rightly so in the world because that’s the way the world is arranged and structured. But chapter 13 of Romans verse 1, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”

Now you keep in mind a man like Nero sits on the throne when Paul and Peter write these kinds of admonitions and whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and those who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. That’s why Paul…, you always find Paul respectful when he’s being confronted by appointed authorities. I recognize they’re from God; you’re going to call Nero a godly man? He’s going to execute the Apostle Paul, going to execute the Apostle Peter, tradition points that way. It seems that’s the context of what they write. How can you respect a man like that? You can respect him because it says God has appointed him, if I do not show them respect, I am disrespecting God. “Whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God,” so I want to be careful. I’m not going to rail against the authorities God has appointed, maybe for the destruction of our nation. I can’t stand in the way of God if He’s determined, as He did for Israel, He’s going to wipe them all out. Not completely, but remove them from their land, bring great suffering to them, injustices, and so on, so I want to be careful we as Christians don’t get out there.

I recognize these authorities are appointed by God, so back in Psalm 37, I’m accepting that. That doesn’t mean I won’t pray for the Lord’s will to be done. Paul told Timothy pray for rulers, pray for those in authority so we can have continued opportunity to minister the gospel in peace. With all the Romans did wrong they brought Roman peace to the world that enabled Paul to travel from country to country with the gospel, and declare rights as a Roman citizen to proclaim the gospel, and so on. Now it will be used against him unjustly but in God’s sovereign control the world is ruled and so he can go from one country to the other carrying the gospel so there were things God was using. He uses unjust men for His purpose and that comes down to our personal level. You may work for an unfair person, that doesn’t mean you can be unfair and unjust yourself. Our conduct is governed by the Lord.

Verse 8 and that “do not fret,” I have to pick that up. That repeatedly reminds you of the Sermon on the Mount. We won’t go there for time but Matthew chapter 6. We’re not to set our affections, our hearts, on earthly treasures, “do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust…,” you know, they’re temporal these earthly things. “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” and they’re permanent. Then he goes on later in Matthew chapter 6 in that Sermon on the Mount and says, don’t be anxious, says, don’t fret, don’t be anxious, don’t get worried, don’t get upset. What? Trust the Lord, He knows your every need, He provides. That doesn’t mean you don’t…, aren’t active, doing good, doing what you should, working hard. The book of Proverbs talks about that, but it does mean you know these things are out of my hands. You can work your fingers to the bone, as we say, and because of unfairness, because of untruth, because of dishonesty, whatever, you may end up with little or nothing. But nothing frustrates God’s plan for me, no one else’s sin can ever frustrate God’s plan for me. I have no control over their sin but I am responsible for my actions so in all these situations we want to be sure the pressure isn’t moving us off our sure foundation.

In Psalm 37 verse 8, “Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.” You know what happens when we’re fretting, when we’re worked up, when we’re letting that get to us, soon we act upon it it’ll come out. Who knows if we’ll get here, but you can read it if we don’t. But he talks about being careful about our words of our mouth, your words. And you know how it is when you’re getting worked up, then you end up saying something and you realize, maybe afterwards, I shouldn’t have said that, I don’t know what I was thinking. Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, that’s why I said it. That was the problem, when I let these things get to me pretty soon I’m talking in a way I shouldn’t, I’m saying things I shouldn’t. So “cease from anger and forsake wrath,” because it’ll lead to words and actions that are not fitting for a believer. It ends up you do the wrong thing like they did, and you justify it, well, they did this. Someone else’s sin never makes me sin, people forget that so quickly, I mean, it’s like they never heard that. Someone else’s sin never is an excuse for my sin, someone else never causes me to sin, so I have to have a hold of this biblically.

“Cease from anger and forsake wrath,” don’t let yourself get worked up about these things. Easy to say. We live in a hostile world, an unfair, unjust world, we recognize that. I’m prepared for that, I trust the Lord, that’s what he is saying here. “Evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land,” when all is said and done, it’s the godly in Israel that will inherit the land, God won’t fail, and the unbeliever will be gone. We’ve read the last chapter and we’ve studied the book of Revelation, what God says that’s the way it ends, so don’t get worked up. What do you expect for the unbeliever, righteous conduct? What do you expect from the unbeliever, fairness? It’s only common grace that enables this world, and when God is bringing it to judgment He withdraws more and more of that common grace, if you will, to allow the ungodly to manifest more and more of their rebellion against Him.

We know we’re moving toward that seven year tribulation where the rebellion of the unbeliever will reach full bloom, if you will, and the world will become all but unlivable and especially for the righteous, so that’s the condition as it is. When we begin to develop an unrealistic view of the world as God’s people, we’ve moved off the foundation of the word of God and trust in Him, and then we begin to get shaped by the world. If we don’t get a hold of that, we begin to conduct ourselves like the world and pretty soon, we’re in a world of confusion. “Evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord will inherit the land.” That’s where we’re going to conclude this chapter or you will conclude it if I don’t get there. 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, but the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. We win!

I think it was Spurgeon in writing on this chapter, he’s got three volumes on the Psalms that have stood the test of time. But he said, it’s like this ox and it was a prize animal and it’s got the ribbons from winning and the medals from winning that they gave out in his days in the 1800s and its being led to the slaughter house. Who envies that animal? He said, that’s the way it is with the wicked, they may be all decorated up with their wealth, their prosperity, but they’re on their way to destruction. Why should we envy them? And that’s what we’re reminded here.

Don’t forget two different people, two different destinies. Then you’re back to verse 12, the reality, “The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes at him with his teeth.” We get to this mellow middle that we create, the word of God does not. It has the fixed categories, the righteous, the unrighteous, the saved, the unsaved, those who are with Christ, those who are against Him as He drew the line, so the wicked is opposed. We’re seeing it bubble more and more out, something of that veneer that we have enjoyed, so to speak, as believers because it gave us opportunity to be more open.

I used to get invited to the university to speak to classes, I used to get invited to the high school to speak to classes. It hasn’t happened lately, there’s more and more open opposition to biblical truth. We see it, they’re not loving people, they’re narrow, they’re bigoted, and the opposition becomes more open because that’s where the heart of the unbeliever is. And the more God’s restraint is removed the more it manifests itself, so this is what they do. But you note here, “The Lord laughs at him, (the wicked, plotting against the righteous) for He sees his day coming.” you see the sovereignty of God, God could put an end to it like that today, but in His purposes, He has not. I don’t want to forget that, the wicked are not in charge, my God Is, I belong to Him.

“The Lord laughs” and this is not the laughter of humor, this is the laugh of scorn, how ridiculous is it that puny, insignificant man should stand against Almighty God. Remember the Assyrians when they came up to surround Israel, Jerusalem, and the Assyrian boasted, don’t let your God fool you, no nation has been able to stand against us, their gods have been powerless and your God can’t protect you either. You know what happened? The Assyrians took the night off and went to sleep. Remember what happened in the morning? 180,000 of them forgot to wake up. Difficult for God? Our very breath is in his hand, just like that everyone in the world could stop breathing and it’d be over. Who’s sovereign? And “the wicked plots against the righteous,” when they plot against the righteous they’re plotting against the God to whom the righteous belong. That’s why, because we’re righteous, that’s why we’re righteous. The Lord laughs, He sees his day is coming, their doom is settled, the wicked have drawn the bow, they’ve cast down the afflicted, the needy, they slay the upright, the sword will enter their own heart. In other words, all that they have planned for the destruction of the righteous will just result in their destruction.

Some of the commentators, it referred to David and Goliath and David cutting off the head of Goliath with Goliath’s own sword. That’s what the wicked…, they plot all kinds of things but they can’t win, because they can’t overthrow God. “Better is the little of the righteous,” verse 16, “than the abundance of many wicked.” I would rather be poor and belong to the Lord, be destitute in this physical world than be one of the wicked that was on the list of the most wealthy in the world. “The arms of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD sustains the righteous.” In other words, they fight with swords, they fight with bows, but if their arms are broken what are they going to do? They hang limp and useless, that’s the point, they’re rendered inoperative. “But the LORD sustains the righteous,” you see, He’s in control.

“The Lord knows the days of the blameless and their inheritance will be forever” and they’ll make it through the difficult times he’s talking about, “but the wicked,” verse 20, “will perish; the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures, they vanish -- like smoke they vanish away.’ Remember Ecclesiastes, (the sound of a breath), in this life, the things of this life, the people of this life, it’s all temporal, the things they acquire they pass away. They fight their old…, and I look and I see there are people as old as I am…, and they’re fighting for power, they’re struggling to get this, that. They don’t think about, you know, that in a few short years I’m going to be gone. They’re piling up wealth, for what? You know, you’ll shortly be gone. We as believers can forget that because the pressure of the world keeps telling us, you’re insecure, look at you. What are you? Look at us we have it all, and they’re like that ox going to slaughter wearing a ribbon around its neck or a medal for being the best. You’re going to the slaughterhouse, you’re doomed, that’s the day. Our inheritance will be forever, verse 18. The wicked will perish, they vanish like the smoke, verse 20.

“The wicked borrows and does not pay back.” This isn’t a verse about the danger of debt. One commentator took a couple of pages to go off on why debt. Debt is a different subject. The point here is the wicked are being deceitful, unjust, unfair, they take your money with no intention of paying you back. That’s the point, it’s their dishonesty in it all and sometimes you suffer for it. You know somebody may have embezzled; somebody took something that was yours. They sell stuff. Maybe somebody got in, and they took the title to your house and you just hear this stuff on advertisements. The wicked borrows and does not pay back, but the righteous is gracious and gives. In other words, we want to live fairly and justly in the world and we want to be generous and helpful. The wicked are the opposite, they’re in it for themselves, it’s all about me, and I’ll use you for my benefit, and that’s the point. They borrow but they don’t pay back and they never did intend it, they were just doing it for themselves. I was watching the news where a guy took the money given to one of the charities and spent close to three quarters of a million dollars to buy expensive stuff. He’s using it for himself, that’s the world, that’s the point, but the blessed of the Lord “will inherit the land, but those cursed by Him will be cut off,” verse 22).

You see how we keep coming back to that line and it’s clear. Keep your mind clear, that’s where it is, it doesn’t put the whole line of those who are somewhere in-between. The blessed by Him will inherit the land, the cursed by Him will be cut off. You see that in the judgment of the sheep and the goats for example, there’s no middle ground. “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way.” I think that He in the second line there should be a small (h), you know, there are no capital letters to identify you’re talking about God or so on in the passage, so it’s a subjective thing. I think God establishes our steps, we delight in His way, because verse 4 told us we delight ourselves in the Lord, so our steps are guided by the Lord.

Well, then how could I be frustrated, I delight in His way. This is what He’s appointed for me, days appointed for me, and what He has appointed for the day. It may not be what I would have appointed for myself because we’d make it…, you know, we like it easy and comfortable, and we don’t have to reject that. I don’t have to live like some people do; some believers do in some parts of the world. They have to live the life God’s given them. I don’t want to be selfish with my life, but sometimes people take these passages and exalt being poor, Roman Catholicism is great for that, somehow the poor… But the poor in spirit…, we’re talking about the spiritual condition. But obviously, those who have less can be more vulnerable and believers can be in that situation.

I love verse 24, if we didn’t get any farther, I wanted to get here, ‘When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong.” This is the man whose steps are guided by the Lord, and he delights in walking. This is an opportunity, this may be a challenge, but this is what the Lord has. Lord, I’m in this with You. I’m not alone. I have the promise that my Lord said He’d never leave me or forsake me, and in the next verse, when he falls, that doesn’t mean there’s not going to be stumbles. Marilyn and I were following a young couple with a little boy, he was old enough to be walking. The father is holding the hand and, you know, the father can walk along, the little kid’s feet are going and they’re scraping and then sometimes, you know, they hit a bump. They’re feet can stumble, but the father’s holding the hand, that’s the picture here, we stumble.

James says, we all stumble in many ways. Israel stumbled but you know what God says? Israel stumbled but not so that they would fall on their face, if I can paraphrase it, He’s not done with them. They didn’t have a fatal fall, they had a stumble, and there are serious consequences for their stumble they are still enduring. But we’ve read the last chapter, victory. So here we are, we’re going through life, it’s difficult, it’s hard, and sometimes I stumble when I find myself fretting and worrying and I’ve got to stop, but the Lord’s got my hand. The believer never fails fatally, He who has begun a good work in you will continue to bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus, Paul wrote to the Philippians in chapter 1. I have to remember that; Lord, I fail, You don’t! I stumble, what a picture, He’s got me by the hand. Why should I worry, why should I fret? He’s got me by the hand.

You know, that little kid doesn’t have to worry, his father’s got his hand, as long as the father is holding on to him. And the fathers holding on to him tight because the father knows what’s coming up. The kid doesn’t, he’s oblivious, he can get distracted in a 1,000 different ways, but God has ordained my steps. I just want to be careful to walk as close to Him and as He would have me walk. Pick up your feet, watch where you’re going. I did obey His word, but He’s got my hand and I’ll stumble, but I won’t fall because I have His promise: “When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the one who holds his hand.” Then he says, I am old, I was young, now I’m old. We don’t know how old David was, he was younger than I was, because he died at 70 scripture tell us, but he’s old and he’s had a tough life, you know, he’s a warrior, a fighter, his body is worn out. So we don’t know how old, he’s somewhere maybe in his sixties when he writes this, but he says, all I can say is the Lord has been faithful. He’s always faithful so depart from evil and do good. The Lord loves justice, He will not forsake His godly ones, they are preserved forever.

And that’s where we stop, you have to read the rest, you’ll find he’s reminding the same thing. This is wisdom, this is how we live, it’s just not something we read and say, well, that’s interesting. I take it in and this just gives me the wisdom to live day by day. I don’t know what’s going to come into your life tomorrow, I don’t know what’s going to come into my life tomorrow. I have certain plans already but those plans could change quickly and I’ll find a way. I don’t know, but God knows. If I stay close to Him he holds my hand. I want to live wisely, keep my perspective, not allow the world to shape my thinking but the word of God to shape my thinking. That gives me stability and carries me through.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your word. Lord, a psalm written some 3,000 years ago but it’s eternal truth. A truth that David had the privilege to experience and live out and, Lord, a truth that we are to apply and live out. That we might live wisely, and have the delight and joy and satisfaction of living confidently, fully assured that You the One who has begun the work of perfecting in us will bring it to full completion in the day of Christ. We commit this day and the days before us to You in Christ’s name. Amen.

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