“Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday. 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 brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the Lord, They shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, But it shall be no more. But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword And have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy, To slay those who are of upright conduct. Their sword shall enter their own heart, And their bows shall be broken. A little that a righteous man has Is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, But the Lord upholds the righteous. The Lord knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the Lord, Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away. The wicked borrows and does not repay, But the righteous shows mercy and gives. For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth, But those cursed by Him shall be cut off. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand. I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed. Depart from evil, and do good; And dwell forevermore. For the Lord loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, And dwell in it forever. The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart; None of his steps shall slide. The wicked watches the righteous, And seeks to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, Nor condemn him when he is judged. Wait on the Lord, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; The future of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.”
Psalms 37:1-40 NKJV
Are you shouting yet? Did your heart rate go up as you read with excitement the promises of your faithful Father? Did your confidence get a well needed boost? If it didn’t, one of two things is evident. You’re not born again or you’ve allowed someone or something to make you lose your trust in God’s Word. If you’re not born again, then nothing you just read applies to you- but it can! You just need to pray this simple prayer.
Father in Jesus Name I confess I’m a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, that You raised Him from the dead on the third day. I ask you Jesus as an act of my will to come into my heart, I renounce my past receiving Your forgiveness and I will serve You for the rest of my life. Amen
Welcome to the family of God!! For the believers who have lost their trust, fan the embers of forgetting into a roaring flame of trusting. You’ve experienced too much of God’s goodness to allow Satan to rob you of your confidence in God. Read the Psalms again. But this time, read it in faith. Read it out loud. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Doubt and unbelief do not build our faith, hearing and believing the Word does. Shut the news off! Change who you’ve been listening to or hanging with! God has spoken and He means every word.
The opening words are shouting words. FRET NOT! That should’ve made you sit up! Hallelujah! Say out loud: I will not fret! Did you mean that? Well you may say, “I don’t feel different” who asked you to feel? Faith isn’t a feeling, faith is knowing. This is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask- Not if we feel. That’s our problem, we’re always wanting to feel something. Grow up! And start knowing some things about your God. Jesus didn’t die to make us wimps, He died to make us victors. Quit acting like a victim to your circumstances, and go read Hebrews 11. Not one verse begins with “by feeling” it boldly states “BY FAITH!” In other words by trusting. Not in feelings but in the God who never lies and never breaks a promise. They obtained a good report. We too will obtain it if we believe His Word and trust Him.
My God! Every word is a contrast between the righteous and the wicked. God did not parse words. He was straight to the point. Don’t fret about the wicked! Or be envious that he’s doing better than you. It’s an illusion, it won’t last. But what God has for those who trust Him has long term value. We are called to inherit, subdue and overtake. Hallelujah! You can’t feel your way to this, you need bold confidence and trust. There’s blessing in our trusting Him. Listen to what He said. We’re delivered, why? Because we trust Him! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Are you a truster? I know I made up a word, it may not be proper English but it’s great faith. I’ve underlined some power packed promises that if we’ll trust the One who said them, we will be blessed all our living days. Who does it say will bring it to pass? Us? Absolutely not! Our only responsibility is to Trust. He, God, will bring the promises to pass. Jesus Lord hallelujah! I don’t know what you’re thinking or feeling right now, but my spirit man is jumping up and down right about now. I haven’t read this Psalm in a while, so something has been stirred up in me. What have you been believing for? Trust Him! He’s about to cause your righteousness to break out as light. You’re about to be enlightened about some things.
What has seemed elusive is now nearer than you think. Hallelujah! God is doing a quick work. Do you trust Him? Listen to what happens to those who trust. We shall delight ourselves in the abundance of peace. Did you know that you can have peace in abundance? Yup! Jesus demonstrated that to us by sleeping through a tsunami. That’s what an abundance of peace looks like. We refuse to be moved! Hallelujah! The doctor says whatever. We refuse to be moved. The bank account says whatever. We refuse to be moved. Your employer says whatever. We refuse to be moved. Are you getting the picture? Abundance of peace takes over and we delight ourselves in the Lord. Look who’s laughing! Hallelujah! The Lord. Dear departed brother Schambach used to say. “You don’t have no troubles, all you need is faith in God!” He was right then and it’s still right now. All we need to overcome is faith in God. 1 John 5:4
We started with the words fret not. And ended with the words because they trust in Him. Blessed are those who do not fret but trust in the Lord. For they shall live in the abundance of peace. Emphasis mine. The entire Psalms can be summed up in those words. The little that the righteous has is better than all the wealth of the wicked. Why? Our little is blessed. The widow’s mite, Luke 21; the cruse of oil and the cup of flour of the widow who fed Elijah never ran out for three and a half years. 1 Kings 17. Why? Blessed in trusting. We miss out by complaining about what we do not have, instead of shouting and giving thanks for what we do have. Are you fretting? I pray that what you’ve read today will change you from a fretter to a truster. That you’ll be encouraged to increase your measure of faith. You’ve locked it away instead of increasing it. Trusting His Word and acting on it will do that. He has promised, and shall He not perform it? Yes He will!
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant
October 14, 2021