Help I am falling...
Psalm 37
Security of Those Who Trust in the Lord, and Insecurity of the Wicked.
A Psalm of David.
37 Do not fret because
of evildoers,
Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
2 For they will wither quickly like the grass
And fade like the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate 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 also in Him, and He will do it.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your
judgment as the noonday.
7 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.
8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
9 For evildoers
will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
10 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.
11 But
the humble will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.
12 The
wicked plots against the righteous
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
13 The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees his day is coming...
23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
24 When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.
25 I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have
not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his descendants begging bread.
26 All day long he is gracious and lends,
And his descendants are a blessing.27 Depart from evil and do good,
So you will abide forever.
28 For the Lord loves justice
And does not forsake His godly ones;
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.
29 The righteous
will inherit the land
And dwell in it forever.
30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
And
his tongue speaks justice.
31 The law of his God is in his heart;
His steps do not slip.
32 The wicked spies upon the righteous
And seeks to kill him.
33 The
Lord will not leave him in his hand
Or let him be condemned when he is judged.
34 Wait
for the Lord and keep His way,
And He will exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you will
see it...
39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
He is their strength in time of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and delivers
them;
He delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
Because they take refuge in Him.
Psalm 37 has always been one of my favorites. Like many people I often turn to the Psalms when I am discouraged or struggling. I find encouragement and comfort in many of the Psalms and in particular those written by David. David was a man who experienced greatness and great sorrows in his life. He went from lowly shepherd to king. Throughout his life he had many people who followed him as leader and many who persued him to kill him. His life experiences and the emotional highs and lows that went with them are often expressed in his Psalms. You'll notice in the copy above that I have skipped over a few verses at several spots. The heading at the beginning of the passage says, the security of those who trust in the Lord, the insecurity of the wicked. For todays reflection I have left out as much of the reference to the wicked as possible.
David does begin the Psalm with a reference to evil/wrong doers and their destiny, but he quickly turns his focus to God and how we should relate to Him. Verse 3 says to trust in the Lord, to dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. This idea of a need to cultivate faithfulness is both an exhortation and an encouragement. The encouragement is for ourselves personally to know that walking through life's difficult times requires that we allow our faith to grow and that day by day we cultivate this faithfulness in ourselves. The exhortation is that as we "do good" and dwell in the land we will also help to cultivate faithfulness in others. God's faithfulness needs no cultivation. He is always faithful. It is our faith and the faith of those around us that needs to grow.
Verse 4, I believe is a foundational verse for every believer to work toward in their life. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. This is not God's reward system for spending time in worship and prayer. It doesn't mean that we get everything we want. It is so much better than that. So often we don't know what is really good for us, so what we want isn't what we need or should have. But as we delight in God, we are changed our wishes and desires become more and more in line with His will. The result is that He actually causes us to desire what He desires.
In verses 23-26, David emphasizes the protection and provision God supplies to those who love Him. He says though we stumble we will not fall headlong. Have you ever seen a young child running and cringed as they stumbled and fell, coming up bloodied on knees, hands and face. You wish you could have been there to catch them and prevent the hurt. That's what the Psalmist is saying God will do for us. We may stumble and lose our footing for a time, but if we are walking with and trusting God, He will not allow us to fall.
In verses 29-34, he talks of inheiriting the land. For us our true inheiritence is not in this earthly realm. Our inheiritence is in and with God. It is in gaining all that He has for us now and in eternity.
39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
He is their strength
in time of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and delivers them;
He
delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
Because they take refuge in Him.
The Lord is our strength and our salvation. He will help us and deliver us. Because we take refuge in Him.
Trust in Him. Cultivate faithfulness in your life. Delight in Him, spending time talking to Him, listening to Him, just resting in His presence. The desire of your heart, the inheiritence you have in Him, will become yours. Though you may feel as though you are falling, He will catch you. Call out to Him, like Peter did when he started to sink walking to Jesus on the water, call out " Lord save me ". He will deliver you.
Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus. Holy Spirit, Thank you for your word that encourages and exhorts. Thank you for those who have walked difficult paths before us and speak to us through their testimony and Your word. I choose today to trust in you, to delight in you. I find my refuge in You. Catch me when I fall. Thank you for the inheiritence I have in You.
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