He delights in his way

Psalm 37 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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. ¹⁴ The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy, To slay those who are upright in conduct. ¹⁵ Their sword will enter their own heart, And their bows will be broken.

¹⁶ Better is the little of the righteous Than the abundance of many wicked.
¹⁷ For the arms of the wicked will be broken, But the Lord sustains the righteous.
¹⁸ The Lord knows the days of the blameless, And their inheritance will be forever.
¹⁹ They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, And in the days of famine they will have abundance. ²⁰ But the wicked will perish; And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures, They vanish—like smoke they vanish away. ²¹ The wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives. ²² For those blessed by Him will inherit the land, But those cursed by Him will be cut off.

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.

³⁵ I have seen a wicked, violent man
Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil.
³⁶ Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more;
I sought for him, but he could not be found.
³⁷ Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright;
For the man of peace will have a posterity.
³⁸ But transgressors will be altogether destroyed;
The posterity of the wicked will be cut off.
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 steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Jeremiah 29:11-13 says:  For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. It is one thing to know that God ordains or establishes our steps, the direction of our life. It is another thing all together to realize that God actually delights in us. God, the creator of the universe delights in us as we follow His way. That is a critical part of the promise and protection that we have in God. He created us with a free will. So while He establishes our steps and there is a plan that He has for each of us, He allows us to choose whether we follow His plan.

The psalmist is comparing the righteous to the unrighteous. He acknowledges what we also often experience, that for a time it seems as though the unrighteous, the evil doer has more earthly success than the one who follows God. The psalm begins: 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. We need to see things from God’s eternal perspective in order to walk in the confidence and assurance of the psalmist. Often it seems to us that evil is in fact winning and there is no end to it. The psalmist says:  The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth.  The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming. In our culture there are many who gnash their teeth at those who walk according to God’s way. Their day is coming. it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27) We should not rejoice at the eventual fate of the unrighteous, we should simply recognize and rest assured that as we trust in God, He will protect us, deliver us, He delights in our way.

The psalmist says:  When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.  I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread.   It is not a question of if we may fall, but when. Things will happen in our lives that will cause us to stumble. Yet when we are walking in the way of the Lord, He is holding our hand. He protects and sustains us. We may not have all the worldly riches, possessions, which fulfill the lust and greed of the unrighteous, but God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

The psalmist encourages us to:  Depart from evil and do good, So you will abide forever.
 For the Lord loves justice… The righteous will inherit the land And dwell in it forever… Wait for the Lord and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land…  the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble.  The Lord helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him.

We have both the promise of protection and provision now and the promise of an eternal inheritance with God, through Christ Jesus.

 Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.  Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.  Thank You Lord. Amen.