Cultivate faithfulness

Psalm 37 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.

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.

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.

David, the psalmist writes this and other psalms not simply as an expression of his faith, not as one hoping and trusting in an unseen, far off God. Rather his words are the result of a life lived in communion and fellowship with God. This psalm was written when David was older. He says: I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread.     David’s life was filled with ups and downs He rose from the obscurity of a lowly shepherd to become king of Israel. Throughout his life there were great victories, like when he defeated the giant Goliath. There were also difficulties and crushing defeats, having Saul, whom he served loyally hunt him down to kill him and having his own son take the throne from him.

Through the highest of highs or the lowest of lows, David’s faith and trust in God never wavered. His was a faith that was born in the lonely hours watching his flock as he prayed and worshipped God. It was a faith that was forged and strengthened by trusting and seeking God in difficulties and trials. Probably the best description of the foundation of David’s faith can be seen in words which God Himself spoke to Saul, the king, concerning David.    The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." (1 Samuel 13:14) That David was a man after God’s heart has a double meaning. He was, as we all are created in the image and likeness of God. His and our hearts are meant to be like God’s. But David pursued the heart of God. The likeness of God was formed in him through the fellowship and communion David had with God.

In verses 3 and 4 of today’s text David says: 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.    Faith is something we have as we “Trust in the Lord”  Hebrews 11:1 says: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.     Faith is spiritual, it is not based on things in this physical realm. Faith requires that we trust God and believe that what He says, He will do even when the physical evidence and circumstances say otherwise. We can pray, like the disciples, “increase our faith.” We can like the father of the deaf and mute child cry out to the Lord saying:   “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”(Mark 9:24) We can ask that our faith be strengthened and increased. But really it is not about the size or amount of our faith, Jesus says:    “Truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”  It is not the size of our faith but the object of our faith that matters. Notice what the psalmist says:   Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.  While faith is spiritual, faithfulness is something that must be cultivated in the physical realm, by the way we live, in the way we dwell in the land.  David says:     Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.      In order to, like David, have a heart like God’s heart, we must like David delight in the Lord. We must seek His fellowship, we must worship and commune with Him, in good times and bad. We cultivate faithfulness by daily choosing to walk with God.

There is not enough time to reflect on all the promises and provision of God which the psalmist expresses. We could spend a day on each line. Read Psalm 37, meditate on it and allow the words of the psalmist to become part of your heart.   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    Allow this psalm to be your prayer and let it become the declaration of your heart, a heart like David’s after, in pursuit of the heart of God.  In Psalm 91, another psalm declaring David’s trust in the security of the Lord, he says:  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”    It is in dwelling and abiding in God that we have the security of His promises and provision. We should not think that we can wait until the difficult times and know Him well enough to trust Him. We should not think it okay to give God just a small part of our day and our heart. We must cultivate faithfulness. It is only as we dwell in Him as we abide in Him and His faithfulness that our faithfulness grows, that our heart becomes like His.  

Psalm 37 ends: 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.

Thank You Lord Jesus, You are my salvation and my righteousness. Holy Spirit guide me and lead me as I cultivate faithfulness, dwelling in this land, this physical realm. I yield to You Holy Spirit, the indwelling and abiding presence of God in me. My desire heavenly Father is to, like David, be one who is after Your heart. I am created in Your image and likeness and through the cross I have been redeemed, reconciled and restored to that likeness. The pursuit of Your heart is my desire, that I might walk in the fullness of Your promises, Your provision and Your calling in my life.   Amen.