Trust, dwell, delight; overcome

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.

⁷Rest 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.

The psalmist speaks of the ones who are evil having only a short time. He says: 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… Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off… 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.  In reality it often seems as though there is no end to evil or to the prosperity of those who practice it. We need, like the psalmist, to have heaven’s perspective. We need to see as God sees. 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.   God sees from the perspective of eternity. 2 Peter 3:8 says:  Do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.  In the scheme of eternity, thousands and thousands of years, even a lifetime is but a twinkling. In order to have the perspective of heaven, the psalmist says:  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. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.    Faithfulness does not come naturally. It must be cultivated. Part of that cultivating comes in delighting in the Lord. Delighting in the Lord is to spend time in His presence, to focus on His goodness, to worship and praise Him. As we spend time with God, as we delight in His presence and His goodness, as we see things from His eternal perspective, our will becomes aligned with His so that He gives us our hearts desire, not everything the world might want and value, but all that is needed, all that matters in eternity. The psalmist says:  The Lord sustains the righteous. The Lord knows the days of the blameless, And their inheritance will be forever.

The psalmist says:  The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.  I often wonder how my life might have been different, what falling and stumbling I might have avoided, if I was always in step with the Lord. I don’t look back though with regret or guilt. I know that as Romans 8:28-29 says:  God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.    God didn’t cause the difficulties which arose from my stumbling, but He held my hand and caught me. He kept me from being hurled into an eternity without Him. He has caused all the things in my life, the good things and the bad things to work together for good, causing me to become conformed to the image of Jesus, that like Jesus, I would be a child of God and an heir of all that is His.  The psalmist says:  Depart from evil and do good, So you will abide forever.  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. The righteous will inherit the land And dwell in it forever.  The inheritance we have in the Lord is more than the material things of this world. It is all the blessings and promises of the kingdom of heaven.  

The psalmist says: Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright; For the man of peace will have a posterity. In John 16:33 Jesus says:  "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."  We will have difficulties and tribulation in the world. But in the midst of the tribulation, we also can have peace, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7) because in Christ we also overcome. The psalmist concludes:   But 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.   Thank You Lord.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, I do trust in You. I delight in Your presence and in Your goodness. Help me always to see from Your heavenly, eternal perspective. Keep my heart aligned with Your heart. Thank You that even if I stumble or stray from Your ordained path, You hold my hand. You catch me and lift me up. Thank You for the inheritance I have in You, all the blessings and promises of the kingdom of heaven and thank You for the peace that comes from knowing that in Christ I can overcome the tribulation of the world.  Amen.