Book of Psalms - Psa. 37, vv. 1-4

Okay, well If you would turn to Psalm 37, we won't get very far since we're getting kind of a late start

We certainly weren't gonna get through the entire Psalm anyway, because it's 40 verses So it's a good long one

This Psalm was written Sometime it's estimated between 1010 and 970

BC This is of course written by King David The evidence for it being around that time is contained within the psalm

In verse 25 of the psalm when it tells us That he was young and now he's old

So this is in King David's later years During the

United Monarchy and he's essentially reflecting on his experiences

Throughout life with internal strife political turmoil even things such as Absalom's Rebellion and the theme of this psalm though it kind of reads like a proverb because it's

It's not easy to just dissect into sections But it does have a theme in the overarching theme of the psalm is trusting in the

Lord and in his wisdom and Contrasting that trust in the

Lord With the prosperity of the wicked which they gain often temporarily through trust in themselves

But it is soon cut off. And so that's what we're going to be going through probably for the next couple of weeks

Maybe maybe even three or four weeks. We'll see this is kind of one of the longer psalms that we've done being 40 verses long and so If you will just turn to psalm 37 and we will get started here.

Oh, I accidentally clicked off of it Pull that back up Closing down all the windows that were popped up and accidentally closed down my

My window with the verses in it Okay, psalm 37 a psalm of David Threaten not thyself because of evildoers

Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity So the beginning of the song

It starts with a command To not do something and that is to fret

In other words, just don't be angry That's the connotation the word fret.

Here's don't be angry Because of evildoers, I think sometimes as Christians We try really hard.

We seem to you know We're not perfect. We seem to falter here and there but we really we try

I was listening to Joe Rogan the other day. It was just a clip of him talking about his opinion of Christianity, I don't believe

Joe Rogan is saved. I believe his His viewpoint of Christianity has changed a lot over the years and What he used to mock he now seems to have great respect for and one of the things that he says about Church in particular going to church.

He was talking with some of his friends that very obviously don't go to church and They were discussing who did he have on his?

can't remember who it was he was Interviewing at the time, but The the concept of the

Ten Commandments came up. He said hey pull pull up the Ten Commandments. I haven't read those in a while and Then One of his buddies said something and he's like, oh, we're gonna we're gonna have church today or something.

He's like what you've been to church You gone to church lately. He's like, huh? I haven't got a church.

He said it's actually kind of nice So it's a bunch of people. It's a good vibe. They're all they're just trying to be better people and I Mean that's maybe part of it, right?

It's not certainly not the the point of church the point of church is to gather together and to worship the

Lord and through that worship And through carrying that worship out throughout the week it should result in us being experientially better But I just thought it was an interesting viewpoint it's like an outside looking in type viewpoint so Others can see that there is something different and we know that there is something different about us and we try to be different and Yet, sometimes things just don't go well for us

Sometimes it seems like everything goes well for them and that can be frustrating especially for someone trying to be good and Just doesn't seem to be working out like life is still hard for us

It might make us a little bit upset at the ones that life doesn't seem to be hard for oh

Like that Edith like that upset yes Hi But I mean

Sam oh you're you've been going to school and there some kids that try pretty hard to be good

There are some kids that don't try hard to be good and the ones that don't try hard to be good are often the ones that seem to be enjoying life, you know and and people tend to Like them because they bring a lot of attention to themselves and stuff and they seem like they have a lot of influence

Sam and I were talking about this the other day and how Sometimes it feels like we don't have much influence feels like we try and No one listens

You know, we try to we try to be a good influence on the people around us No one listens. They listen to the ones that are bad influences that can be frustrating the very first command in this

Psalm is To let that go don't fret because of the evildoers and Don't be jealous when others seem to get away with the evil that they do

Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity if you'll recall what iniquity is

It's sin, but it's like it's stubborn continuance in sin and so we see people that just keep doing the same thing over and over and they keep getting away with it and it can frustrate us it can we can even almost have a

Sense of envy not that we want to do the things that they're doing but we certainly would like to not be under the magnifying glass as much as as We tend to be like if we mess up and we're known as Christian, ah, you messed up Oh the one that's a goody -two -shoes not so good anymore now and the ones that just continue continually

Do bad they don't seem to be under the microscope quite so much people don't call them out on stuff as much

That can be a frustrating thing. But the very first thing we're told is like let all of that go

And then we're told why we should let it go verse 2 for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb

Kind of like saying they'll get what's coming to them. Like they are going to reap what they sow and What's frustrating to us is that?

We don't see the reaping all we see is the sowing and it seems like the reaping doesn't match the sowing and the reason why that's frustrating to us is

Because we too are flawed people and we are impatient We want instant gratification in everything in life.

I Was listening to a psychologist the other day talking about Why it is possible?

for a kid to play two hours of video games and It's just like time flew by I mean this happens with Sam.

Oh, right it's like where'd the two hours go daddy said I only get two hours and feels like I just started and Then when it comes to homework

Ten minutes and it feels like an eternity and in the psychologist was explaining why that's happening

He said because in the video game There is instant

Results and instant consequences like if you make one misstep Mario falls off the cliff, you know, and he dies instant feedback for the choice that you made you chose to push the button a little late and got her and Kids crave instant feedback as most adults do as well.

Whereas with the homework There's not an instant result You do the homework Then you have to turn it in Then you have to wait for the grade and by the time you get the grade you've already done other homework and you've forgotten

What the grade was all about you forgotten what half of what you learned he said this is especially tough on people with ADHD because their their focus is

Constantly being flipped back and forth back and forth. So being able to focus for a long time to see the result

Just ultra hard So we're a people that are impatient for results

We we want instant feedback It's actually one of the things that we tell people is quite appealing about stock trading is it

Often you get instant feedback. If you if you make a mistake the very next day you're losing money, you know

So When we see people doing evil and not reaping the reward of evil

It frustrates us because we don't get the instant feedback that we'd like to see and Yet the world is quick to give us instant feedback when we mess up It just doesn't seem fair And it's like I've always told my kids.

We don't really want fair fair means we're all dying and going to hell We get good we get goodness instead of fairness

Satan actually wants what's fair If you think about it, he he knows that we've sinned and he wants to accuse us and And it's not fair that we don't

Get the reward for sin because Jesus has taken that reward for us upon himself so We're told that that will come though.

The reaping will come Those who are doing evil they will soon

Be cut off and it's interesting that it says soon because that That lets us know it is coming quickly.

It just doesn't come as fast as we seem to think it should But when it comes it will be

Instant Spurgeon says the grass can't get away from the mower and it's

Instant it's like there's tall grass and then the tall grass is completely destroyed

In a fraction of a second. It's gone Wish it was like the whole yard because it does take a little longer than a fraction of second for all the grass and all the yard to go down but the reason we should be okay, and Not let it frustrate us.

Is that their end is coming? So instead of being fretful and instead of being envious, we're then told what we're supposed to do

We are supposed to verse 3 trust in the Lord and Do good so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed now the word trust here denotes a carelessness

It's almost like When you jump in the bed, right you kick your feet up you flop right down in the bed

Did I just drop something my keys? You know You flop right down on the bed and you don't really worry about the bed breaking

It's It's not something that it typically Your is your first thought you lay down on the bed now if the bed creaks or something then you might be like, oh goodness.

I remember one time I was At our national basketball tournament and we were in a hotel and one of the guys we got back to the hotel room and He just he just jumped right up and flopped on the bed it broke right in half literally in half just We're like, oh my goodness.

There was another time when Matt came in and and scared me at my house He snuck in on me

And I was in Maddie's room and I literally jumped up lit in the air he got me good

Jumped in the air turned around and nearly kicked him I was like I was full -on jiu -jitsu mode and I was doing a drop kick and fell on Maddie's bed and Crack right in half her bed broken half

Maddie doesn't remember this you can go look at your bed and there you'll see where I glued it all back together

I Mean I was going full -on jiu -jitsu mode and had no

I Had no thought to land on my feet with the kick I was doing. I just thought

I'll land on the bed be fine Did not expect the bed to crack. I was a little careless there you might say

Well, we're supposed to be careless with the Lord. We're supposed to kick back. We're supposed to completely trust

We're supposed to expect that he'll catch us and the nice thing is he's not gonna break

But that trust should be coupled with something it should be coupled with action you don't just trust that God takes care of everything and Will do everything as well.

He will take care of it He he could do it but it's like what brother

Myron says He won't do your part and you can't do his part. So you do your part and you trust that he will do his

So then like what does that look like? What does it look like to do our part? That's kind of what this chapter is really all about it starts with Understanding that it's not all in your hands

But there is a part you play So the part that you can't control is the part that you have to leave to him

That's the part you have to let go of you can't control what evildoers are doing this is a one of the things that my parents always taught me growing up is

Beach and I'd get in trouble, you know, and we'd be fighting and And It turned into a big blow -up or something and I'd always invariably end up Later like if pop got home and heard about it or or if he was there to witness it

I'd be Outside or in a room with pop and Every single time

I got this What could you have done different? Well, she did this and she did that. Well, hold on.

Hold on. That wasn't my question What could you have done different? I don't know Well, you should have been thinking about what you could have done different because you're the only one that you can control

You can't control what Barbara does you can only control what you do? And so I've tried to as much as that was frustrating to me as a kid.

I've tried to use the exact same approach with my kids and saying like You could have done something different and then turn around to the other end what could you have done different When we trust in the

Lord We understand that there is a part that we do and there's a part that he does and there's a part that the other person

Does and if the other person doesn't do their part, that's not really necessarily on us They're going to answer to God for it and we can't control

What they do we can try and man loves to do that we try to manipulate we try to keep control we try to finagle things

Try to pressure people to do certain things And usually that just ends up creating more strife

So we start by trusting in the Lord and then we do and the doing that we do should be good doing it should be righteous doing and The result of that will be that we will dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed

So the question is do you trust God for the justice that you seek from other people or for other people?

You trust him for the justice if you do It'll help with the enviousness.

Is that even a word enviousness envy? It'll help with the envy. I think it's just how you say it It'll help with the envy it'll help with the fretting

And so do you trust that one? He'll bring the justice and two he'll bring provision for you because often the reason why it's so frustrating to us is that it affects

It affects us negatively in some way shape form or fashion. And so you you've got to trust that They will get what's coming to them some way somehow and That God will provide for you

Now there's a trap here, too You don't get to assume that you know what they get

You don't get to assume that what's coming to them is what you think it should be either Because you might think they should be absolutely punished and destroyed for what they've done or what they're doing or what they've planned on doing and And so you have it in your in your heart and mind that there is a punishment that they deserve and they should get if You're waiting for the

Lord to do that It's the wrong kind of waiting because then you're Jonah that's that was

Jonah Jonah was the these people don't deserve mercy and then because of that Jonah didn't do his part the way he was told to do it and So then

Jonah experienced some frustration and some chastisement

And ultimately ended up doing what God told him to do and getting exactly what he didn't want to have happen for the people of Nineveh Yes Yeah They're looking

Yeah Yep.

Yep, and that's the thing.

So I really like what you said there because You you mentioned God gets what he he wills to have happen from Jonah See, I think there's a lie

That spreads in the church. Well, if you don't do it, God will get someone else to no You're the one he's called to do it.

And if you don't do it You'll you'll either experience a lot of frustration until you do it or it wasn't really in his will for you to ever do it

It was just in his will for you to learn the hard way that you should have done it And it doesn't mean that God's going to have to get someone else

I think the trap is that belief because that gives us well, it's not like it's not gonna get done

You know that I might if I don't do it at least it'll still get done. God will make sure it gets done.

Yes, sir Okay. Well, then

I stand corrected because if Revelation says that another man will get your reward But that doesn't mean a change of plans on God's part though Right Okay, I think that's a very good way to stay precise about it

It's not that the plan changed and God switched to someone else. The plan was always that the other guy was gonna get it but From the human viewpoint.

That's what it is. The human viewpoint is that you lost a reward in the process From the father's viewpoint.

It was always the other guy's reward, but you have to look at things from both viewpoints Yep, which is why in this song we were getting told from a very old and experienced wise king

That you got to keep the main thing the main thing, which is do good do your part

You know, like don't fret about what the other people are doing do what you know, you're supposed to do

And then ultimately you'll get you the justice will be served the way God sees fit to serve it and You will be provided for so don't worry about it.

So then if it starts with trust moves into doing but It elevates from there it moves into delighting verse 4 delight thyself also in the

Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart The word delight here means to be soft dainty

Delicate It's the opposite of having a hardened heart

Being open to the Lord's leading Being soft to what he commands you to do think of Jonah again.

He was being stubborn He's being hard hard -headed one might say and like Colin correctly pointed out

He was the only one in the whole story that wouldn't turn to God which is ironic because he was God's man Which just goes to show like this is the operation of God, right?

Yes. Mm -hmm.

Oh, yeah, they're fretting for sure Well and think about that that goes right along with what

David was saying. I Wonder if they get the reward You know for it for begrudgingly doing the thing likely not

Yep. Uh -huh, right.

Yep, then your house isn't in order

Mm -hmm. Yeah It's small and yet impactful the immediate surroundings

Yep, haven't had time to do it

Yeah Maddie understands this metaphor way better than I do but It is absolutely well, and here's what's good about it is like Take that thought the intention

Might I Would say might be Good at least from the human viewpoint is like I want to have a big impact for God That's that's the desire of my heart.

Yeah So this is a an example of finagling which is okay

I need to have a big impact so I need to go do all the things that would give me more influence and yet Now I'm neglecting the things that God's given me and I've not done well with little so then

I don't have the blessing of much and then it's just a frustrating experience because I'm trying to go get all this influence and then someone goes and looks at my disobedient kid in that Scenario, right because I didn't yeah the pastor's kids

The the stereotypical pastor's kids Colin and I we rolled the dice and roll, you know,

I'm married into some pastor kids family But uh

Well, we we had it fortunately a pastor that kept his house in order here but but so then

It's a lack of trust that the things that we desire to do for the Lord That influence we think we gain it through our doing but it comes through his doing

Like we do what we do our part. Our part is not to grow our influence. Our part is to do

Well with the influence he's given us and then he can grow our influence

Yes, sir. Mm -hmm. Yes and The feedback that you get now might be on the part that you're neglecting and so Let's say you did get immediate feedback might not be the feedback you'd expect.

Oh, but I've been doing all these things out here I've been staying busy for the Lord. And yeah, but you you're neglecting your household

Like if the Lord came back and saw that You might be found wanting right?

Okay Mm -hmm Exactly.

Yep Yeah, there's a delayed gratification there too like yes

Yeah Yeah, right Mm -hmm.

This is really good. Oh, maybe did you want to add something? Yeah, maybe well, that's a good that's a good thought so think of all of this right all of the the doing and the frustration that we experience the fretting because we're doing the potluck and no one appreciates the potluck or whatever and then reread verse 4

We're not even really reading that. We should be delighting in what the little things that we do

It says delight thyself also in the Lord It's not delighting in the doing at all.

It's delighting in the relationship that you have with the Lord and that brings rest which we'll see a little bit later like it brings a peaceful mindset

Which when you operate from a peaceful restful mindset You operate in a much higher level like you can you can perform way better in a basketball game

Time is ticking down. You've got just a couple of seconds left You have to take a shot at the end to win the game

You still have to do your part and then you have to trust that the Lord wills that your team will win

You've got to let go of the ball and let it fly through the air And If you are worrying about missing the shot it is exactly what you'll do if you're worrying about the doing in and of itself and in basketball games,

I used to find myself especially in a very Back and forth. I loved

I Loved the excitement of that. I reveled in the in the

The Wondering if we would win or not It was exciting to me and even if we lost if it was close against a real good team

I felt like that was one of the best games ever I'd be upset that we lost but I learned at an early age to let go of the result and so I could take the shot at the end of the game and I could breathe and I could just let it fly and Often times he'd go in and I wouldn't even be surprised because I was like, well,

I'm God's favorite Of course, we're gonna win, right? Like I don't have to worry about it.

And sometimes it'd be shocking when we when I'd miss me like, ah Well, he wants me to play better the rest of the game.

So next time I'll play better the rest of the game, you know and When you when you operate from a place of letting go of the result letting go of the doing you still have to do it

But you operate with a better mindset and it allows you to perform at a much higher level So you delight thyself not so much in the doing but in the watching

God do the doing and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart

But I really wanted to win that game God. That was my desire my heart Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm. Yes, and there's a lie.

There's a lie from the world and even in the church that Well, it doesn't matter what you want

You just do what God tells you to do and And it'll be fine, you know or and now

Christians get to the point where they go. Um, I Feel like I should do this thing

But if I give myself completely over to God and I just I don't want to be a missionary

I don't want to go live in Africa. You know, I don't want to do this sound familiar. Maddie Grace. I have these other desires and When you are delighting yourself in the relationship with the

Lord He might make you want to do that. He might make you desire it.

I promise you that That once Jonah found himself in the in the belly of the the fish there came a point at which his desires changed and he was like I Want to go

I'll do it you send me and the Lord changed his want to and then of course

He didn't He didn't like the outcome. Oh, he didn't he didn't really want to do he did it begrudgingly

He was mad at the end. No, he wanted to do it because he was tired of being in the belly of the fish It's like the whole like I didn't want to clean my room

Yes, you did. You didn't want the spanking if you didn't clean your room You didn't want to get in trouble.

So you did what you wanted people always do what they want It's just there are different levels of want, you know

You desire you desire this thing this outcome more than the other outcome

That's a very powerful Principle by the way, if you can learn to make yourself want to do things that you previously didn't want to do by Understanding what happens when you don't do the thing by thinking about the thing what would happen if you don't do the thing it can

Help motivate you to do the thing So the Lord may change the desire of your heart and make you want to go to Africa Oh that scares me.

It shouldn't scare you because you'll want to do it or You can continue to delight yourself in the

Lord and if you still have the desire to get married have eight kids live on a farm and all of that then

Guess what? Maybe that's the desire God wants in your heart. And so you don't worry about it.

You just worry about Delighting in him Because he will give you the desire of your heart

In fact Spurgeon says it's like when you have someone who's delighting in the Lord It is safe for the

Lord to give you carte blanche Whatever you want blank check you name it. I'll do it because if of exactly what

Katie just stated our desires will begin to align with his and So, of course, he'll do it for us.

He wanted to do it from the start so It goes from trusting that it will be okay

God will take care of it to us doing but not just doing in a begrudgingly sense but doing in a delighted sense be be

Excited to do because you're doing for the glory of God not because you love the thing you're doing but because you love the

Lord you're doing it for and Then it elevates from there commit thy way unto the

Lord Which is now I'm gonna be happy that I'm doing this thing for God, but I'm also gonna be very intentional

About the way I'm gonna do it for God. I'm going to be focused

I'm gonna I'm gonna put energy into this. I'm not just gonna be like, okay. Yay. I get to do the thing.

That's fun I'm going to go. Well, how can I do it the very best I possibly can? How can

I plan ahead for it commit? Myself not just be willing but be committed to seeing it through The word commit here means to roll

And thy way means down the road I'm gonna roll this thing down the road and that's not like kicking the can down the road by the way

That's different kicking the can down the road as I'll get to it. Eventually Rolling is like you imagine like this giant rock

That you're going to try and push We think that what we're doing might be a little bit more difficult

Might be small like Ashton described But it could be tedious

Making sandwiches she makes a lot of sandwiches. She's got a lot of mouths to feed She makes the bread for the city doesn't just make the sandwich.

She commits her way She makes the she goes excellence. I'm gonna even like make the bread for the sandwiches

If Maddie was gonna do this She'd figure out how to grow a mustard tree and and then figure out how to make the mustard

Seeds all like she'd do the whole nine yards. She'd be very committed and We were just talking about this with with Maddie Grace she'll

She'll look at something and it doesn't matter how big of a task it is. She's like, oh I can do that In fact, she looks for the harder tasks.

She's like I want a real complicated recipe because She's committed and she's gonna make even the seemingly small things for the

Lord out to be a big thing She's gonna roll that thing. She's gonna roll with it. She's gonna she's gonna make that like a snowball

It's gonna get bigger and bigger for the Lord. It's awesome and Look at what it couples this commitment with trust also in him right back to trust

It's the same word for trust by the way the exact same word of as previously because like You could get overwhelmed with how much you're trying to take on Like okay,

I'm doing I'm saying yes to a lot of people right now I'm making sure that a lot is getting done and I have a lot of responsibilities left to do

I've been reading this chapter while going through a very busy week for me. I had a whole lot to do and I could have let it all just overwhelm me at some point and admittedly a couple of times

I started to get a little overwhelmed so I just read through this again and and the reality is I Have to trust that God doesn't just want me to do the thing

But that he'll give me the capacity to get it done. And guess what? Everything got done So it's okay you can do a lot more than you think you can because the

Lord has he's he's enabled us to do more than we ever thought we could and So commit thy way into the

Lord trust also in him and look the result is not dependent on you

And he shall bring it to pass We think I gotta do it all or it won't get done ties right back to earlier, oh it will get done and Maybe someone else gets the blessing because you were unwilling to trust the

Lord and actually do it But it will get done. He brings it to pass you don't

You don't get the glory. You don't get the credit and people who are always seeking the credit they think

They deserve the credit when in reality apart from the Lord you can do nothing

We're out of time so we will pick back up next week with that concept What does it mean?

For us to be willing to do be delighting in the doing Be committed to the doing trusting the

Lord in that doing and yet He's doing the doing

Like how does how does that look? So that's what we'll talk about next week. Any other thoughts before we wrap it up?

Mm -hmm, and that's one of the verses we'll have for next week for for shares apart from me.

You can do nothing Okay. Well Let's pray Heavenly Father.

We thank you so much for The capacity to do good Lord help us to trust in you

And to do just that help us to do good help us to Delight in the doing that you have us do not so much because we like the doing

Maybe we don't maybe it's a it's something it's a labor of love some might say

But help us to do it out of love for you. Help us to do it because we want you to be pleased with us

Lord help us to be patiently looking for the work that you would have us do patiently work looking for the result you would

Give to us and help us not worry about those who might get in our way those who might try to frustrate us

Listening to Erica Kirk the other day. She said that she's She feels like Nehemiah Rebuilding the wall and the townspeople keep telling them come down and he says

I can't I'm still busy I'm working Lord. Help us have that kind of mentality when people try to distract us

Slow us down help us to instead just say too busy too busy working for the

Lord. I Have a task to complete Lord help us to be like that and help us to not be weary in well -doing often

We have been and often it's because we think we need some kind of result right here right now

Let us let go of that and help us to instead just trust you or we love you. It's in your name