PSALM 37: 3-9
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. 7. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. 9 For evil doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
FIVE COUNSELS FROM GOD THROUGH DAVID:
- Trust in the Lord – Do not think about doing bad – like smoking joints with friends or drinking at TGIF on Fridays after work with one’s co-workers. Do not worry about being considered a “goody two shoes” or that you will be ostracized on the job and even lose your job. We trust the Lord to keep us employed and solvent. When I started work at one place of employment, six or seven co-workers were laughing at a table in the employees’ dining room as I entered the room. One of them asked me in the midst of his laughter, “Hey Jeff, are we all going to hell?” On another occasion a young fellow employee in her 20’s began dancing in front of me and singing, “I don’t have a soul; I don’t have a soul.” These are modern day counterparts to Acts 16: 17-18 where a girl with a “spirit of divination” (demonic spirit) followed around Paul and Silas and called out repeatedly, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” She was mocking the claims of Paul and Silas. Finally, Paul “cast the spirit out of her.” The Word tells us he was “greatly annoyed.” Despite the occasions of mockery, I was elected to a number of leadership positions over the years by these same hardened unbelievers, but I was not invited to go to TGIF drink-a-thons on Fridays at the end of the work week.
- Delight in the Lord – When we start fretting, feeling unduly pressured or put upon or distracted, it is a great time to open our Bible and read a Psalm or a passage from the New Testament especially about a healing by Jesus or an apostle or about the reunion of Jesus with His closest associates after His resurrection. Those passages are a special source of delight to this preacher and typically are more than helpful in dispelling the cares of the world. The Lord has our back in most situations.
In the same atheistic environment described above under “Trust the Lord,” the head of counselling (it was a high school) helped a student turn away from a strong urge to commit suicide. The student in his gratitude gave the lead counsellor a creche which the counselor put on display in his office. One of the counselors reported him to the department of education authorities for violating separation of church and state, and inspectors were sent to investigate.
The head of counselling was cleared, but the complainant went from bad to worse and shortly afterwards threatened another lady counsellor with bodily harm. She was given the choice of resigning or being fired after spending two months sitting in isolation in a room. She chose to retire, and that opened up her job as financial aid and scholarship advisor which I was selected to fill. Just as Paul’s arrest in Philippi leading to the conversion of the jailer was orchestrated by Almighty God to save that soul from damnation, so these disturbing events involving the counselors led to my having a more prominent job where I could help students obtain financing for college and also be a more visible witness of the truth of Christ.
- Commit thy way unto the Lord – This certainly means trusting the outcomes that will come about as we make decisions and move forward in all areas of our lives – relationships, employment, church and societal commitments, family life, etc. But we should expect to see personal growth in terms of our righteousness or holiness and a noticeable improvement in our powers of judgment in all situations. In short, committing our ways to the Lord, learning to seek Him intentionally through prayer, Scripture, and meditation upon the Word (and also studying theology) will build us up spiritually which we shall over time become increasingly aware of. Reading the writings of mighty men of God like John Owen, A.W. Pink, and Thomas Watson has helped this writer immeasurably.
- Rest in the Lord – Our commitment to righteousness and holiness in #3 is more of the active side of our lives – the momentum that develops through daily plans and decisions going forward. But the counterpoint to that momentum are those times in our future-oriented trajectory where we must wait as events outside our control develop and, as the saying goes, the plot thickens. It is the reliance repeated frequently by the Founding Fathers that they were agents of and dependent upon Divine Providence in their mission to seek independence from Great Britain that Justice required, and to build a wonderful new society in His Name.
We may find ourselves opposed by nefarious ungodly actors in the stage play of life. Negative actors may seem to impede our progress or in some unwholesome way challenge our motives, decisions, and momentum forward as we serve the Lord with full and blessed intentionality. But in these situations we should not be overcome by a massive surge of frustration, doubt, fear, worry, or overly aggressive reactions to the challenge.
Rather, we are to remain prayerfully assured by the presence of the Lord in our lives, persist in speaking, thinking, and doing the right thing – the godly thing—following the plan and decisions that have been prayerfully moving us forward. So, we are not “resting” in a soporific way but remain active. At the same time, we retain undisturbed inner peace such as Christ alone endows His faithful Sons and Daughters.
- Cease from anger – Lastly, we meet the challenge of anger against the enemies of God who may be trying to thwart our way forward. We remember the cliché two wrongs do not make a right. We do not identify with Jesus’ disciples who asked Him about raining down fire and brimstone on those who would confront or blindside us as we move forward. Rather, we trust in God’s power and the purity of motive that binds Him to us and us to Him as adopted children. We trust the love of the Father who has taken his adoptees and legally bound them to Himself forever. As adopted children (John 1: 11), we have a permanent claim on the inheritance bestowed to children by their loving father. It is a beautiful expectation – consoling and satisfying to the core.
The Psalmist thus seeks a fuller, richer life in God, a renewal found in God alone through Christ, and a life lived in God’s presence (Daniel Timmer).
Photo: Novo
Jeffrey Ludwig
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