Delight yourself in YHWH, and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psa 37:4)Mmm, that's nice. But ... do you know the context? David begins,
Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in YHWH, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. (Psa 37:1-3)Well, look at that! The problem David was addressing was not how to get "the desires of your heart," but the problem of evil. Don't fret; don't be envious. Evil is temporary. Instead ...
That's interesting. We all fret about stuff, and we all fret especially about evil in the world -- evil people, evil actions, evil events. Why do they seem to prosper? And ... should I do the same because they seem to prosper? No. We need to keep in mind they're a flash in the pan, a piece of grass withering soon. Instead ... trust the Lord. You see two actions here. On one hand, don't fret or envy. That's a "don't" action. Instead, "do." Do replace fret and envy with trust. Trust the Lord. Delight in the Lord. Commit your way to the Lord (Psa 37:5).
There's an old hymn with the refrain
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,There you have it. We shouldn't be fretting about the problems we see. We should be setting aside our weights of worry and envy and sin and be "looking unto Jesus" (Heb 12:1-2).
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
2 comments:
When we start seeing God as our butler or genie, we see verses like this which lead to the Prosperity Gospel, which Paul warned is another gospel, and we all know what Paul thinks of other gospels.
It was interesting to me that I used the word “fret” in my comment on Friday morning, and then I see that Ps. 37:1-5, which you quoted today, contains the word “fret” in its very first words. I am going to take that “coincidence” as a personal message from God that I am fretting too much! “Do not fret; trust in God.” Always the right way to go!
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