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Pray:
Ask God to orient or reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Psalm 37:1-11
“1 Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this: 6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. 9 For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. 10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. 11 But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.” (NIV)
Understand:
Psalm 37 comes from David. David probably wrote this Psalm late in his life. You can see David reflecting back over the years of his life. Despite the injustice that he has experienced and witnessed, he knows God is faithful. In this Psalm, he turns his attention to the people and addresses them directly. This Psalm is one of the most direct statements of God’s justice.
David shares with the people not to be disturbed over the injustice they see, because divine justice will still be granted. He encourages the righteous to trust in the Lord continually and not become angry, because ultimately God will pour out His justice.
David says two times not to fret. To fret means “to become angry and worry”. To fret is a very destructive emotion; it turns our focus from God to ourselves. When we lay awake at night tossing and turning because of the evildoers we see, we fret. We lay there thinking of all the things we can do or should have done to make it right! All the while, we’re letting it eat us up from the inside. David’s word to us is…Stop!
He reminds us that these evildoers are nothing. They are a flash in the pan; they will vanish like the grass that withers.
Instead, David calls us to: trust in the Lord, find our delight in Him, commit our ways to the Lord, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.
David is calling us to have a deep, abiding reliance on the God who has promised to punish the ungodly and to reward the righteous. David wants us to remember that God’s Word can never fail.
Sometimes remembering this truth is the hardest thing for us to do, but we must remember…“The battle is not ours, but God’s.”
Apply:
For us today the battle is fought by looking to Jesus, who makes all things right! His Kingdom has come and is moving forward against all injustice and will one day be complete as He reigns in the new creation!
This is what we put our hope in; this hope is the Gospel!
Think about what angers you; the injustice that keeps you up at night. Maybe someone has wronged you or maybe you’ve been treated unfairly; it might even seem as though the people involved have gotten away with it.
When you feel anger taking a hold of you, refuse to fret yourself, don’t allow yourself to burn with anger
Instead talk to God, say something like, “Jesus talk to me…tell my soul you are my salvation… soul, listen to me…Jesus is your hope…hope in him.”
Remember who is sovereign over your life and who isn’t. Those people who have wronged you or brought injustice into the world will soon be gone; they are like grass.
As followers of Christ we must remain in Him, remember He is our fixed point of reference. Without Him we can do nothing.
Question: Are you angry at what you see going around you and are trying to take matters into your own hands? If you are, just remember that it only works well in the very short-term, even feels good…but never works in the longer-term…always leads to a loss of freedom, less of a harvest.
Would you give your anger to Jesus? Tell Him about your hurts and your pain.
Trust Him. Delight in Him. Commit your ways to Him
Live:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.) Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY.
AMEN 🙏