Psalm 37 - Fury Anger Rage

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Hello, my friends. It is wonderful to be back with you today. We are in Psalm 37, and the inscription on this Psalm says this.

It is a Psalm of David. He says, Do not be agitated by evildoers, Do not envy those who do wrong, For they wither quickly like grass, And wilt like tender green plants. Trust in Yahweh, And do what is good, Dwell in the land and live securely.

Take delight in Yahweh, And He will give you your heart's desires. Commit your way to Yahweh, Trust in Him, And He will act, Making your righteousness shine like the dawn, Your justice like the noonday.

Be silent before Yahweh, And wait expectantly for Him. Do not be agitated by one who prospers in His way, By the person who carries out evil plans. Refrain from anger, And give up your rage.

Do not be agitated, It can only bring harm. For evildoers will be destroyed, But those who put their hope in Yahweh will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked person will be no more.

Though you look for him, he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land, And will enjoy abundant prosperity. The wicked person schemes against the righteous, And gnashes his teeth at him.

Yahweh laughs at him because he sees that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword, And strung the bow to bring down the poor and needy, And to slaughter those whose way is upright.

Their swords will enter their own hearts, And their bows will be broken. The little that the righteous person has is better than the abundance of many wicked people, For the arms of the wicked will be broken, But Yahweh supports the righteous.

Yahweh watches over the blameless all their days, And their inheritance will last forever. They will not be disgraced in times of adversity. They will be satisfied in days of hunger.

But the wicked will perish. Yahweh's enemies, like the glory of the pastures, Will fade away. They will fade away like smoke.

The wicked person borrows and does not repay, But the righteous one is gracious and giving. Those who are blessed by Yahweh will inherit the land, But those cursed by him will be destroyed.

A person's steps are established by Yahweh, And he takes pleasure in his way. Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, Because Yahweh supports him with his hand.

I have been young, and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned, Or his children begging for bread. He is always generous, always lending, And his children are a blessing.

Turn away from evil, do what is good, And settle permanently, For Yahweh loves justice, And will not abandon his faithful ones. They are kept safe forever, But the children of the wicked will be destroyed.

The righteous will inherit the land, And dwell in it permanently. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom. His tongue speaks what is just.

The instruction of his God is in his heart. His steps do not falter. The wicked one lies and waits for the righteous, And intends to kill him.

Yahweh will not leave him in the power of the wicked one, Or allow him to be condemned when he is judged. Wait for Yahweh and keep his way, And he will exalt you to inherit the land. You will watch when the wicked are destroyed.

I have seen a wicked, violent person, Well rooted like a flourishing native tree. Then I passed by and noticed he was gone. I searched for him, but he could not be found.

Watch the blameless and observe the upright, For the person of peace will have a future, But transgressors will all be eliminated. The future of the wicked will be destroyed.

The salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh, Their refuge in a time of distress. Yahweh helps and delivers them. He will deliver them from the wicked and will save them because they take refuge in him.

This is a great section of scripture, really looking at the overview of life itself. How do we interact with wickedness?

How do we deal with it when it seems like those that are against God, those that are intent on persecuting and harming people, what do we do when it looks like they're getting away with everything?

How do we view our relationship with God in the light of the difficulties of everyday life? And I think David here paints some wonderful pictures. As we went through, I'm sure you noticed it as well.

He's just using illustration after illustration after illustration of the kinds of things that we see in God's world. Starting with in that first paragraph, he says that the evildoers wither quickly like grass and they wilt like tender green plants.

He says when, if you will, when the son of God's justice and righteousness, when it rises there, I'm using the word S-U-N, though obviously we would think of God's S-O-N of Jesus.

But when the S-U-N, when the son of God rises, the plants that don't have that deep-rooted system into God's word and into God's spirit, like we read about in Psalm 1, that tree that's planted by the rivers of water, the river of life, here, those

people that do not have that deep root system, they wither immediately. They wilt like tender green plants. I think there's something that can be said there for our faith.

When trials come, when the heat gets turned up a little bit, do we automatically run from God or do we run to God? Here, this withering, as it gets hot, there's nothing keeping it upright. And I think we often need to view that in our own lives.

God, am I simply just withering when difficulties come or am I reliant on you? He says in verses three and four, To trust in Yahweh, do what is good, dwell in the land and live securely. And then verse number four is, it's very interesting.

It says, Take delight in Yahweh and he will give you your heart's desires. I grew up having the verse memorized in the phrasing of, Commit your way to the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Here, this verse is not saying anything you want. If you really love God, he's going to give it to you. The phrasing here is, Take delight in Yahweh and he will give you your heart's desires.

Basically, when your heart's desire is God, God will give you your heart's desire.

And there is an element to which when we are walking in the way that God has planned for our life, if we're obeying him, if we're pursuing him, then the things that he has equipped us with, the desires, the skills that he has genuinely given to us,

he will enable us to be able to use those for his purposes. But it's relying on the fact that we are walking in the path that God has set for us. So God made you for a purpose. He made you with the family that you're in.

He gave you the skill set that you have. He has had you encounter the problems and things in life that you have so that you would be equipped in some specific ways to do the tasks that he has for you.

So he says, delight in Yahweh, and then he will enable you to those things that you want to do with what God has given you. He's going to enable you to have that conduit of action.

Then verse number five and six, commit your way to Yahweh, trust in him, and he will act, making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday. Commit your way to the Lord.

God, the direction of my life is going to be following you. It says trust in him and he will act. That when we've committed the God, God, whatever you want to do with me, I'm on board, I'm following you, I'm trusting you.

It says then he will act. He says he will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, your right relationship with God and with people. He's going to cause that to be evident to others if you commit your way to him and trust in him.

It says your justice like the noonday. Along those same lines. He says be silent before Yahweh and wait expectantly for him.

He says do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way by the person who carries out evil plans. He says many times the verse in Psalm 46 or the verse in Exodus are used for this.

So Psalm 46 10 be still and know that I am God is kind of the classic translation of it. The CSB actually brings out the phrasing of that Psalm very well. It says stop fighting and know that I am God.

It's not a be still isn't like, oh, be quiet and wait for God in that. It's the nations of the world are fighting. And he says stop fighting.

Realize that God's the one that's in control and all of you nations need to bow down to him specifically there to Israel.

Hey Israel, like realize that the God of Jacob, the God that is stronger than all other nations, you can stop your fighting because he is the one that fights for you or the verse in Exodus where Moses tells the children of Israel, stop and see the

salvation of the Lord. And God immediately goes, no, I did not tell you to tell them to stop. They need to go through the Red Sea.

And sometimes people can use that, be still and know that I'm God or the stop and see the salvation of the Lord and use those verses. But this verse here, Psalm 35 7, is a much better verse for that purpose.

He says, be silent before Yahweh and wait expectantly for him. Here he's saying, shut up and see God work. He says, there are going to be people that are prospering, that it will naturally agitate you.

But when it comes to those times where you go, God, like, why is this politician succeeding when they're doing wrong, when they're advocating for murder and death?

God, why is this rich person succeeding in getting lots and lots of money despite their evil actions? And he says there, be silent before him and wait expectantly. He says, give it some time and see what happens.

Verse number eight, refrain from anger and give up your rage. Do not be agitated. It can only bring harm.

Man, that verse eight is something that we need so terribly as Americans on every side of every aisle.

For maybe some of you that are more conservative in your politics, there are people that just want to consistently stir up anger and rage and agitation against certain politicians, certain groups of people.

They want you to be furious because your fury will, for the most part, not result in you taking drastic action against those other people, but it'll bring you back again and again and again to your news network.

And that news network will continue that cycle of rage.

For those that would maybe identify as more liberal or more Democrat or even pass that into some things, you are being consistently stirred up to anger and rage against some of the things nowadays would be the nation of Israel.

You're being stirred up against different topics and different people groups and different politicians to say, you need to be angry against them. They are the oppressors. They are the ones that are in the wrong and they are committing these crimes.

And so you need to be angry against them and you need to go march against this particular college. And you need to do this and you need to do that, that they're angering you and agitating you and stirring you up with rage.

And God says, refrain from anger. Give up your rage. Do not be agitated.

It can only bring harm. I think of James Chapter one where he says that, well, here I'm going to turn over there really quick.

The specific phrase that I'm thinking of is that the wrath of man, the anger of man, does not produce the righteousness of God. I'm going to give the whole phrase here from James 1 19. My dear brothers and sisters, understand this.

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. For human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness. Here along these same lines, refrain from anger.

Give up your rage. You go, okay, well, if I'm not outraged, then what emotion am I supposed to have? Have a holy love.

A holy love is not one that always excuses away all of the behaviors and actions of others. A holy love says, I know how God views you, and I view you in that way.

I think that these things, that these actions, that this politician, that they are pursuing things that destroy their own soul, and so I don't have to have a rage against them. Instead, I can have compassion. I can pray for their salvation.

I can write a letter that's not filled with profanity and death threats and all sorts of things.

I can write a letter that says, hey, here's what the Bible says, here's what God's Word says, and I believe that this is not a good course of action for you to take.

It can result in us elevating those that would be righteous, godly people into positions of leadership. It could be that we caringly post about things on social media with an eye to how am I describing this person?

How am I describing the events that are taking place? Would a person that does not currently agree with me, would they be immediately turned off to anything that I would say because I'm saying it in such an inflammatory, angry, rage-filled way?

Or would they go, okay, this person is not writing out of a heart of anger. This person is writing out of a heart of care. They actually seem broken that these people would make this decision.

What would it look like if our political advocacy resulted in loving communication? I think it would drastically transform the way in which people interact with us.

I think our politics as Christians would be taken more seriously if we did so from a holy love that doesn't excuse away sin, but a holy love that says, I love you and I caringly tell you that you're going against God's design.

And if you go against God's design, as we read over and over and over again in Psalm 37, it invites destruction. It's the children, the descendants of the wicked, aren't going to be able to dwell in the land because they are wiped out.

Verse number nine, Four evildoers will be destroyed, but those who put their hope in Yahweh will inherit the land. Let's care for people, love them, realize that those that sin, our enemy is not people. Our enemy is the devil and his demons.

People we ought to pray for, care for, love for, advocate for, warn about the coming destruction of their souls if they do not turn to God. But we can do that in the way that communicates that I genuinely love you. I don't despise you.

I don't hate you. I don't want you to die. I want you to become my ally.

I want you to become my brother or sister in Christ. Want to skip down here. There's many things that we have looked at already in the Book of Psalms.

Look at verse number 18. Yahweh watches over the blameless all their days and their inheritance will last forever. They will not be disgraced in times of adversity.

They will be satisfied in days of hunger. It doesn't say days of hunger won't come or times of adversity won't come. He says, but God will carry you through in those times that you won't be disgraced, that you will be satisfied.

Then want to look at verse number 23. A person's steps are established by Yahweh and he takes pleasure in his way.

What a comforting thought that as you are going through your life, that your steps, the individual actions and directions of your life that you have committed, you know, commit your way to the Lord and he will act.

Hear that the steps along the way are established by God, that he has a plan for your life. And it says he takes pleasure in his way. I've seen some various ways that could be taken.

It's either that the person whose steps are established by the Lord takes pleasure in God's way and so he's walking in those steps and he's grateful for it, or it could be that God takes pleasure in the way of this person.

And either way, it's incredibly comforting to us. And then verse 24, as we're walking in the way, in the steps that God has for us, it says, though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed. I love the way that King James puts this.

Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. He won't be overwhelmed. He won't be destroyed, he says, because the Lord supports him with his hand.

When you fall, realize that God is there with a hand to bring you back up. You've sinned, you've messed up, you did wrong. God is there to pick you back up.

You are his child. And he does not want you to be downcast and destroyed. No, he wants to pick you back up.

And so grateful for that. Verse number 25. I've been young, now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging for bread.

And then here he describes the righteous. He says he is always generous, always lending, and his children are a blessing. What a great thought that God promises to provide for our needs.

And if right now you're going through a time of hunger, you're going through a time of adversity, I encourage you, call out to God, ask for him to work. And I'd encourage you, ask your local church for help.

That's one of the things that we are called to do as a church.

Yes, we can do it for the community at large, but from the Book of Acts and from Galatians chapter 6, one of the primary ways in which the church gives is it gives to those in the church that are in need, that we take care of those that are a part of

God's family. It doesn't prohibit us at all from caring for those outside of the church, but we do have a responsibility to care for those in the church. Talk to your pastor, talk to your deacons, and they would love to help you.

However, God has blessed your church to be able to be a blessing to those that are in need. I want to end with verses 39 and 40. The salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh, their refuge in a time of distress.

Yahweh helps and delivers them. He will deliver them from the wicked and will save them because they take refuge in Him. Today, will you say, God, I am yours?

Will you commit your way to Him? Will you choose to be silent and wait on His justice to be met out in His time? Will you refuse rage and anger in your life in favor of loving others and calling on Him?

Will you rest in the fact that God has promised to supply all of your needs? Will you turn back to Him when you do fall? Will you realize that your steps are established by the Lord?

So many wonderful things and ways in which we can take refuge in God. Hope that today would be an encouragement to you. Tomorrow, we are in Psalm 38.