Psalm 37: Day 9

Psalm 37: Day 9 of our 10-day devotional journey through the Psalms, you'll gain fresh insights and spiritual strength each morning.  This series encourages you to offer your shortcomings to God, trusting in His ability to turn them into sources of strength and glory. Whether you're a morning go-getter or a lover of the snooze button, these reflections aim to imbue your day with peace and purpose found in His Word. Join us for an enriching experience that promises to renew your spirit and ignite your faith.

Chapters

• 0:19 Finding Contentment in God's Faithfulness
• 4:23 Rolling Cares Onto Jesus

Transcript

Julie: 0:19

Kia ora, and welcome to Whispers of Grace, a place for women to be encouraged by God's holy word. I'm your host, julie Colbeth, and I am overjoyed to dig into the Bible with you today. Sometimes I get discouraged when I look too intently at the possessions of others. It's very easy to envy what other people have if I don't keep my eyes on Jesus. Today we are looking at Psalm 37, written by David in his old age. The Psalms that flow from David near the end of his life are so precious because the perspective that he gained from walking with the Lord for so many years through impossible situations gives us so much to consider. This psalm is titled the Heritage of the Righteous and the Calamity of the Wicked. It compares the life of the natural man with the life of the redeemed. He encourages us not to envy the temporary wealth of the wicked but to be content and fully embrace what God has given each of us. And not only to be content but to dwell, to inhabit and reside in our calling and locations while we feed on the faithfulness of God. David goes on to encourage us to find fulfillment and delight in God and not in our possessions or our achievements. When we find fulfillment in God alone. Nothing can steal our peace or joy, and we will walk worthy of the calling that we've received. So let's read Psalm 37.

Julie: 2:07

Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like grass and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret, it only causes harm. Wrath. Do not fret, it only causes harm, for evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more. Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more. But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The wicked plots against the just and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy, to slay those who are of upright conduct. Their sword shall enter their own heart and their bows shall be broken. A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked, for the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. The Lord knows the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish and the enemies of the Lord, like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish Into smoke. They shall vanish away.

Julie: 4:23

Verse 2. He shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I have been young and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful and lends, and his descendants are blessed, depart from evil and do good and dwell forevermore, for the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever. The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom and his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. Wait on the Lord and keep his way, and he shall exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he passed away and behold, he was no more. Indeed, I sought him, but he couldn't be found. Mark the blameless man and observe the upright, for the future of that man is peace, but the transgressors shall be destroyed together. The future of the wicked shall be cut off, but the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. He is their strength in the time of trouble and the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him.

Julie: 6:41

There is so much goodness in this psalm. I encourage you to go read over Psalm 37 yourself today and you will find so many precious encouragements there. I want to focus on a few verses at the beginning. Verse three says trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him.

Julie: 7:33

I love what Charles Spurgeon wrote about this psalm. It sums up the heart of it. Very much of our outward depends upon the inward. Where there is heaven in the heart, there will be heaven in the house. The truth of this simple statement radiates the core of our faith.

Julie: 7:57

When our greatest delight is Christ, then we can be sure that he will give us the desire of our heart more abundantly than we could ask or imagine.

Julie: 8:03

If we make God our deepest desire, then he shall grant our heart's truest wish and give us more of himself as we walk with him each new day. And if you find that this isn't the state of your heart, then rejoice, friend, because God is in the business of shaping hearts that are surrendered to him. We're reminded of this in verse five when it saysit your way to the Lord. Translated literally, it actually means to roll off onto. To roll our way onto the Lord, to roll off our cares and our concerns onto Jesus, to roll off our failures and our defeats onto God, to roll our worries and our lack all upon Jehovah. Roll our cares onto Jesus like an exhausted man that needs to be carried by a friend. We can't bear the burdens of this life alone, but if we can roll our cares onto stronger shoulders than our own, we'll find fulfillment in God and a deep delight that centers us and causes us to rest and dwell and feed on his faithfulness. Thank you.