PSALM 37 - THE RIGHTEOUS REMNANT

PSALM 37 – THE RIGHTEOUS REMNANT

Tuesday, March 11, 2019

Pastor Carolyn Sissom

 

All the Psalms are poetry on fire.  “The Psalms are pure praise, inspired by the breath of God.  Praise is a matter of life and breath.  As long as we have breath we are told to praise the LORD.  The Psalms release a flood of God-inspired insights that lifts heaviness off the human heart and lifts us into the worship in Heaven; into the presence of the King who loves and enjoys us.

 

Each one of the Psalms is a heavenly key to unlock God’s storehouse of wisdom and revelation.  It is the ‘harp’ (anointed worship) that releases divine secrets.” (Passion Translation) 

 

Ps. 49:4:  I will break open mysteries with my music and my song will release riddles solved.”

 

Psalm 37 is a wisdom Psalm and a collection of eight proverbs.  King David wrote this with the hard-won knowledge and experience of old age (vs. 25).

 

His main aim is to encourage the godly to go on trusting God despite the apparent injustices of life, in which the ungodly seem to come off best.   His purpose is practical and pastoral to help the faithful to come to terms with their situation by assuring them that any seeming injustice in life is only temporary.

 

If we obey the entire 17 commands of this psalm, we are entitled to the 25 promises.  We can expect the full blessing of God if we render obedience to His commands for a good and righteous life.  The 25 promises are made primarily to the righteous in heart.   

 

 This Psalm reveals people who shall inherit the earth.  Like our gGorious Head, this righteous remnant is anointed with the seven (7) spirits of God:

 

1.  Spirit of Jehovah                   - Fret not.

2.  Spirit of Wisdom                    -Trust

3.  Spirit of Understanding         -Delight.

4.  Spirit of Counsel                    - Commit.

5.  Spirit of Might                       - Rest

6.  Spirit of knowledge                - Wait.

7.   Spirit of the Fear of God – Cease.

 

I have chosen to use the scripture from the Passion Translation. 

 

Ps. 37: 1-11:  Don’t follow after the wicked ones or be jealous of their wealth.  Don’t think for a moment they are better-off than you.  They and their short-lived success will soon shrivel up and quickly fade away like grass clippings in the hot sun.  Keep trust in the Lord and do what is right in his eyes.  Fix your heart on the promises of God and you will be secure, feasting on his faithfulness.  Make God the utmost delight and pleasure of your life, and he will provide for you what you desire the most.  Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust him along the way you will find he pulled it off perfectly!  He will appear as your Righteousness, as sure as the dawning of a new day.   He will manifest as your justice, as sure and strong as the noonday sun.  Quiet your heart in his presence and pray; keep hope alive as you long for God to come through for you.  Don’t think for a moment that the wicked in their prosperity are better off than you.  Stay away from anger and revenge.  Keep envy far from you, for it only leads you into lies.  For one day the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the LORD will life safe and sound with blessings overflowing.  Just a little while longer and the ungodly will vanish, you will look for them in vain, but the humble in heart will inherit every promise and enjoy abundant peace.

 

N.K.J.V.: Ps. 37:1 “Fret Not” - “Do not vex yourself.   Fret” suggests a mixture of anxiety, anger, resentment and irritation.  “Do not strive to outdo…just be.”  In this Psalm fretting is a stumbling block that will block your blessings.  We can even say fretting is a demonic spirit sent to steal your blessings.   People who fret are in a state of continual worry and anxiety.   Fretting gradually wears away and wears people out.

 

37:3 Trust in the Lord and do good… enjoy safe pasture

 

Through the spirit of Wisdom and our walk of knowing the faithfulness of God, we know to wait quietly with untroubled trust for God to recompense the wicked and reward the righteous.

 

Psa. 37:4:  Delight yourself also in the LORD and he shall give you the desires of your heart.  

 

If we are delighting in Him, worshiping Him, not complaining, not having a long list of give me more and more, just loving Him, not fretting, worrying, etc. think how much He would delight to bless us.

 

If your child, family members, friends or loved ones continually come to you and want you to give to them, you would soon tire of their constant nagging wanting something from you.  If someone continually frets, it is tiresome.   But, if they come to you and just want to extend love, then we delight to bless.  This is that place in Christ where he will give us the desire of our heart; but first He must become the desire of our heart as we delight in Him.

 

Psa. 37:5:  Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and he shall bring it to pass.

 

It is all about the heart.  Do we want our way, our will, our design, or do we trust Him enough to commit our way to Him.  It is so liberating.  I don’t have to make anything happen.  I don’t have to push anyone.  I don’t have to manipulate, plot, use self pity or persuade anyone to do anything.  I really have never done that.

 

Psa. 37: 6-7:  He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noon day.  Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; do no fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

 

The psalmist knows the reality of God’s ultimate and final intervention is so firm that he dares to wait…without trying to take the matter into his own hands. 

 

Faith finds all it asks when resolutely it obeys the injunction to trust, delight commit, rest, and wait.

 

37:8:  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.  Do not fret---it only causes harm.  For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD 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.

 

The prosperity of the wicked has within it the elements of its own destruction and cannot last.  Fret not yourself to do evil (bitterness) for evildoers shall be cut off (or die). 

 

37: 11:  But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

 

This Psalm deals with that people who shall inherit the earth.  The word for earth is erets and means the land, territory, regions.  The land becomes the whole earth.

 

The wicked will be removed so that the righteous can enjoy their inheritance in pace.  To inherit the promised land is to have the right to reside in God’s presence in earth as it is in heaven enjoying his care and blessing. 

 

To be humble and meek is a small cost for such a great inheritance.

 

The recipient of the blessing of the land becomes the administrator. 

 

If we are meek (patient, long-suffering, forbearing, resigned, gentle, quiet, peaceable, mild, humble, unassuming, unpretentious, unobtrusive and un-ambitious) then we will be peaceable people not taking offense.

 

37: 12-19 Passion Translation:  Let the wicked keep plotting against the godly with all their sneers and arrogant jeers.  God doesn’t lose any sleep over them and he knows their day is coming!  Evil ones take aim on the poor and helpless; they are ready to slaughter those who do right.  But the Lord will intervene and turn all their weapons of wickedness back on themselves, piercing their pride-filled hearts until they are the helpless.  It is so much better to have little combined with much of God than to have the fabulous wealth of the wicked and nothing else.  For the LORD takes care of all his forgiven ones while the strength of the evil will surely slip away.  Day by day the Lord watches the good deeds of the godly and he prepares for them his forever-reward.  Even in a time of disaster he will watch over them, and they will always have more than enough no matter what happens.

 

37:12-19: (K.J.V.) The wicked plots against the just, and gnashed at him with his teeth.

 

There is a natural enmity in the souls of sinners against the godly who are promised persecution (2 Tim 3:12).

 

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.

 

The wicked fall into their own traps which they set for the righteous.

 

  A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.

 

This is always true due to the blessing of God upon the little.  A righteous man is content with little under the most trying circumstances when it is blessed by our heavenly Father.

 

 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

 

The arms of the wicked refer to the instruments of his wickedness and the means of his power.

 

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.

 

The upright shall not be ashamed of his trust in God even when trouble comes.

 

37: 20-24:  All the enemies of God will perish.  For the wicked have only a momentary value, a fading glory.  Then one day they vanish!  Here today, gone tomorrow.  They break their promises, borrowing money but never paying it back.  The good man returns what he owes with some extra besides.  The Lord’s blessed ones receive it all in the end, but the cursed ones will be cut off with nothing to show for themselves.  The steps of the God-pursuing ones follow firmly in the footsteps of the Lord.  And God delights in every step they take to follow him.  If they stumble badly they will still survive, for the Lord lifts them up with his hands.  If was once young, but now I am old.  Not once have I found a lover of God forsaken by him, nor have any of their children gone hungry.  Instead, I have found the godly ones to be the generous ones who give freely to others.  Their children are blessed and become a blessing.  (Passion Transslation)

 

The enemies of the Lord shall be consumed by God’s wrath like the fat of lambs that is consumed in the fire of sacrifice.

 

The righteous show mercy by grace and gives of his bountiful blessing from God. 

 

Even the most powerful man must be guided and supported by the LORD; otherwise his strength and courage will fail.  Though he fall the righteous will be upheld by God. 

 

Ps. 37:22-23:  For those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the earth, but those cursed by Him shall be cut off.  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.

 

The seed of the righteous is so blessed; there is no need to beg.  If a truly righteous man appropriates the smallest part of the promises of God he cannot be considered forsaken of God; nor does he need to beg bread. 

 

Psa. 37: 24-26: Though he fall, 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. His descendants are blessed.

 

After giving commands and contrasting the righteous with the wicked, David again gives commands which show how to become the kind of righteous man worthy of the twenty-five blessings listed in this Psalm. 

 

Psa. 37: 27-29 If you truly want to dwell forever in God’s presence, then forsake evil and do what is right in his eyes.  The LORD loves it when he sees us walking in his justice.  He will never desert his devoted lovers; they will be kept forever in his faithful care.  But the descendants of the wicked will be banished.  The faithful lovers of God will inherit the earth and enjoy every promise of God’s care, dwelling in peace forever.

 

Dwelling forever in God’s presence begins when we are “Born Again – living in the realm of the Spirit of God.” It is “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  We are called and blessed to live in Kingdom righteousness, peace and joy on earth as it is in heaven.  Always do what is right in the eyes of God; then even if we make an error in judgment, we sought the LORD for His righteous justice and asked Him for His justice.  We won’t have to second guess ourselves because God can hit straight with a crooked stick.

 

Psa. 37:27-29:  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.

 

 

Ps. 37: 30-32 – God-lovers make the best counselors.  Their words possess wisdom and are right and trustworthy.  The ways of God are in their hearts and they won’t swerve from the paths of steadfast righteousness.  Evil ones spy on the godly ones, stalking them to find something they could use to accuse them.  They are out for the kill!  But God will foil their plots.  The godly will not stand condemned when brought to trial.

 

 So don’t be impatient for the Lord to act; keep moving forward steadily in his ways, and he will exalt you at the right time.  When he does, you will possess every promise, including your full inheritance.  You’ll watch with your own eyes and see the wicked lose everything.  I have already seen this happen.  Once I saw a wicked and violent man over power all that were around him, a domineering tyrant with his pride and oppressive ways.  Then he died and was forgotten.  Now no one cares that he is gone forever.  But you can tell who are the blameless and spiritually mature.  What a different story with them!  The godly ones will have a peaceful, prosperous future with a happy ending.  Every evil sinner will be destroyed, obliterated.  They will be utter failures with no future!  But the LORD will be the Savior of all who love him.  Even in their time of trouble, God will live in them as Strength.  Because of their faith in him, their daily portion will be a Father’s help, and deliverance from evil.  This is true for all who turn to hide themselves in him.

 

In Verse 40, God will help in time of need; deliverance from enemies and salvation for soul and body.

 

The LORD shall help them and deliver them.  He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him.

 

In Psalm 37, there are six requests to God:

 

  1. Do not rebuke me in wrath.
  2. Do not chasten me in hot displeasure.
  3. Do not forsake me.
  4. Hear me.
  5. Be not far from me.
  6. Make haste to help me.

 

There are four causes of chastening:

  1. Sin
  2. Iniquities
  3. Foolishness
  4. Foot slipping.

 

Carolyn Sissom, Pastor

Eastgate Ministries Church

www.eastgateministries.com

Scripture from N.K.J.V. and Passion Translation. 

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