Don’t fret Ruggedly Handsome Powerful beats Ugly Nasty every time!
Psalm 37:1-11
We all know the story; the bad guys, lead by Ugly Nasty have robbed the bank, the savings of the people of Rattlesnake Gulch have been taken to the abandoned mine. But before Ugly and his henchmen left they abducted the school teacher, (the stunningly beautiful, even in black and white), Jasmine Flower as she was walking a group of children and their pets past the Bank.
Now it’s up to the Sheriff Ruggedly Handsome Powerful, played by John Wayne or someone who looks like him, to get the money and save the girl.
But there’s a problem, Sheriff Powerful was shot in his fast drawing gun arm as the bandits made their escape, but it was a flesh wound, so casting the sling aside he leaps out the second floor window onto his trusty steed George Trigger The-Horse, and takes off in hot pursuit…
As the story draws to a close we see the Lovely Jasmine and Sheriff Powerful ride off on their honeymoon as Ugly and his fellow banditos wearing grey overalls with black arrows pointing up snarl at them through the bars of the county jail, while being pelted with eggs and rotten fruit by the happy townsfolk.
Justice has prevailed and the fortunes of Rattlesnake Cultch have been restored and the child Johnny who was wearing a brace on his leg and whose kitten ran off when the schoolmistress was abducted, runs, his leg miraculously healed, waving after the happy couple as they head off into the sunset.
Now for those of us who sat through more than one western movie know that this is the plot before the film even starts rolling. The guy with the white hat is the good guy and the man with the black hat and the narrow moustache and shifty eyes is to be feared. But the good guy always wins, the bad guy always comes to justice, and as the good guy rides off into the sunset with the girl as a sweet tune plays.
BUT
Life is not quite always like that, sometimes we have some sucky stuff happen, sometimes the bad guy doesn’t come to justice, well not this side of death anyway, and sometimes bad things happen to good people.
I have heard recently a couple of people at different times who I respect greatly discuss how they deal with times like this. One was talking about the work they do with the law and the other about how they are reacting to the trauma caused by the earthquakes. Both of them mentioned how much Psalm 37 had helped them put things in perspective, placing God in the right place within situations they found themselves in. So today while I’m not going to tackle the whole Psalm I’m venturing into the first eleven verses of it. Read Psalm 37:1-11.
1) A suggestion that comes through this Psalm fairly heavily is ‘Do not fret’, well for those of you who thought a fret was a thing on a guitar it is, but it’s also “to be angry, to burn with anger, to rage, to be jealous, to compete, contend with, furious, raged or troubled.” Well that’s the Hebrew to English interpretation, whereas in English the word is more about “uneasy distress”.
So in life why would we fret? Well in David the Psalm writer’s case, and yes this is the famous King David, It was because he saw, evil men who appeared to be succeeding at their evil, that in their scheming things appeared to go well for them.
BUT
It didn’t, as David said they “like the grass will soon wither, like the green plants they will soon die away.”
Another reason not to fret, or get into this seething anger is that it only leads to evil, interesting when we think of cases when we see someone before the courts because they have gone after a bit of retribution, taken the law into their own hands. The successful business owner who visits the person who owes them and sorts out the debt or the bloke whose girlfriend is insulted so he teaches the other bloke a lesson. I can remember a few times in my own life when the words “Vengeance is mine; saith the Lord” has kept me from doing evil for evil. That all sounds very King James Bible because it is a part quote of Romans 12:19 from the King James Bible, from the NIV Bible we read in “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.”
Something else that you might have just learnt from what I’ve just said is that anger tends to be a universal issue, Corps Officers aren’t immune, the thing to do with that fretting is to let God take care of it either in the here and now or in the future, we tend to forget that he has a better sense of justice than anyone, he is completely just.
2) How to we give it over to God, what do we do? It could be anger, you might be raging or jealous over any number of past wrongs committed against you, the job you missed out on, the abusive comments or actions of another, you might be angry with the earthquakes, the snow fall for ripping off your spouting, someone for not calling, not noticing, not caring. Who knows what it could be a comment someone made, or didn’t make, it could be politics, they left the dishes, it could be the way they drive, the food they served you, it could be this, it could be that, it could be any old thing; hey do we need an excuse?
Right now I would like to try something that I’ve seen in other congregations where the person preaching asks people to repeat a word, I would really like to get everyone to say the word angry and see what comes to mind and repeat it a few times. But I won’t, I don’t think it would be too constructive.
BUT
The thing that came to mind when I suggested doing this how do you deal with it?
3) My first suggestion would be that if it is a criminal issue that has not been dealt with by the police is to take it there, if at all possible. Take practical justice steps to get it dealt with, take a rational approach to sorting it out.
4) Otherwise and now I’m reading directly from Psalm 37, “Trust in God and do
good.”
Part of our Christian journey is to trust God, often because of our emotional responses we run ahead of where God wants us; there is a human tendency to act out of an emotional response to a situation, rather than out of a controlled thought through response. Knowing us is why God inspired these passages of scripture.
It may seem strange to say but anger is not the issue, it is response to anger that is the issue. Respond as God would have you respond (SBI).
5) Delight yourself in the Lord. It’s hard to rage, to be troubled, jealous or angry when you are delighting in God. Those great acts he has carried out on our behalf, the possibility of salvation, the personal life change and restoration we can encounter, the wonders of his creation, the mountains and streams, fresh vegetables, a glass of ice cold water, the orange sunset, the hand of a loved one taking yours!
I think that delighting in him we are given the desires of our hearts as we realise we have them. As we respond in this way our whole view changes our fretful thoughts lose their grip, the seething bind they had on us, our vision is expanded and there is an awareness of the place anger should hold which is smaller than it first appears. We can then respond as God would have us respond.
6) We develop an attitude of ‘Committing our ways to the Lord’, but this is also a conscious action that we take, it does not come automatically, it’s easy enough to focus our ways on anything but what God wants. What happens though as we do this is; ‘the desires of our hearts are given to us’. This once again is not prosperity teaching this is a spiritual reality as we trust God he brings about justice; not fast cars, large houses, bucket loads of money…as we respond how God would have us respond he brings about justice because our relationships are right with Him.
This is hard, I want to run ahead, I want to carry out Andrew’s plans, I want to sort it out myself…justice is mine, I want the aftershocks to stop, vengeance is mine saith the Andrew! Then I am reminded…
7) Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him and wait patiently for him; “do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” Why? Verse eight sums it up because “it only leads to evil.”
Once again I am reminded “respond as God would have you respond.”
8) Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; the truth is that in doing this we are able to respond in a way that is thought out, rational and sensible. I wonder how many times in life people say I should have counted to ten, if only I’d taken a deep breath, I wish I hadn’t jumped to that conclusion, said what I said, did what I did. The response that God requires of us is to hope in him.
In fact the passage we have read says, ‘that those who do will inherit the land’, this is in part a reference to stuff that occasionally happens in the here and now, but is also a prophetic word about what will occur when there is a new heaven and a new earth. This from 2 Peter 3:13 “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of the righteous.”
As we look to God’s promises we see that evil people will not win, evil will not win. Verse ten sums that up. “A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.” The truth that comes from this verse for us here and now is about how we respond. While our inheritance may be the New Earth at the End of the Age, in the here and now we can have great peace as we respond how God would have us respond, putting our hope in Him!
The way in which we respond will either bring us to peace or bring us to commit evil. God’s desire is that we respond how he would have us respond.
You may have reacted in ways during your life, that were instant fixes, acting out of anger, rage, jealousy, I don’t know, you may be wondering what this is all about. It could be that you may just wish to experience God’s peace in your life, that you are tired of the continual strain and stress. If so we have a place here called the mercy seat where you can come in prayer and someone will come in pray with you, maybe you just want to pray alone if so feel free to do so…
Responding how God would have you respond as you put your hope in Him!
