The Worship of Waiting
(Psalm 37)
Good morning! Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 37.
One of my all-time favorite books is “Children’s Letters to God.” It’s a collection of prayers, observations, questions, and complaints, with the handwriting, grammar, and punctuation of the children that wrote them preserved. Most of the time, whenever I’ve used it as a sermon or teaching illustration, I’ve gone to the section on “Approvals, Confidences, and Thanks, and read things like,
Dear God, I didn’t think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday. That was cool.
Eugene
But this morning, as we look at Psalm 37 and some of the issues its going to raise, I spent some time looking through the chapter of Children’s Letters to God called “Fervent wishes, suggestions, and complaints.” That’s where you find prayers like these:
Dear God, please send Dennis Clark to a different camp this year.
Peter
Dear God, my brother is a rat. You should give him a tail. Ha ha.
Danny
Dear God, If we come back as something please don’t let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate her.
Denise
All of these would fit well into a genre of Psalms scholars call the imprecatory Psalms. And I know that’s a mouthful, so let me unpack what that means. The imprecatory psalms are those in which the the author imprecates; (oh, that clears it up!)
that is, he calls down calamity, destruction, and God’s anger and judgment on his enemies.
For example,
• “Rise up, LORD, confront them, bring them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked” (Psalm 17:13).
• “O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, Lord! (Psalm 58:6)”
• “Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland” (Psalm 79:6–7).
And, maybe the most famous (or infamous) one of all was when the Psalmist was reflecting on the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity at the hands of the Babylonians in Psalm 137, when he cried out, “O daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! …
• “Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks” (Psalm 137:9).
Now, while (I hope) none of us have gotten to the point of dashing-infants-against-the-rocks anger at those we perceive to be our enemies, you don’t have to look very far to know we live in a culture that seems to be addicted to outrage. Everyone seems to be angry at everyone else. Think about the new phrases that have come into our vocabulary in the past few years: Road Rage. Tweetstorm. Clap Back.
Part of it is when we see so much evil in the world, so much injustice, and we wonder why nothing changes. I heard this from a member of the Prattville Police Department earlier this week. He said, “James, in my job I see so much of the bad side of human nature. I know God wins in the end, but its hard to not become cynical.”
Or this, from a high school student—How come the jerks are the most popular?
Or this, from the parent of a 3rd grader: my daughter tries to be nice to people, and she gets rejected and made fun of by the “cool kids” because of it.
This is why we have the imprecatory Psalms in the first place. I think they exist because God knew he needed to let us know its okay to feel this way sometimes. But I also think that’s why he put Psalm 37 in there as well, as an antidote to the imprecatories. If you are physically able, let’s stand to honor the reading of God’s Word this morning.
Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.[b]
4 Delight yourself 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 act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
-----------------------------
Now, skip down to verse 23:
The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
Pray…
While We Wait…
1. Chill (v. 1, 7, 8) If you were listening as we read the Scripture, you heard one command repeated three times. “Fret Not:”
• Fret not because of evildoers (v. 1)
• Fret not yourself over the man who prospers in his way (v. 7)
• Fret not yourself, it tends only to evil (v. 8)
The verb translated “fret” here is used 90 times in the Old Testament, often translated “kindled” (44x); “hot” (10x); “incensed” (2x) or “burn” (1x). What do all those words have in common? They all have to do with heat. So what’s the first thing to do when faced with evildoers? Chill.
This does not mean you give up the right or the responsibility to speak out against injustice. In all three of these instances, it isn’t talking about not getting angry or indignant over evil. Look closely: It doesn’t say “Fret not because of evil.” It says, “Fret not because of evildoers.” Do you see the difference?
The more we put our trust in God, the more we are able to chill. Because we understand that justice ultimately belongs to him.
2. Do the Do’s
One of the most helpful ways to study Psalm 37 is to keep track of all the commands in the Psalm. And even better, keep track of which of them are negative—telling you not to do something, and which are positive—telling you to do something.
Here’s how it shakes out: Let’s make this audience participation. I’ll read the command, and you tell me if it goes into the positive column or the negative column.
• Fret not yourself (v. 1,7,8): That’s a negative command. Something you don’t do
• Be not envious of wrongdoers (v. 1): negative
• Trust in the Lord (v. 3, 5): That’s positive. So is “do good” (v. 3). And “dwell in the land.” “Befriend faithfulness.” What does that mean, by the way? I think it means make up your mind that you are going to be part of this society. As wicked and fallen as it is, you don’t shut yourself up in a monastery. And you don’t create a fortress mentality in your church, where you have your own church sports leagues and your own church rec center, and you only do business with Christian. You dwell in the land. You join a softball team with a bunch of pagans. And in order to do that, you befriend faithfulness. You stay faithful to your Christian convictions so that dwelling in the land doesn’t pull you down.
• Delight yourself in the Lord (v. 4): positive
• Commit your way to the Lord (v.. 5): positive
• Be still before the Lord (7), positive
• wait patiently on him (7, 14) positive
• Refrain from anger (v. 8) negative
• Forsake wrath (v. 8)
• Turn from evil (v. 27): Are these two positive or negative? I would put them both in the positive column. When you are just “refraining” from anger, that means you aren’t going down that street. You aren’t opening that package. But when you “forsake” something, that means that you might have been going down that road, but now you are choosing not to. You are “turning from evil” which means you are positively going in a different direction.
• Keep his way (v. 14): That’s positive. It means obey God’s commands.
• Mark the blameless (v. 17)
• Observe the upright (v. 17)—these are both positive. They encourage us to follow godly examples.
So you see that there are basically twelve positives, compared to three negative commands. That’s almost four to one.
But you see the point. The list of do’s is way bigger than the list of dont’s. And as a Christian comedian said it way back in the Seventies…
If you spend your time doing the do’s, you’re not gonna have time to do the dont’s. And if you could, you wouldn’t, but you can’t, so you don’t, so chill.
3. Believe the Buts (v. 9-13) From the “Buts,” we learn…
• The wicked seem to be in charge, BUT the righteous will prevail (v. 9-11)
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
11 But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.
• The wicked plot against the righteous, BUT the righteous are protected (v 12-13)
The wicked plots against the righteous
and gnashes his teeth at him,
13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he sees that his day is coming.
• The wicked will be destroyed, BUT The righteous will be upheld (v. 17)
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.
There’s two crucial things to remember about these contrasts. The first is that righteousness prevails. We’ve seen the end of the book, and we know that God wins [illustration: watching ESPN classic]
But there’s something even more important to keep in mind here. What defines righteous and wicked is not political affiliation, voting record, skin color, citizenship status, police record, or first language. The righteous and the wicked are distinguished by one simple difference. The righteous have surrendered their lives to Jesus. The wicked have not. This means that someone can be blood bought and redeemed by Jesus and still be a jerk. It also means that someone can be the nicest, most moral person you’ve ever met, and still be lost in their sins.
It means that the most ardent Red State conservative republican who lines up with you on every single political issue could still be considered “wicked” by God’s standard. And the most liberal, blue state, Green New Deal democrat—if he has surrendered his life to the Lordship of Christ—has been pronounced righteous by that same standard.
It doesn’t mean there aren’t significant issues we disagree on. The Bible has to be the basis of what you believe about the sanctity of human life, the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman, and the security of our borders. But it also has to be the basis of what you believe about our responsibility to care for the environment, minister to the foreigner and the alien, respond to violence, work for racial reconciliation, and judge the character of our elected officials.
Too often, we write off the other side with statements like “I don’t see how anyone could claim to be a Christian and believe______________ . Or vote for ___________________.” So when you meet someone who does, talk to them. Listen to them. Study the Scriptures they claim as the basis for what they believe.
What about those who don’t claim to be Christian? Then understand this: Enemies of the gospel are not your enemy. They are captives of your enemy. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says that “to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Those who have been so blinded aren’t our adversaries. Our adversary, according to 1 Peter 5:8, is the devil. And he prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And if he can get you so consumed with hatred toward “the other,” guess what? He makes a meal out of you, and comes back for more.
So what do you do? While you are waiting for God’s justice, while you are waiting for the end of the game, #4, you…
4. Counter-Program (verse 3, 27, Romans 12:19-21)
Twice in this Psalm, God’s people are told to “do good.” Verse 3: Trust in the Lord, and do good”. Verse 27: Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.” Now, does this mean just a generic doing good? As in, “pay your taxes, help little old ladies across the street, take in stray dogs? That kind of good? Maybe, but let’s think about what the rest of the Bible says specifically about doing good to those who oppose you:
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus said,
39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,[h] let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
This is what I mean by counter programming. We are getting more and more conditioned to hitting back when we get hit. That if someone insults us, we are duty-bound to torch them right back on social media. But as Christians, we don’t get to fight the way the world fights. Look at what Paul says in Romans 12:
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
To counter-program is to deliberately say no to the human impulse to ratchet up the hostilities and differences, and instead make peace. We follow the example of Jesus, who’s final miracle was to re-attach the ear of one of the dudes that was coming to arrest him. If there was ever anyone in all of history who had the absolute moral high ground to call down curses on every one of his enemies, it would have been Jesus. Instead, what did he do? From the cross, he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
And in so doing, he made peace between God and those who were enemies with God. Who were enemies with God?
We were. Paul said, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. Jesus fed us with his body, the bread of life. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Jesus quenches our thirst with living water. Paul says, “in doing so you will heap burning coals on his head,” and we usually understand that to mean that the person will feel so guilty for having been mean to you when you errr so nice to him. But I think it may mean something different. Do you remember the story of Isaiah in the temple? In Isaiah 6, Isaiah saw a vision of the holy God, seated on his throne. Isaiah was so overwhelmed by God’s glory and sovereignty that he cried out:
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Isaiah didn’t see God almighty and think, “Great! Now we will see some vengeance on our enemies! Now all the bad people are gonna get theirs!” His reaction was to be aware of his own sin.
In the vision, there were seraphim— mighty angelic beings— circling the throne. Look at what happened next:
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Maybe the point of “heap burning coals on their head” isn’t to make them feel guilty. Maybe its to introduce them to Jesus so their guilt can be atoned for.
[Invitation]
