Seven Cures For A Troubled Heart - Part 1

SEVEN CURES FOR A TROUBLED HEART

Psalm 37 - PART 1

After worship - READ PSALM 42. This ties into the sermon.

Ps 42:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. (NKJ)

Does anyone ever feel like that? If God is in control of my life - WHY DO I FEEL THE WAY I FEEL?

We feel guilt because we don’t fully trust that God is in control.

Psalm 37 is our antidote for a troubled heart.

Let me ask you today? What do you see around you? Do you see the way people are dressed? Who came with who? Who is successful? Who drove what? The list could go on and on.

If Jesus was sitting up here - what would He see? I think that he would see hurting heart? The disappointments of some of you this week. The hurting marriages. The lonely hearts. Those that are sick in body. Those that are sick of life. HE WOULD SEE ALL THAT AND MORE!

Matt 9:36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. (NKJ)

I have parents who are like that. They can tell when things are not right. I am married to a woman who is like that - she can see beneath the shell of my life.

God is like that today. He sees what’s in your heart.

Psalm 139:1-6

I look at some of you today. On the outside you look like you have everything together but only you and God know the pain that you carry in your heart. HE SEES.

1. THE PRINCIPLE OF NOT FRETTING - V.1-2

Psalms 37:1-2 (NLT) (Ps 37:1 (NLT)) Don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong. (2) For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither. 3

The word fret in the Hebrew has the idea of being “annoyed” about people around you.

The root comes from the thought of “burning with anger.”

Do people and situations annoy you? Do they take away your joy and peace? Do you see them and your spirit gets agitated.

Does anyone ever feel like that?

He says to not be jealous of others and their prosperity. He tells us that it is only temporal.

Look at verse 25.

Psalms 37:25 (NLT) Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.

David is now looking back at his life.

Imagine yourself walking with him through the gardens. He is giving you advice about life. He turns to you and says “Fret not…”

When I take my eyes off of God - I worry and fret. I become envious. When I look at and compare myself to others - I become upset.

This is a Psalm for those of us who find ourselves on the short end of the stick more often then not - and are fed up with it.

David is speaking to people here who are trying to cling to God’s Word and God’s ways through life but keep getting cut off by people taking shortcuts - people who care nothing for God or anyone but themselves.

In this Psalm - David encourages us to look at the bigger picture not the smaller.

I was talking to my brother about when he attended the funeral of his wife’s grandmother.

Before she died she brought Robert in the room and told him - “If I knew I was going to live this long I would of started enjoying life a lot sooner.”

Between the ages of 40 and 80 she worried about everything. At the age of 80 she decided to start enjoying life. She said that she enjoyed the little things - like sitting by the window everyday and drinking tea and taking walks everyday.

She told him - “Robert, learn to enjoy life right now.”

2. THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUSTING - V.3

Psalms 37:3 (NKJV) Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

This word has the idea of safety. It speaks of being in a refuge.

In the 70’s there was a phrase out - “TRY JESUS!” This sounded like you were trying out Jesus like you would Pepsi cola.

But trusting is another matter. It speaks of totally leaning upon Him for the answers in your life.

Psalm 37 speaks of putting your trust in God when all the circumstances of life are screaming something else.

The bad guys seem to be winning - Look at vv. 7, 12, 14, 16, 35.