Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew

Psalm 37 – Trust in the LORD (Part 1 of 4)

Introduction – When a child of God is attacked for obeying the Word of God, what he needs most is to know how it will all end. The finality of the experience becomes the result of whether he passes or fails the test of faith. It is not while he is enduring it that is the measure of a final grade from the LORD. A child of God could stumble during the trial but when he repents from the fall and is picked up by the LORD and remains faithful once more in his trust, he will not be measured yet. But when he fails and remains fallen at the end of the trial, that is when he has failed the test. This experience is one that all believers can identify with. The world that believers live in has gotten from bad to worse. The immorality, evil and wickedness have risen to a global height that the world has never seen before in the history of mankind. The only period that might come close to this global pandemic spiritual and moral decay is before the global flood in Noah’s time. God described that dark period in Genesis 6:5 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Believers need to prepare themselves for a time of unspeakable persecution, even from their own loved ones and friends, and definitely it will come from their own governments which are all under the yoke and control of the god of this world, the devil himself!

David understood this well as seen from the final three verses of Psalm 37. It is through Psalms like Psalm 37 that believers can learn and draw strength from God’s perfect and comforting truth.

I. The Need to Trust – 37:1-8 – Evil doers are all around believers. They do not seem to bother believers especially when they are on the other side of the globe or their evil does not touch them. However, the truth is the evil doers follow believers like their own shadows! There is no getting away from evil and evil people. This is a reality that believers ought to be constantly aware of so that when evil strikes they will not be shocked or surprised. David fretted, i.e. became angry with himself, because of the evil doers that afflicted him unjustly! Not only did they afflict him, they also gained from David’s affliction. Many times the agenda of those who persecute believers is personal gain. Either they gain monetarily or personal glory. These have been the two most popular motivations for evil doing. Of course when the evil doers hide their agenda behind the cause of Christ, it makes their persecution more respectable and their own conscience is numbed so that they can sleep well at night. These evil doers come in all shapes and sizes and often from the most unexpected quarters in the believer’s life. For David, his own son Absalom wanted him dead and nearly succeeded.

Using synonymous parallelism, David cried to himself to stop his heart from envying these evil doers. They seem to have “gotten away with murder” as they say. The reason is that they might have gained financially and no punishment befell them. They appeared to have escaped the justice of God on earth. They kept on gaining more and more and they laughed the believer to scorn believing that they have the victory. This is very hard to accept.

Verse 2 (synonymous parallelism) – However, David was comforted to know that these evil doers will receive their due in time. Their life on earth will be cut down like the grass. Again using synonymous parallelism David shared that they will also wither like the green herb. When the eyes of the believers are fixed on earthly “rewards” and temporal justice, they will fret and become angry with themselves and even God at times. Having the best sense of justice on earth because of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, believers can get upset the most and very often rightly as they are persecuted for Christ’s sake. Losing jobs, properties, family and loved ones, freedom and life for the sake of Christ coupled with seeing evil doers increasing in fortune and fame for evil doing is something that eats like a canker within the soul. One of the best ways to overcome this unscriptural emotion and sense of discontentment is to change perspective. View life from the perspective of eternity, i.e. a life after this life. No matter how long these evil doers may enjoy their “spoils” on earth, they will soon die like the grass and plants. Their “enjoyment” on earth is temporal. Soon they will die in sin and like the rich man in Luke 16 will spend eternity in hell. That rich man is representative of all the rich people on earth who do not know Christ. They may have their day in the sun on earth but tragically they will spend eternity in pain and eternal darkness. With this new eternal perspective of life on earth, David was able to look up and testify that he would continue to trust in the LORD.

Verse 3 (synthetic parallelism) – So David encouraged all believers to “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” Believers have to realize that they cannot control the mouths and actions of others, especially the evildoers who will continue to persecute and spew out lies to destroy the believers and their witness for Christ. However, believers can control their own mouths and deeds. They need to, always. Therefore David urged all believers to keep on trusting the LORD. With the use of “LORD” here he appealed to the covenantal relationship the believer has with God through Christ. This is the only confidence every believer needs in life especially in times of great distress. Their trust is in what the LORD has done in their lives in Christ. It is a life that must continually be characterised by goodness, regardless of how they have been unjustly treated. They must still hold on to the promises of Scriptures by faith. Their lives must be lived by faith in God. Any other way to live is folly and sin against God. Keep on doing good, even to those who persecute them like these evildoers. They must remember that they had first done it to their Lord Jesus Christ who endured them all to save the world from sin. In the case of believers, they must do good like their Master to point these evildoers to the Saviour as they are to bear the image of Christ. Did not Christ command all believers to do just this as salt and light of the earth? Matthew 5:13-16 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

This is exactly what Israel was supposed to do for Christ in the Land of Promise. By such deeds of continuous goodness in the face of persecution by evildoers, the LORD would be very pleased with such a witness. Israel would remain long in the Land and be well fed or blessed by God (cf. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28). Safety and security in every believer’s life are in the hand of the LORD alone, never in mammon or powerful men. To think otherwise is the sure way to end up in sin when persecution comes. Persecution reveals who the believer really trusts in his heart! All believers need to know this from time to time. That is why persecution will come from time to time to test and reveal who they trust as they witness for Christ because all believers change with time. The change has to be constantly toward Christ and not the world. These persecutions reveal the direction that the believer’s heart is moving toward until it is time to go home to be with the LORD.

Verse 4 (synthetic parallelism) – David described it as the believer’s delight. Is the believer’s delight in the LORD or not? That is why persecutions are experienced in every believer’s life. He must know the One who gives him the greatest delight. The word “delight” means “to be happy about”. Obviously believers must experience this themselves. Trials and testings will bring this delight out in every believer’s life. There is no better way than the way of persecution where the believer will suffer the loss of earthly things. It ought to be in the LORD that the believer delights in. It is not the LORD’s doings or promises but the Person of the LORD Himself. This truth is significant. It is true that when a believer receives Christ into his heart, like David, he will be delivered from hell and into heaven his eternal home. However, the believer must realize and learn that the treasure of his heart is the LORD and not what the LORD provides out of His grace! When it is the Person of the LORD that the believer delights in, the promises of the LORD becomes secondary. This was David’s experience. He commanded all believers to have this too. The way of persecution is the way of attaining this experience.

Then the LORD will give to the believer the desires of his heart! The reason is that the desires of his heart are also God’s desires for the believer’s life. There is no contradiction between what the LORD wants to give and what the believer desires. They are congruent. The believer will only want what the LORD wants for him and nothing else. His delight is also the LORD’s delight for him. He will study God's Word faithfully and diligently, for he knows that the only way to love his LORD is to know Him better so that he might know what pleases his LORD. Persecution will drive him nearer to his LORD. His path in life will be the path that the LORD desires for him. This is captured very clearly in the next verse.

Verse 5 (synthetic parallelism) – The believer now commits his way to the LORD. What he wanted in life when he was an unbeliever is now replaced completely by what the LORD wants for him. All areas of his life are now subsumed under this singular desire of loving the LORD. There is no other way to live but the way of Holy Scriptures. This gives him the greatest joy as this gives his LORD the greatest joy! What an abundant life he now lives on earth for Christ! The word “commit” has the idea “to roll together.” The believer’s life will be “rolling” along in the direction of the LORD’s Word. Each step he takes he makes a path. The path of life that he lives is like the path a wheel makes when it rolls along. The believer’s path is the way of his LORD. The LORD’s way is the way of Holy Scriptures. This requires determination and steadfastness especially in the face of persecution. The believer will be pressed to compromise and feel righteous anger. He must continue to trust in the LORD. That is why David shared that commitment and trust must go together for the delight of the believer to be sustained for life. So David says, “Trust also in Him.”

In God’s time He will bring it to pass. What the LORD brings to pass is the way of the believer unto the LORD. It will become a reality. What happens when the believer stumbles and falls into sin? The way of the LORD is to repent and return back to the path of holiness and righteousness. The LORD does not expect sinless perfection from believers but He does expect perfection in obedience to His Holy Word! Repentance is always an integral part of the believer’s way of the LORD as he sojourns on earth.

Verse 6 (synonymous parallelism) – This is the way that will bring forth righteousness in the life of the believer. All believers have been declared righteous by God through Christ at the point of salvation. This is true of all believers since the fall of Adam. This positional righteousness will never leave or diminish in the believer’s life regardless of the sins he commits on earth. He will always be justified and this righteousness is the evidence of his new state of justification. However, the practical side of righteousness must be seen by his life since no man can see the positional righteousness. The believer’s way of the LORD is the path that he carves out for his family and friends to see everywhere he goes. They will see one who desires to do what is right all the time. If he has done wrong he repents, apologizes and makes the necessary restitution as evidence of his repentance. His LORD will do this in his life. He trusts in the LORD even in the midst of an unjust persecution! Sometimes, he might not see it in his lifetime but the impact of his life of righteousness and obedience can save a soul. Stephen’s life of obedience led to his being stoned to death, and a young man by the name of Saul was present to witness it all, and he came to accept Christ into his life and became the greatest Apostle the church has ever known.

Using synonymous parallelism, David emphasized that the judgement or decision that the believer makes daily will be like the noonday with nothing to hide but shows forth clearly the wonder of God’s great salvation in his life.

Verse 7 (synthetic parallelism) – The believer must now learn to rest in the LORD. The word “rest” is not the same word for Sabbath rest which is an emphasis on no work. This word “rest” means “to be dumb.” It means to stop talking or fretting because when a person frets he talks a lot of nonsense. In fact he murmurs! He is commanded to be quiet and trust in the LORD. Let the LORD do what He needs to do in and through his life for His glory. All the believer needs to do is to obey and submit quietly to His will in his life even if evildoers are persecuting him! He must trust the LORD to always do what is best in his life for God’s glory. Keeping quiet is one of the best signs of obedience. It is also one of the hardest things to do in the believer’s life of holiness. Sinful man has a predisposed inclination to have the last word especially when he thinks that he has been unjustly treated. However, the new man in Christ, the believer, must subdue this inclination at all costs. With his LORD’s help he can. Remembering to delight and trust in the LORD will avail him the spiritual strength he needs to succeed. His life of righteousness will glow brightly like the noonday sun for all to see. This is exactly what Jesus meant when He says that by the good works of the believer, God will be glorified.

Therefore David says to stop fretting because the evildoers prosper in their way of sin. They are to be pitied and not envied! They are in darkness and in sin and have their eyes blinded by the god of this world! What is there about them to fret about! Their hurt against the believer to cause him to sin will come to naught as long as he looks to the LORD who is his Sustainer and Provider. Losing earthly possessions and privileges is nothing compared to the glory that awaits all believers in Christ. He knows that his LORD knows exactly what he is doing in his life even if it means losing his family, job, freedom and his life. If by these losses he can glorify God it is worth it. He knows that his God sent His only begotten Son to die for Him and nothing that he sacrifices on earth can even be compared with what Christ did for him on Calvary! He rests in the LORD patiently.

Verse 8 (synonymous parallelism) – Finally, the need to trust in the LORD is real as anger will be the resulting emotion that will surely trigger a regrettable harsh remark leading to more transgressions, if he does not trust. David commands all believers to “cease” from anger and get rid of wrath. The word “cease” means “to abandon.” It is to cause something to relax and in this context it is the believer’s anger brought about by the actions of the evildoers against him! He might have the right to be angry but he has no right to sin even in righteous anger. The anger has to dissipate as soon as it arises before it turns into wrath. “Anger” is the flaring of the nostrils but “wrath” is “hot displeasure” like a volcano that is about to erupt. The believer must see the higher hand of God in the persecution. He needs to see the great glory that can come out of this persecution. He must learn to experience trust in the LORD and be drawn closer than ever before to Him! David provided very sound and good biblical reasons to not fret and allow anger and envy to spawn in the believer’s heart. If he does sin he must repent and get rid of them immediately. If he does not then it will result in serious sin.

David calls it evil. The believer will fret and keep on fretting which will inevitably lead to evil. This is seen too often in many believers’ lives today. A harsh word leading to harsh actions resulting in broken relationships that are harder to mend than a mirror broken into a million pieces! The image of Christ will be damaged and years of holy witness could go down the drain because of this evil. Every believer needs to know that whenever he struggles with evildoers he is struggling within himself not to sin. It is a spiritual struggle and not a carnal one. He needs to take his eyes off the evildoers and their “gain” and turn his eye unto the LORD to stop his fretting which can turn into evil.

[To be continued]