Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 37 | Date: May 19, 2024 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Alright, Psalm 37, we continue our expositions of Psalms. Today, we look at Psalm 37: “The Wicked and the Righteous in Perspective.” This is a Psalm of David.

“Fret not yourselves because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. 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. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself, it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off. Those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more. Though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.”

We will work our way through the remainder of the psalm, but for now let’s skip down to verse 34, which is something of a summary of the psalm. And then verse 39: “The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. He is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them, and he delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him.”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, we have been struck as we go through these various Psalms to see not only the various doctrines that we learn and the truths about you, but also about the various circumstances of our own lives where we find ourselves and how your Word applies to it. We find that again here in this psalm, and we pray that you will open our ears and our hearts to receive it, to understand it. We pray that you will use this to shape our hearts, and as we’ve said, shape our perspective as we look upon the wicked and the righteous. Help us to think like Christians, like men and women who know God and who know your word. We pray that you’ll strengthen us then through that for your service, for your glory, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

It’s an age-old question. If God rules over the world, if God is a righteous and just God, and if God in fact favors the righteous and hates the wicked, then why is there so much evil? It’s a perplexing question. It’s one of those things that doesn’t seem to add up. Why do the wicked seem so often to have it good, and that so often while the righteous seem so often to get put down? Perplexing question. It’s one that’s been faced in every age, and it’s the subject that David takes up in Psalm 37.

You’ll see that in verse 1 right at the outset: “Fret not yourself because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers.” You’ll see it again in verse 7: “Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices.” So this is a wisdom psalm. This is not a psalm given to praise. This is a psalm given to teach, to give moral instruction. And David here is not speaking to God. He is speaking to us to instruct us.

We learn when we get to verse 25 that David writes this as an old man, and so he’s sharing the wisdom of his years having observed life and this problem in particular. Psalm 37 is an extended lecture, if we can call it that, a wisdom psalm with 22 sayings that sound something like the book of Proverbs. It’s a wisdom psalm and it shouldn’t surprise us. In fact, verse one—”fret not yourself because of evildoers, be not envious of wrongdoers”—that in fact is picked up and that is Proverbs 24 and verse nine. Verse 16 is one of those “better than” proverbs that we find often in the book of Proverbs, one of the marks of the wisdom literature. Verse 16: “Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.” And that, in fact, is Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 16.

So here we have David as an old man reflecting on this problem of the problem of evil and in particular why the wicked seem often to prosper while the righteous seem to get put down and fail. And here he gives his answers and his reflections on that. This is a curious note, if you’re interested in these kinds of things: it’s not evident in the English, but this is an alphabet or acrostic psalm of sorts, like we’ve seen in some other psalms, like Psalm 25, you see it again, and Psalm 119 in a different kind of way. But here we have a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet beginning every other verse.

There are some exceptions to that, and that forms different clusters of the Psalms. But we have verse one begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, and then we have verse two. And then we have the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet in verse three, and the third letter of the alphabet in verse five. And so we have these couplets which form a single thought each. So verses 1 and 2 go together, verses 3 and 4 go together, verses 5 and 6 go together, and you’ll see more of that as we work our way through in the exposition. So you can expect to see then, with some exceptions, that is the way the psalm progresses.

Introductory Admonitions

By way of overview of the psalm, verses 1 to 7, we have his introductory admonitions. It’s an introductory section where he states his theme and sets it up for us at some length. And then verses 8 all the way through verse 34, we have the main body of the psalm, and here he deals with the retribution of the wicked and his care for the righteous. We’ll see that as we go through. And then finally, in verses 35 through 40, we have his concluding section where he gives some personal testimonies testifying that the future belongs to the righteous and not to the wicked.

Now, you’ll notice then in the introductory section, verses 1 to 7, it is framed by this idea, “fret not yourself.” Verse 1, at the beginning of the verse: “fret not yourself because of evildoers.” And then, verse 7, the end of this section, the last part of the verse: “fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way.” And then again, we pick it up at the beginning of the next section. Verse 8, at the beginning, again, it begins like the main body of the psalm, or like the introductory section: “fret not yourself, it tends only to evil.”

So it’s not difficult to pick up the theme, and that is: don’t fret. Don’t fret specifically because of evil. Now, we will focus, sharpen the focus a little bit more than that as we go through the psalm. The point of the psalm is not simply “don’t fret,” and it’s not simply “don’t fret over evildoers.” The point is: trust God. Don’t fret and trust God when you consider this problem of the prosperity of the wicked.

All right then, so verses 1 to 7, we have this introductory section where he gives some admonitions to trust in the Lord. Verses 1 and 2: do not fret. First admonition: “Fret not yourself because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers.” Don’t fret, don’t be envious. Exactly what we tend to do when we see the wicked prospering. When we see wicked on the rise and we see those who are wicked taking positions in government and leadership and the various control centers of our culture, what we tend to do is fret. Where’s our society going? What’s going to happen to us? What will happen to my children, my grandchildren? And if we’re not careful, we can tend to be envious. They’ve really got it good.

And so he starts out with this broad command: don’t fret because of evildoers, don’t be envious of them. And then next in verse 2—and we’ll see this as we go through here—the second verse of each couplet tends to give the motivation for the command in the first verse. So the first verse: fret not, do not be envious. Why? Verse 2: “for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.” So it’s a graphic comparison. You have grass, particularly at this time of year, we see it sprouting up and it gets cut down. And he says it’s a good illustration of the wicked. They prosper, but they prosper only for a while.

So verses 1 and 2, right at the outset of the psalm, establish for us what we could call an eschatological context for viewing and resolving this problem of evil. There’s more to be said about it, but the point of this psalm and the point he has already established now in verses 1 and 2: don’t be short-sighted. When you see the prosperity of the wicked and you see wicked succeeding in your society and your culture, don’t be short-sighted; what you see today is not the whole of reality. There’s another day coming. And that, in short, is the perspective that we have in Psalm 37. And so, I said earlier, we might title the message, “The Wicked and the Righteous in Perspective.” To say it a little bit better, we could say, “The Wicked and the Righteous in Long-Range Perspective.”

Now, he picks up on that again in verses 3 and 4. The admonition is in verse 3 and the first part of verse 4: “Trust in the Lord.” That’s the point. The point of the psalm is not simply “don’t worry,” but “trust in the Lord.” Trust in the Lord. He’ll do all that he said he would do. Don’t fret. “And do good,” that is, do what is beneficial to others. Don’t become like the wicked. It won’t pay off in the long run. Verse 4, at the beginning of the verse: “delight yourself in the Lord.” That’s more than contentment. It’s an appreciation for the wisdom and the ways of God. Delight yourself in his wisdom as he directs all things according to his will. And then the motivation, the last part of verse 4: “and he will give you the desires of your heart.” This is not a carte blanche granting of every wish, but it is promising the joy and the satisfaction of trusting in God.

Verses 5 and 6, we have the admonition in verse 5: “commit your way to the Lord,” and that’s explained in the next part of the verse: “trust.” And that’s picked up again in verse 6. Verse 5 though, he assures us: “commit your way to the Lord, trust,” and then he tells us why. Because “he will act.” So verse 6 then explains: “he will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday.” So commit your way to the Lord, trust him, know that he will act. And what it is he will do in acting is this, verse six: he’ll bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday.

That’s a poetic way of saying—it’s a beautiful expression. It’s a poetic way of saying that we will share in his glory. And as we fill this in through the rest of the scriptures, it’s filled in with our sharing in the reign of Christ himself in the kingdom of God. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, your justice as the noonday. There’ll be a day of vindication. Trust in the Lord. You won’t be disappointed. In the coming age, you’ll shine like the sun for everyone to see. So he promises here an eventual reversal. We will share in the glories of Christ.

Verse 7 then concludes this opening stanza, this introductory section. So here’s the conclusion of this first section: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently.” Wait quietly in anticipation of the day of vindication that he has promised. That is one of the most difficult things for us to do. In fact, I’ve often thought that the word “wait”—it’s the language of trust—but the word “wait” in scripture is one of the longest words in the entire Bible. Wait, wait, it is going to be some time, but God will do all that he has said he would do.

Well then already we have then the central message of the psalm. We see the evil prospering, evil people prospering, gaining control of the cultural centers that we have, the government, the media, education, big business. We see it happening. Trust. Don’t let it shake your trust in God. Wait. A day of vindication is coming. A day of reversal is coming. That will be summarized again when we get to verse 34, as we’ll see when we move our way through there.

The Retribution Of The Wicked And His Care For The Righteous

All right, then that brings us to verses 8 and following. Verses 8 to 34, we have the main body of the psalm. And here David expands on that aspect of his theme that so far he’s only hinted at. And that is God’s certain retribution of the wicked and his care for the righteous. Don’t just think—this is the theme of this section—don’t just think in terms of today, think in terms of the big picture.

Verses 8 to 15, he deals with the retribution of the wicked primarily. Verses 16 to 26, he contrasts then the retribution of the wicked to his reward of the righteous. And we’ll see that quickly as we go through. So verses 8 to 15, he takes up the subject of God’s retribution on the wicked. First of all, the couplet verses eight and nine. The admonition: “refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself.” Now he’s not, when he says here, “refrain from anger,” he’s not suggesting that we should be indifferent toward evil. There’s still righteous indignation and there’s a right place for that. But he’s simply saying, don’t be taken up with anger over the situation. Different people are wired different ways. But some of us look at society, the way it is going, and the prosperity of evil. And it can make us very angry, and it can consume us and ruin our peace. And that’s what he’s warning us against here.

Why? Why should we refrain from anger, forsake wrath? Why should we not fret? Verses eight, end of the verse, and then verse nine, give us three reasons. Don’t fret, why? Verse eight: “fret not yourself, it tends only to evil.” You won’t accomplish anything good by it. Verse nine: “because the evildoers shall be cut off.” His time will come. Just wait, it will be there. And then verse 9b: “those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land” because your vindication is coming. So don’t fret, don’t be angry, don’t lose sleep over this because you’ll accomplish nothing by it because their day is short and your day is coming. That’s the message of this entire section verses 8 through 34.

Alright, the next couplet, verses 10 and 11. The prosperity and success of the wicked is short-lived. “In just a little while, the wicked shall be no more. Though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.” Not only will their ill-gotten gains be gone, but they themselves will be gone. God will deal with them. They’ll be eliminated. Verse 11, the meek, however, will prosper forever. “The meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” As you know, of course, Jesus picks up these words in Matthew 5, verse 5, one of the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” God rewards the righteous. We were set up with this all the way back in Psalm 1. The Lord knows the way of the righteous. God blesses those who follow him.

Next, verses 12 and 13, he tells us that the Lord will end the hostility of the wicked. Verse 12: “the wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth against him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.” This reminds us of Psalm 2. He that sits in the heavens laughs. The nations are in rebellion against God as though they may succeed in it. And God laughs at such a stupid effort. And it’s what he’s doing here. They may get by with murder, but not forever.

Now we come to verses 16 through 26, and we have here contrast, where he contrasts God’s retribution of the wicked with his reward for the righteous. Verses 16 and 17, he introduces this section with a better than proverb: “Better is a little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.” Why? “For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.” Verses 18 and following expand on that. Verse 18: “the Lord knows the days of the blameless and their heritage will remain forever. They are not put to shame in evil times. In the days of famine, they have abundance.”

Then verse 20 expands further. So he’s drawing this contrast. You have the righteous who now are oppressed. You have the evil who oppress them. And now it seems all wrong. There’s coming a day when that will be reversed and the wicked will know God’s judgment. Then verses 21 and 22, the riches of the righteous now are in contrast with that of the wicked. Verse 21: “the wicked borrows but does not pay, but the righteous is generous and gives. For those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.” That is, the righteous person is not one who is so attached to material things, but he takes the longer view and he sees the riches that come.

Verses 23 and 24, he speaks also of this present stability of the righteous. “The steps of a man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.” Assurance on God’s watchful eye on the righteous. Verses 25 and 26, David gives his own personal testimony: “I have been young and now I’m old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously and his children become a blessing.”

Now verse 25 always raises the question. It even says, “I have been young, now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.” Has David said too much there? Is this really meat with experience? I think we have to recognize that first of all, obviously, and we can see this from all the rest of the Psalms, that David is not claiming that the righteous will never suffer. Half the Psalms are lament Psalms, or we have David in some kind of suffering or another. We find this all through the Scriptures. Hebrews 11 tells us, reminds us of all of those faithful, righteous people who have suffered in various ways. Torn, they’ve been sawn asunder, they’ve had their belongings taken from them.

What we find in verse 25 is not a statement from David that the righteous will never see suffering. What we have is David’s personal testimony, not a universal promise, but David’s personal testimony that he has never seen God’s people reduced to begging for bread. They’ve suffered. He himself has suffered. In fact, many of us can say the same thing. We’ve seen suffering, but we’ve not seen God’s people reduced to begging for bread. Many of us can say that. But David himself has suffered many hardships, but neither he nor his men who went with him were reduced to begging. The point then is that God takes care of his people.

Now, verses 27 through 34, he gives us an admonition to act wisely in anticipation of this reward that is coming. And here he returns to that alternating admonition and then the motivation as well. Verses 27 and 28. And then verse 29: “the righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.” Verses 30 and 31, he gives us the reward of the righteous: “The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom and his tongue speaks justice. The law of his God is in his heart. His steps do not slip.” Verses 32 and 33, he speaks of the preservation of the righteous from the hostility of the wicked. Verse 32: “the wicked watches,” that is, the wicked lies in wait for the righteous and seeks to put him to death. “The Lord will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.”

And then verse 34, he gives us the summary, which is a summary of the message of the entire psalm: “Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land. You will look on when the wicked are cut off.” So the wicked prosper, they have their day, but that day is not forever. God will reward the righteous in his time. Until then, he watches over his people, and he will never forsake them.

The Future Belongs To The Righteous

Then we come to verses 35 to 40. He comes to this concluding section, and here we have some personal testimonies that the righteous, not the wicked, have the future. Verse 35, David again validates this by his own testimony: “I’ve seen the wicked, ruthless man spreading himself like a green laurel tree, but he passed away. Behold, he was no more. Though I sought him, he could not be found.” This is probably, as scholars tell us explicitly—I assume this is a reference to King Saul. I’ve seen the wicked prosper, but he is no more.

Verses 37 and 38, then he challenges us to observe the same thing ourselves. “Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there’s a future for the man of peace, but transgressors shall be altogether destroyed. The future of the wicked shall be cut off.” So it is not Saul but David who has the future. David is saying that his experience is something of a paradigm, a model for what God does for his people.

And then verses 39 and 40, he concludes: the Lord saves the righteous. “The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them. He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him.” We don’t need to doubt. We don’t need to fret. That’s the point. Because God works in justice and in time he will right all wrongs. The wicked will be destroyed. The righteous will enjoy God’s blessing forever. And that in a nutshell is the message of the psalm.

So Psalm 37 then is really just applied eschatology. Eschatology, the study of final things—and we know that in the end Jesus will come and he’ll come in glory and he’ll destroy all of his enemies, he’ll establish the kingdom of God, we will reign with him forever and ever. The wicked will be put down, there’s the doctrine of hell. The righteous will be blessed, there’s the doctrine of heaven. David is just focusing on these simple aspects of the end times and he’s calling us to trust. Verse 1: “fret not yourself because of evildoers. Fret not yourself.” Verse 7: “fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices.” And instead, verse 3: “trust in the Lord.” Verse 4: “delight yourself in the Lord.” Verse 5: “commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act.” And verse 7: “be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”

So when you notice the world’s celebrities, they’re godless, they’re rich and famous and they have their party life. When you notice how your neighbor or your work associate lives, the only thought that he has for God is to take his name in vain. His Sundays are not given to God. His money is not sacrificed for the Lord’s work. He has no time for God’s law when it comes to morals and ethics. No regard for it at all. It can seem, “Okay, he’s ahead of me. He’s got better money. His children are never sick.” And you will be tempted, in the words of verse one, you will be tempted to envy. You’ll be tempted to think he’s better off than you.

Psalm 37 is written to remind you that you need to think in bigger picture. And think in long range perspective. Verse 16: “Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.” Remember that the short span of this lifetime is not the whole of reality. Remember that a much greater day and a much longer day lies ahead. Verse 6: “He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday.” What a wonderful perspective that is. That one day God’s people will shine as the victors and those who triumph. Verse 9: “those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.” Verse 11: “the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.”

So he’s telling us to remember these things. To fill it in from New Testament perspective: Remember that God has given us his son. And that if he has given us his son, he won’t withhold any good thing. He’ll give us all that is promised in him. Remember that when that day comes, God will never forget his people. He’ll never forsake them. Verses 23 and 24: “The steps of a man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.” Verse 28: “the Lord loves justice. He will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever. The children of the wicked shall be cut off.”

All of this resonates in the New Testament as well. In summary, in Philippians 4 verse 19: “my God will supply all your needs.” So he tells us, remember that the prosperity of the wicked is short-lived. Verse 2: they’ll soon fade like the grass. Verse 9: the evildoers shall be cut off. Verse 10: in just a little while the wicked will be no more. Verse 13: the Lord laughs at the wicked for he sees his day coming. Verse 20: the wicked will perish. “The enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures. They vanish like smoke, they vanish away.” And then verse 38: “transgressors shall be altogether destroyed. The future of the wicked shall be cut off.”

So he says here, remember that your neighbor, whom you are tempted to envy, in his evil he has an awful eternity ahead of him. Verse 34 again, perhaps the key verse of the psalm: “wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land. You will look on when the wicked are cut off.”

Now this is a very simple psalm. It takes up a subject that is taken up in several of the psalms. This problem of evil, the problem of the prosperity of the wicked. Often when the righteous themselves are put down. But we need reminders like this. We are Christians. We believe by definition. We are people who believe the Bible. We believe that there’s a hell. We believe that there’s a heaven. But we get so caught up in today that we lose sight of it. And we begin to envy the wrong side and we begin to fret.

And David writes to say, verse 1: don’t fret. Verse 3: trust the Lord. Verse 34: wait for the Lord and keep his way. And God rules in circumstances that even seem to deny it. He’ll do all that he has said. Verse nine: God will see to it that in the end the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

This is not unique to the Old Testament. The New Testament writers pick this up as well. Second Thessalonians chapter one, Paul takes up the subject of the righteous who are persecuted by the unrighteous. And he says in short, those who trouble you, when Jesus returns, they themselves will be troubled. And we will be vindicated. We find it in James chapter 5 and verse 7 where James says that in the very same kind of context, “be patient unto the coming of the Lord.” Peter deals with the same thing in 2 Peter chapter 3. In light of the scoffers who make fun of what you believe and the way you’ve given yourself to serve Christ, He reminds us of the great day of the Lord is coming and he says what kind of people ought we to be in light of this.

There’s coming a day when in the words of Daniel chapter 12 verse 3, the righteous will shine like the brightness of the sky above and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever. God will vindicate his people and we will share in Christ’s glory and in his triumph. This Christ who died for our sins, this Christ who rose from the dead in vindication, this Christ who ascended to heaven to the right hand of the Father will come again and he will bring God’s kingdom to its full culmination and we will share in that reign. We pray God will hasten that day.

But until that day comes—and this is the message of the psalm—until that day comes, we must not lose sight of it. We must not live and we must never lapse into thinking as though that day is not coming. Of course, this is an age that is marked by the success of evil. Jesus told us that would be the case. The day of justice is coming. That hope and that perspective must shape every day of our lives. Verse 9: “the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.” Amen.

Let’s pray. Father, these obvious reminders are so needed. We pray that you will help us to think and to behave as men and women who know you. Forgive us, Lord, for being so caught up with the evil of today that we worry and we fret as though there were no God. Lord, we remember your promise and we pray that you’ll encourage our hearts by it. And by that, keep us faithful until that wonderful day when he comes. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.