Faith in the Faithful One

Psalm 37:1-11

Pastor Micah

Transcript

Fret not yourself because of evildoers. In verse 7, fret not yourself over the
one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices. Also in
verse 8, fret not yourself. It tends only to evil. Don't fret, the psalmist
says. The word fret is not a word that we commonly use today. It's an old
English word. The idea here is to gnaw or wear away at something. The idea is
you're continually dwelling on something. You're not letting it go. You're just
kind of rehashing it over and over and over again. So much so that it just
shades the way you see everything. And it robs you of joy as it kindles anger
and resentment. You see the success of the wicked. You compare your life with
their life and you constantly dwell over and over and over on the outcomes.
Don't fret. He goes on to say don't be envious of wrongdoers. Envy happens as we
compare our lives with the lives of other people and we say look at them. They
have it all made. Here I am. I'm doing what's right and the guy over there, he's
lying. He's cheating. And he seems to get away with it. Good stuff's happening.
He's getting the promotions. He's getting the recognition. He's getting the
praise and here I am. Just plowing away. And the outcome doesn't really seem to
be worth it. He goes on to say don't get angry. Verse 8, refrain from anger and
forsake wrath. The idea here is bitterness towards God that leads us to lash out
in exasperation. And why do we get angry? Because their wrongdoing works. Well,
our faith doesn't seem to get the same results. So don't fret. Don't be envious.
Don't be angry. Don't be wrathful. All of these words really describe a state of
unsettled worry. Now what is worry? Worry is unbelief. Unbelief in the goodness,
wisdom, and sovereignty of God. The Bible has a lot to say about the sin of
worry. Philippians tells us do not be anxious or worried about anything. Jesus
five times in his Sermon on the Mount in that final section, he says do not
worry about tomorrow, but rather seek the kingdom of God first. Now, let me
explain the reason for worry, the results of worry, and then ultimately the
remedy for worry. So we begin with the reason. Why is the psalmist worried? Why
do we tend to worry? Because we see the prosperity of evildoers. They're getting
their way. They're moving up. They have power. And oftentimes they abuse their
power, which then directly impacts our lives. But regardless of how prosperous
the wicked may seem to be, the psalmist reminds us that their success will soon
be cut off. They may thrive for a time and for a season, but look at verse 2.
They will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. The reason
for worry, the prosperity of the wicked, the results of worry, evil. In verse 8,
fret not over, or verse 8, fret not yourself. It tends only to evil. Worry never
ends well, and it never produces any real fruits. Anger, resentment, jealousy.
These things all destroy faith in the goodness of God, and they affect our
attitude and our perspective honestly toward everything. We read this all
throughout the Psalms, but I think of specifically of Psalm 73. The righteous
man who looks at the prosperity of the wicked, he sees his own life, and he's so
overcome by worry and despair and despondency that he questions whether
following the Lord is even worth it. When we allow ourselves to become
overwhelmed in worry, the results will only be evil. The results will never bear
the peaceable fruit of righteousness. But what's the remedy? What's the remedy?
In verses 9 through 10, we see an eternal perspective, keeping things in
perspective. Verse 9 says, For the evildoer shall be cut off, but 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. The godly
do not see and evaluate life through the lenses of the here and the now. And so
rather than drowning in worry and bitterness, the godly keep things in
perspective. And the truth is only an eternal biblical perspective will enable
us to live and work and love in the midst of prevailing corruption. So how do we
trust the Lord when it seems like following him isn't worth it? Well, first, we
don't worry about the wicked. But secondly, and more importantly, we cultivate
faith in the faithful one. We cultivate faith in the faithful one. Look at
verses 3 through 7 of Psalm 37, one of my favorite sections of Scripture. 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. Now, there's a lot here.
There's a number of positive commands, but they're ultimately all related to
this first command, which is to trust in the Lord. So as we work through these
commands with their corresponding promises, it's important to bear in mind that
true faith, real trust, acts on God's promises and obeys God's commands. Real
faith, true faith acts on God's promises and obeys God's commands. So let's work
through each one of these commands beginning in verse 3, the main command here,
trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Now,
what does it mean to trust in the Lord? This is a common command we see all
throughout scripture. It's one of the first things that we encourage struggling
believers with, right? Someone's going through a trial. Someone's going through
something that's a difficulty. And we say, brother, sister, just trust in the
Lord. It's a phrase that we use so often that I fear we don't really actually
understand what it means. So what does it mean to trust in the Lord? Well,
hopefully this example will help. Over the past five years, I've had the
privilege of working side by side with Matthew Javier Moran. And let me tell you
something about Matt. I trust this brother. I've spent a lot of time with Matt
and the more I've gotten to know him, the more I trust him. He's a man of
integrity, man of character, overall stud, good guy. Now, there's one area that
I have really especially grown to trust Matt in. A little bit of a surprise at
first, but an area where I've definitely grown to trust Matt. It's in his food
recommendations. This man will not lead you astray when it comes to a restaurant
recommendation. Now, I started to sense I could trust Matt when we first started
working together, because I noticed that every morning this man ate a parfait. I
thought, hold up. He is functioning at a significantly higher level than most of
humanity right now. Now we know, as our favorite talkative philosopher said,
everybody loves a good parfait, but few people actually eat one. But this man
every day was eating a parfait and I thought, huh, I should ask him about food
recommendations. So I did. So, hey Matt, I'm looking to take Debbie out. Where
would be a good restaurant you'd recommend? Now, those who know me, you know, I
tend to just kind of gravitate toward the same things. So I struggle a little
bit trying something new. So Matt gives a recommendation. Should I trust him? I
don't know. He does eat a parfait every day. I should probably go forward with
it. So I take Matt at his word. And you know what? It was really good. It was
really good. So later on, hey, Matt, I'm looking to go out again. Any food
recommendations? Once again, new recommendations. Some place I had never heard
of before. Some place I had never seen before. A hole in the wall joint in
Buffalo. And guess what? It's good. Really good. And so over the years, I have
learned that I never go wrong listening to Matt's food recommendations and then
taking him up at his word. I've learned to trust him. So what does it mean to
trust the Lord? Here's what it means. It means to be confident in God's
character and to take him up on his word. Confidence in God's character and
taking him up at his word. This is what God calls his people to do. Now friend,
let me ask you a question. Are you confident in the character of God? The reason
that sometimes we're not really confident in his character is we don't really
know him. And we don't really know him because we don't really spend time with
him. But friend, for the believer, the more time we spend with him in his word,
the more time we reflect on the character of God revealed in each page of
scripture, the more we think about how God has proven himself to be faithful in
the sending of his son, Jesus Christ, to fulfill all of his promises to do. All
that he said he would do the more our faith is cultivated, the more we can
become confident in his character and then simply take him up at his word. Are
you confident in his character? And then secondly, are you taking God up on his
word? Think about this. What right now is God calling you by faith to do? To
take him up at his word. So, for example, some of you like me, maybe you
struggle with worry. You think about the future and you start getting worried
about the future. And you soon lose sight of the promises and the goodness of
God. And you lose sight of all that God has done in your past to prove that he
is indeed faithful. So in those moments, if you like me struggle with worry
about the future, what does it mean to take God up by his word to remind
yourself of his promises? Lord, you have said in your word that you will
withhold no good thing from those who walk up rightly. You have said in your
word that none who look to you will be put to shame. You have said in your word
that you will provide for all of my needs in accordance with the riches of your
glory in Christ, You have said in your word that you are able to give all grace
so that I have all sufficiency in all things at all times to abound in every
good work. So, Lord, thank you. Thank you for what you've promised. And Lord, I
believe that your promises are good and true. So, Lord, help me today by faith
to be fully present in this moment in the power of your spirit to love you. To
love others. To be about the great command and the great commission. Today, to
cultivate a greater love for Christ and his word. That's what it means to take
him up at his word by faith. So, friends, trust him and do good. And what's the
promise? You'll dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Now, three times in
this short section, we have this idea of dwelling in the land. The idea here is
stability and satisfaction. For the Old Testament, Satan, they anticipated the
land as part of God's promise. This inheritance that they would have. Where
God's presence would dwell with God's people. Where his power of protection
would be seen and felt. And for the New Testament believer, as we think about
this promise, we know that as we trust in him and do what is right in obedience
to his word, he is going to take care of us. We're going to dwell in
satisfaction, in security, in stability, regardless of the circumstances. And we
will then befriend or feed on faithfulness. So trust in the Lord. Secondly,
delight yourselves in the Lord. And he will give you the desires of your heart.
A true trust is not something that is done merely out of duty. A true trust is
done in delight. If I know that someone is good, I can happily trust them.
Trusting in the Lord and delighting in the Lord really go hand in hand. You
can't have the one without the other. Now, what does it mean to delight in the
Lord? Well, in some ways, it is exactly what I explained to the children. When
we begin to see that the greatest gift that we have in life is not financial.
It's not circumstantial. It is God himself. His promises, his presence, the
eternal inheritance that awaits us. Friend, we can take joy in that. And
practically one of the great ways that we can cultivate greater delight is to
daily meditate on these gospel gifts. Remembering who God is and all that he has
done and is doing and will do for us in Christ. And as we daily take time to
remember and reflect and to meditate on these gifts. Joy is cultivated. Trust is
cultivated. Delight yourself not in circumstances or apparent success, but in
the Lord, the one who is faithful. The one who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in Christ. And the promise is he will give you the desires of
your heart. Now, some people think, well, does that mean that God places on your
heart desires that he wants for you? Or that he simply gives you what you
desire? Well, the answer is both. As you delight in the Lord, you begin to
cultivate a greater heart for the Lord. And so then you desire those things that
he desires. You want his kingdom to come. You want his will to be done because
you know that is good. And so then as you delight in the Lord, you have these
God-ward desires and he fulfills them. John picks up on this idea of delighting
in the Lord. And then God giving you the desires of your heart in John 15, also
in 1 John. And in both of those passages, we don't have time to turn there
necessarily. But we find this idea that as we abide in Christ, as we cultivate
deeper fellowship with the Lord, he gives us these desires. We pray and then we
can expect him to work in answer to prayer to make us more like himself. To make
us more like Christ. And so trust in the Lord. Delight in the Lord. Number
three, commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act. The idea of
committing your way to the Lord literally means to roll your way on him. Now we
all have our various ways of doing things. This is how I want my life to work. I
have my ambitions, my desires. We all have our own idea of what a good life is.
This passage calls us to say, Lord, as the author of life, as the giver of life,
as the one who is infinitely good and wise. You know all things I submit to you.
Your will be done. Not my will. Your will. So, Lord, here I am. Do with me as
you please. I'll go where you want me to go. I'll do what you want me to do.
I'll be who you call me to be. I just want my life to be about you. That's the
idea there of committing your way to the Lord. The New Testament puts it like
this, casting your cares upon him. Because he cares for you. And here's the
promise. As you trust in him, as you delight in him, as you commit your way,
your ambitions, your desires, and submit them to him. He will bring forth your
righteousness, verse six, as the light. And your justice as the noonday. In
other words, he'll take care of you. You don't have to prove yourself. You don't
have to justify yourself. You don't have to defend yourself. He's going to take
care of you. He's faithful. He's the Lord. He's the covenant-keeping God. Verse
seven, the fourth command here. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for
him. A professor of mine once said that the single common hardest thing God asks
us to do is to wait. That is very true. Now the word wait here, or this idea of
waiting on the Lord, it's not like you're waiting at the Walmart line. All of us
know what that is. Awful experience. Genuinely is. That's not the concept here.
The idea is trust. The idea is, Lord, instead of acting out or reacting based on
my own impulses or my own perception of things. Lord, I need your wisdom. I need
your guidance. I'll continue to do what is right as I look to you to take care
of this situation that I'm currently facing right now. To be still and wait.
There's this idea of a peace and serenity of mine that stands in stark contrast
to the noisy anxiety and angstiness that pervades the lives of those who are not
trusting. In the Lord in verse 11, the psalmist uses the word meek to describe
those who wait on the Lord. The meek, he says, shall inherit the land and
delight themselves in abundance. Peace. Who are the meek? They are those who are
fully submitted to God's Providence. To God's plan. To the process that God is
working in their lives to make them more like Christ. And to God's promises. The
meek are those who trust in the character of God and act accordingly. Submitting
to the will of God, even when it seems like it's not worth it. So God calls us.
To trust him. Delight in him. Commit our way to him. To be still. Not angsty or
restless or discontent. But calm as we wait. Trusting in his goodness, in his
wisdom, in his plan. We live in a world where there's all kinds of reasons to be
anxious. To be worried. There's fears without. There's doubts within. And in the
midst of that world. This psalm reorients our perspective. Because it calls us
to trust in the Lord. Even when. It seems like following him isn't worth it. How
do we do that? Don't worry. About the wicked. Cultivate faith. In the faithful
one. As you do that. You will experience the stability. And the satisfaction
that Christ brings. In the lives of his people. Both now. And for all. Eternity.
Will you trust him? And act. On his word. This day. Let's pray. Father, I thank
you for your word. The simple commands of your word. And yet, Lord, in the
simplicity of your word, we see your goodness. We see the beauty of your wisdom
and your way. Lord, we confess that. So often in our own hearts, we doubt your
goodness. We question your Providence. We feel restless and discontent because
we want things to go our own way. Lord, in the midst of all of this. As we're
tempted to compare ourselves with others, compare our situation with an ideal
that we might have in mind. Or teaches to trust you. To find our joy and delight
in you. To commit our way to you. To cultivate faith in the faithful one. Lord,
we thank you for Christ. We thank you that in Christ you have proven yourself to
be a faithful God. Who redeems and rescues all who call upon him. We praise you
for these great gospel gifts. For your character. For your word. So help us. We
pray. This morning. Through your son Jesus. Amen.