Holy Bible

Fret not thyself because of evil-doers. Psalm 37:1-12 Fret not T. Spurgeon. There are many who suppose that it is well-nigh impossible to pass the time of our sojourning here without some degree of anxiety and depression of spirit. I grant you these feelings will come to us, but we are not obliged to welcome them. Luther quaintly said that, whereas we cannot prevent the birds from hovering over and flying round about our heads, we can prevent them from building their nests in our hair. The Lord will net hold us accountable for the suggestions that the devil makes, or our own evil hearts produce, but He does hold us responsible for yielding to those suggestions, and nourishing them. I. A DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPLAINT. Worrying, murmuring, or fretting, is certainly a malady. It must not be regarded as a mere circumstance that afflicts us from without. It is a deep-seated complaint that reigns within. One of the old Puritans says, of one who was always complaining, that he was "sick of the frets." He recognized that it was an inward ailment, affecting both soul and body. The root of the mischief was in the rebellious heart. 1. What is the nature of this complaint? It is of the nature of a fever. "Fret not thyself," or as it might be read, "Do not grow hot, inflame net thyself, because of evil-doers." Leave. to the sea to fret, and fume, and rage, and roar. Leave to the wicked, of whom the troubled sea is so apt an emblem, to toss to and fro, and cast up mire and dirt. Leave to the caged bird, that has no wisdom, to beat itself against the bars and make its incarceration still more unendurable; but for you who are already God's, who have such a Father and Friend, and such a home, to which you are each moment coming nearer, for you to fret is clean contrary to the spirit of the Gospel; and to the grace which is in Christ Jesus. 2. What are the causes of this complaint?(1) The prosperity of the wicked. I do not know of anything more likely to contribute to envy — which is nearly always an accompaniment of fretting — than a view of the prosperity of the wicked, that is if that view is a one-sided and short-sided one, as it generally is. The wicked spreads himself like a green bay tree, everything seems to go well with him. But he is a stranger to the one thing needful. He is altogether unacquainted with the joys we know, and what shall his end be? Have you ever found it in your heart to envy the apparent riches of the stage king, who struts his little hour behind the footlights with crown, and robes, and sceptre, and I know not what?(2) The care that seems inseparable from daily life. So long as we dwell in the land there must be the question of being fed and clothed. I had almost said that religion is a farce and a fraud unless it stoops with me to such matters as these. It does so.(3) There is another matter that mightily troubles some people, viz. the safeguarding of their reputation. Well, but let not this give rise to fretting and to distrust of God (vers. 5, 6). What reputation we have is due to God's grace. If He has made it, He will keep it. Your reputation is not of half so much account as are God's cause, etc. 3. What are the symptoms of this disease.(1) It is generally accompanied by envy — "neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity." Be on the look-out against that green-eyed monster jealousy, for it works havoc in the heart, and havoc everywhere.(2) It is accompanied also by loss of appetite that is, for the things of God. If we give way to repining, we shall not care for God's Word, prayer will become almost impossible, the Gospel itself will lose its zest.(3) Accompanying this fever there is, of course, a very high temperature. It is very easy, when you are in this state of mind, to get angry, and very difficult to cease from wrath.(4) There is a consuming thirst with this fretting fever, a longing for something one has not got, a parching of the tongue and a drying of the lip, almost unbearable.(5) The vision is impaired; we do not see things clearly.(6) There is loss of memory, for we forget the mercies which have gone before, a recollection of which would help us to bear the troubles of the present. II. THE PRESCRIPTION. 1. The first item is trust in the Lord. Faith cures fretting. I believe in the "faith cure" — not as some administer it, but as God administers it. It is the only cure for worrying. If thou trustest all shall be well. 2. Do good. This is the second ingredient in the prescription. Do not give up, do not yield to fear. Do good; get to some practical work for God; continue in the path of daily duty, take spiritual exercise. 8. Diet is a very important matter in fever cases. It reads in the original, "Thou shelf be fed with truth." Oh, the patient begins to get better at once, if he is fed on faithfulness. If you eat God's truth and live on His Word, and drink in His promises, recovery is sure. 4. "Delight thyself also in the Lord." Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. "God writes straight on crooked lines;" delight in Him if you cannot delight in anybody else; delight in Him if you find no joy in yourself. 5. "Commit thy way unto the Lord." Not merely petition the King and then go on worrying, but roll the burden upon the Lord. Then the matter becomes His rather than yours; He accepts the responsibility which is too heavy for you. Too often we shoulder the load again. 6. "Rest in the Lord." Any doctor will prescribe rest in a case of fever; without it the patient is not likely to pull through. You must have rest; be still and see the salvation of the Lord, sit silent before God. Rubbing the eye is not likely to bring the mote out. Even if it does it will only inflame the optic more, and fretting is something like rubbing the eyes — it only increases the inflammation. Do not strive and struggle. 7. "Wait patiently for Him." The buds of His purposes must not be torn rudely open. They will unfold of themselves if you will let them. If you try to expedite matters you will spoil the whole business. God's time is the best time. 8. "Cease from anger and forsake wrath." Ah, I have heard of some people down with the fever who have been foolish enough to do things and to take things which are only calculated to add fuel to the fire. You cannot give up fretting until you begin to forgive. ( T. Spurgeon. ) Fretting John Cox. 1. Fretting in many cases supposes envy. "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious," etc. Asaph did this, and ha forcibly describes this painful and injurious process in the seventy-third psalm. It became too painful for him. He questioned the rectitude of Providence and the wisdom of God. Just then he was stopped; like Job, he said, "Once have I spoken, but I will proceed no further"; he fell on his face, confessing, "I am foolish," "I was envious!" and soon the scene changed from darkness to light, from complaining to communion, from fretting to rest in God. 2. While the fretting mood lasts, while we are troubled because God withholds certain things from us which He gives so abundantly to others, expectation from God is excluded. Hope pines when the heart frets, and peace flutters outside that soul which care corrodes, and which complainings fill with discord. 3. Yet many excuses are often made for this line of conduct; and the more it is indulged in, the more it is justified. "Wherefore should a living man complain? If a sinner, he has no right to do so; if a saint, no reason:" for a sinner deserves hell at any moment, and a saint, though most unworthy, is on his way to a glorious heaven; and his very trials and deprivations are a means of preparing and training him for that better world. ( John Cox. ) Fretting J. Scilley. I. THE SIN. Fretfulness is a sin against, — 1. Ourselves. Destroys peace of mind; the mother of bitterness, harshness, fault-finding. 2. Others. Robs homes of their happiness. 3. God. John Wesley once said, "I dare no more fret than curse and swear." To have persons at my ears murmuring and fretting at everything, is like tearing the flesh from my bones. By the grace of God I am discontented at nothing. I see God sitting on His throne, and ruling all things." II. The causes. 1. Envy. 2. Covetousness. 3. Want of faith in God. I have read that one of Cromwell's friends was a fretting Christian, to whom everything went wrong. On a certain occasion, when unusually fretful, his sensible servant said, "Master, don't you think that God governed the world very well before you came into it? Yes; but why do you ask? Master, don't you think God will govern the world very well after you go out of it?" "Of course I do." "Well, then, can't you trust Him to govern it for the little time you are in it?" III. THE CURE. 1. Look on the bright side of things. 2. Look not merely at the present, but think of the future. 3. Have faith in God. Then you will welcome whatever comes, knowing that He can help, even by adverse circumstances. ( J. Scilley. ) The cure for care J. H. Jowett, M. A. 1. " Fret not thyself." Do not get into a perilous heat about things. Keep cool! Even in a good cause fretfulness is not a wise helpmeet. Fretting only heats the bearings, it does not generate the steam. It is no help to a train for the axles to get hot; their heat is only a hindrance; the best contributions which the axles can make to the progress of the train is to keep cool. 2. How, then, is fretfulness to be cured? The psalmist brings in the heavenly to correct the earthly. "The Lord" is the refrain of almost every verse, as though it were only in the power of the heavenly that this dangerous fire could be subdued.(1) "Trust in the Lord." "Trust!" It is, perhaps, helpful to remember that the word which is here translated "trust" is elsewhere in the Old Testament translated "careless." "Be careless in the Lord!" Instead of carrying a load of care let care be absent t It is the carelessness of little children running about the house in the assurance of their father's providence and love.(2) "Delight thyself in the Lord." How beautiful the phrase! The literal significance is this, "Seek for delicacies in the Lord." Yes, and if we only set about with ardent purpose to discover the delicacies of the Lord's table, we should have no time and no inclination to fret. But this is just what the majority of us do not do. The delicacies of music are not found in the first half-dozen lessons; it is only in the later stages that we come to the exquisite. And so it is in art, and so it is in literature, and so it is with the "things of the Lord." "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." Let us be ambitious for the excellent! God has not yet given to us of His best. He always keeps the best wine until the last. When we sit at the table of the Lord, tasting of His delicacies, fretfulness will be unable to breathe.(3) "Commit thy way unto the Lord." "Thy way!" What is that? Any pure purpose, any worthy ambition, any duty, anything we have got to do, any road we have got to tread, all our outgoings. "Commit thy way unto the Lord." Let us commit our beginnings unto Him, before we have gone wrong., let us have His companionship from the very outset of the journey. If I am going out alone, fretfulness will encounter me before I have gone many steps in the way; if I go out in the company of Jesus I shall have the peace that passeth understanding, and the heat of my life will be the ardour of an intense devotion:(4) "Rest in the Lord." Having done all this, and doing it all, trusting in the Lord, delighting in the Lord, committing my way unto the Lord, let me now just "rest." Don't worry. Whatever happens, just refer it to the Lord! If it be anything injurious he will suppress it. If it be anything containing helpful ministry He will adapt it to our need. This is the cure for care. ( J. H. Jowett, M. A. ) Discontent J. Parker, D. D. David was peculiarly qualified to admonish the righteous as to their demeanour in relation to the ungodly. Never, perhaps, had man hotter conflicts with "evil-doers" and "workers of iniquity," and never were more signal triumphs gained over malignant hosts. We need words of soothing such as are breathed in the text. There is enough in society, both profane and professedly religious, to vex the spirit and trouble it with bitterest grief. I. THAT THERE HAS EVER BEEN A GENERATION OF EVIL-DOERS. All ages have been blackened with the shadow of evil-doers. Not a single century has been permitted to complete its revolution without being marred by their deadly presence! I ask you to mark the terrible energy implied in the designation "workers of iniquity." Reference is not made to men who make a pastime of iniquity, or who occasionally commit themselves to its service, but to those who toil at it as a business. As the merchantman is industrious in commerce, as the philosopher is assiduous in study, as the artist is indefatigable in elaboration, so those slaves of iniquity toil in their diabolic pursuits with an ardour which the most powerful remonstrance seldom abates! They are always ready to serve their master. II. THAT THE SERVANTS OF GOD ARE NOT TO BE MOVED FROM THEIR COURSE BY THE GENERATION OF THE UNRIGHTEOUS. "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers," etc. This language does not sanction carelessness as to the moral condition and destiny of the parties indicated. We need to mourn over it. But we are not to "fret" over evil-doers, though it be natural to do so, when we think of the terrible harm they do. You punish such men more severely by taking no notice of their malignity — they would rejoice in provoking retaliation. And these "evil-doers" are often prosperous in their way, whilst the good are often exposed to social hardships. Imagine not that secular prosperity is a pledge of Divine favour. III. THAT A TERRIBLE DOOM AWAITS THE GENERATION OF EVILDOERS. "For they shall soon be cut down," etc. Know ye of any such miserable spectacle as that of a human being "cut down"? As travellers have wandered over the ruins of classic temples, they have mourned their departed glory, but what are such ruins compared to the ruins of manhood? The heart that might have expanded with holiest emotion — wasted! The image of God an irrecoverable wreck! Imagination can paint no horrors so appalling. Though God uses not our chronometers in the measurement of time, yet the wicked themselves will have occasion to exclaim, "We are soon cut down!" You wrong your own souls in reasoning that "to-morrow shall be as this day and more abundant." The hour of your fullest joy is the hour of highest danger. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Fretful envy Homilist. I. A PAINFUL PASSION. There may be fretfulness where there is no envy. One may fret because of the tardy advancement of a cause dear to his heart, or because of the troubles of those in whom he is interested. There is a great deal of fretfulness that is almost constitutional, and therefore innocent and free from all "envy"; but there can be no envy where there is not fretfulness. What is envy? It is not merely a desire to possess that good which another has: that is emulation. To crave after that which gives power, and worth, and happiness is a laudable ambition. We are commanded to "covet earnestly the best gifts." But "envy" is a malicious desire to possess what others have: it means their deprivation. Jealousy is a dread lest another shall possess what we wish for ourselves; envy is a dislike for another because he actually possesses the good desired; and because it is so impregnated with the malign it is always fretful. It is a grudging, growling passion; it is never at rest. II. IT IS A FOOLISH PASSION. IT IS DIRECTED AGAINST THE MOST UNENVIABLE OF CHARACTERS. "The workers of iniquity will be cut down like the grass." III. ENVYING THE WICKED. Shall the imperial eagle, whose undazzled eye drinks in the splendours of a cloudless sun, envy the worm that never rose an inch beyond its native dust? Shall the sun itself envy the flickering rush-light which the feeblest breeze can extinguish? Shall the heaving ocean, bearing on its bosom the richest merchandise, and reflecting from its deep blue eye the glories of the firmament, envy the little summer pool, which a passing cloud has poured into a foot-print? Sooner shall such envy be called into existence than the true child of God envy the "workers of iniquity." ( Homilist. ) Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Psalm 37:3-8 The Remedy for Hard Times H. Ward Beecher. That is good, sound advice; no metaphysics in that: it is good common sense, even if it be three thousand years old. To-day is a time of a good deal of trouble in the world and all over the world. The troubles are political, commercial, social. Everywhere is distress and misery, and chiefly upon the heads of men that least can bear it. Now, what has our religion to say to us under these circumstances? Much. Our text itself is a whole sermon, and I could add nothing to it. It is only for me to rub it in; for it is all there: "Trust in the Lord and do good; so... thou shalt be fed." Dwelling in the land was promised to those who were not unused to see whole populations carried off to Assyria or Babylon, or to Rome, according to the will of their conquerors. And in a land liable to famines as Palestine was, "verily thou shall be fed" was a very precious promise. And the New Testament echoes the Old, only carrying the thought higher, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God... and all... shall be added unto you." Two capital elements for consideration are given us in our text. I. TRUST. That is, have faith in God and in His care for you. And how wrong and foolish it is not to trust — for what father or mother ever loved their children as God loves us? But we trust God when things go well; when they do not, we fully doubt. We do not live by faith, but by sight — more's the pity. But we are bidden trust, and — II. NOTE THE CONDITIONS are "do good." Trust inspires activity. Do not sit down in despair. You may be old, or verging toward it, and suddenly ruin comes. You say, "It is foe late to build again," and you are filled with despair. Nay! While age brings with it less energy and hopefulness, it brings with it, also, experience. You may not go on in the same scale and way as before, but accept the altered position , make the most of it, and be of good courage and trust in God. There is no disgrace in your having ceased to be the possessor of large wealth. I think some of the noblest examples of womanhood that I have ever met anywhere have been those noble souls who, cast out into poverty, never appeared so wise, so noble, so reverend, as in their poverty. The light of a candle does not depend on the candlestick in which it burns. How lovely is a beautiful flower amid barren surroundings! When fortune lowers on you in the form of loss of means of living, circumscribe your wants. A man can live on wondrously little when he sets about it. And retrench at the right end — the end where luxuries come in, not that of your church gifts and charities. Many reverse this order, and pamper the body whilst they starve the soul. And do not give up moral activity in the church, the schools, or elsewhere. The real man comes out in times of trial and loss, when he has nothing but his manhood to depend upon. Try when troubles come to you to lighten the troubles of others. That is a golden remedy. Why should you complain or faint? Stand in your place and smile. Remember the eternal is yours. ( H. Ward Beecher. ) Christian waiting H. Ward Beecher. When you have nothing to do, and there is nothing to produce anxiety, it is easy to wait — for it is laziness; and all men are apt by nature to be lazy. But when there is anything that you have set your heart upon, it is very hard to wait, especially if the thing does not come as soon as you expect it to. Waiting is easy when it is sinful, and hard when it is a duty. You tell your child that this pine-tree out here in the sandy field is one day going to be as large as that great sonorous pine that sings to every wind in the wood. The child, incredulous, determines to watch and see whether the field pine really does grow and become as large as you say it will. So, the next morning, he goes out and takes a look at it, and comes back and says, "It has not grown a particle." At night he goes and looks at it again, and comes back and says, "It has not grown a bit." The next week he goes out, and looks at it again, and comes back and says, "It has not grown any yet. Father said it would be as large as the pine-tree in the wood, but I do not see any likelihood of its becoming so." How long did it take that pine-free in the wood to grow? Two hundred years. And do you suppose that God's kingdom is going to grow so that you can look at it and see that it has grown during any particular day? You cannot see it grow. It has been rising all the time, only you could not see it rise." When, therefore, God says, "Wait patiently," there is good reason in it. Now, apply these general truths. 1. To the men who laugh and jeer at the whole idea. They believe only in the selfishness of men, and that nothing good can be made out of them. But they are shallow men, and have no faith in the overruling providence of God. Because progress is so slow, and many professed Christians are traitors, and because God works in plans too vast for them to understand, they say, "It is folly to be talking about advancing the world. It is a poor, mean world, and we must make the best of it. Eat, drink, and be merry, O soul, for to-morrow you shall die." Yes, and perish! For God sits in judgment, and though the day of His coming seems to be long delayed, yet we, with strong assurance of faith, resting on the pledged word of God, do look for the "new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2. Consider the folly of the discouragement which many feel because men are so imperfect, particularly those who go from a higher to a lower state of society. In the army the soldier learns to put up with things that are worse than those which he has been accustomed to. No soldier, when he is on a raid, thinks of having a parlour like his mother's, or sitting down in a kitchen before a fire when he is wet and cold, as he has often done in his father's house. He is contented if he can find a dry spot under a tree to lie down on. He makes up his mind that he must adapt himself to his circumstances. But many men go down into states of society very different from those to which they have been used, and because they are not men enough to do the work; because some men are clumsy and rude; because some are deceitful and dishonest; because men are just what they always have been, they are disgusted. They cannot wait for a better condition of things to come about through the processes of time and Divine power. To such men the word is, "Wait on the Lord; wait patiently; and by and by He shall give you the desire of your heart." 3. Consider the folly of envying wicked men when they are in power, and thinking that perhaps it is worth while to be as wicked as they are. This is the very thing that the psalmist says you must not do. "Fret not thyself in anywise to do evil, neither be thou envious against workers of iniquity." Their prosperity, says the psalm, in effect, is at the beginning, and not at the end. When men eat opium, they at first experience feelings of ecstasy, and they see visions, and dream dreams, and have a glorious hour or two; but when they have gone through these pleasant experiences, then what have they? Purgatory on earth! The after part is hideous to them in the proportion in which the fore part was agreeable. Pray on, then. Trust in God! Do not listen to any one who would make you discontented. I beseech of you, have faith, not in man, but in Him that loved you, that redeemed you with His precious blood, that sitteth on high, and that hath decreed that every yoke shall be broken, and that the oppressed shall go free. ( H. Ward Beecher. ) Genuine piety the antidote to envy Homilist. I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF GENUINE PIETY. Here it is represented as operating-1. In a practical trust in the Lord. Not a passive, but an active state of mind. True philanthropy is piety in daily life. 2. In a personal delight in the Lord. Thin is infinitely more than to delight in our theology or our church. 3. In a settled reliance upon the Lord. This is a righteous, a necessary and a blessed work. 4. In a patient waiting upon the Lord. Be silent, and devoutly active. II. ITS BLESSEDNESS. 1. Settledness. Piety makes a man feel at home in the world wherever he is, everywhere he feels that he is in his father's house, and though legally he cannot claim a foot of land, morally he inherits all. 2. Sustenance. "Verily thou shalt be fed," — fed not merely by bodily provisions, but by the higher provisions of soul — fed on truth. Nothing but truth can satisfy the cravings of the soul; nothing but truth can invigorate its powers. Man's spiritual nature grows in the atmosphere of genuine piety, but in all other climates it sickens and decays. 3. Realization. "He shall give thee the desires of thine heart," and "He shall bring it to pass." What do these expressions mean but this: Thou shalt realize both the cravings of thine heart and the objects of thine hope, the ideals thou art struggling after shall become grand realities in thy life? 4. Vindication. "He shall bring forth thy righteousness," etc. Whilst good men are unknown to most, and misunderstood by many, they are misrepresented by not a few. But one day they shall be revealed to all, they shall blaze as orbs on the vision of mankind. ( Homilist. ) A simple Gospel John Hunter, D. D. This little, familiar text covers everything essential; it expresses the sum and substance of religion, and the great secret of right living. The God with whom we have to do is not an austere taskmaster, seeking to reap where He has not sown; He gives us grounds and reasons for trust before lie solicits trust. In the world of nature and man, in the best thoughts of our own minds, in the best affections of our own hearts, in the best experiences of our own lives, in the witness of saintly and prophetic souls, in the life and work of Jesus Christ — God has revealed enough of His character and will to quicken and sustain trust in His righteousness and love, when clouds and darkness are round about Him, and mystery besets us behind and before, and we cannot walk any more by sight. I. WE MAY TRUST THE UNIVERSE. The confidence that the universe is essentially beneficent in all its operations, though it transcends actual knowledge, is yet based upon it. The more we study the relation of each part to the whole, and of the whole to each, the more do we see that what we call evil is but good in the making. Everywhere we see wisdom and goodness — one purpose, one law, one power, one God, throughout the universe. At the root of all the seeming severity of nature, there is the everlasting faithfulness and love of God. II. WE MAY TRUST LIFE. We cannot hide from ourselves the dark side of human life, and we do not want a faith which does not fully recognize it; but when we study the tendency of things God becomes His own interpreter. God and good are perceived to be one, and our human world is seen to be moving through such processes as moral growth requires toward harmony with good. The week of creation is a long week. Wait! The end will explain and vindicate both the length and severity of the process. A careful study of the past affords sufficient justification for our largest expectations as to the coming years. The movement is ever towards good. The centuries grow juster, more merciful, more peaceful. III. WE MAY TRUST GOD AS OUR FATHER AND SAVIOUR. What Christ was finitely, God is infinitely. IV. WE MAY TRUST GOD FOR ALL THE FUTURE. NOT alone for these brief and troubled mortal years is He our Father and Saviour, but for ever. His laws will never play false with us; His mercy will never fail us. In all and through all the Father is redeeming and educating His children. From His love no soul is ever outcast; to His love no soul is ever lost. V. TRUST IN THE LORD AND DO GOOD. 1. Trust in the Lord — there is our attitude toward the unknown and the unknowable. The unknown and the unknowable may be, and ought to be, trusted. With one of our modern seers we surely can say: "All I have seen bids me trust the Creator for all I have not seen." 2. Do good — there is our duty in the region of the known, in the realm of human relation and circumstance, in the realm of daily life. We cannot choose our life, but we can choose the way we shall live it. We can resolve and strive, whatever betides, to be good and to do good; ever to be loyal to the truest and best we know, and thus to compel the rapidly vanishing days to leave a blessing behind. ( John Hunter, D. D. ) Trust in the Lord and do good J. Baldwin Brown, B. A. This psalm is a vivid expression of the belief that God is very plainly on the side of the righteous, and will make the wrong-doers understand it in a very decisive way. Surely a fundamental belief of man, without which religion is impossible. I. THE ORDER OF THE THOUGHT IN OUR TEXT. The trust comes before the doing good. Trust is the living root out of which all living goodness springs. But nothing can be more false than the idea that there is no goodness possible as the fruit of the natural action of the human powers. s principle, The virtues of the heathen are splendid vices, is false to the heart's core. There is natural goodness; man is so made that the freest and happiest play of his powers is in speaking truth and doing good. So far the heathen and deistical moralists are right. But man is made for a higher, a diviner goodness than the mere self-sustained play of his faculties can realize, a goodness whose life is the inspiration of God. Rob a plant of the air and sunlight, if there is some moisture about its roots, the sap within will produce some dim likeness of the flower, which under benigner conditions would flaunt its splendour and breathe its fragrance in the sun. So man, cut off from God, can produce some dim, dry image of the goodness which, when the life of God flows through it, will rise to godlike beauty and proportion. Good deeds will be fully and really such when their root is the grace and love of God. II. BUT WHAT IS GOOD? What are good deeds? "What shall we do that we may work the works of God?" How many would be thankful for a list of good deeds with the countersign of Heaven. And God gives no catalogue of good deeds in His Word. The Churches are ready enough with their Do this and thou shalt live. But it is not the method of God. He goes at once to the root of the matter. Be good, if you would do good. Good, beautiful, Christ-like deeds are the affluence of a good, beautiful, Christ-like life. And there is but one way to be good. Begin at the beginning. Enter the training school of duty. Do the good thing which now lies nearest to your hand. Master your besetting sins. Look out daily for means to help and bless others. III. THE PROMISE. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. The psalmist has no ideal meanings here: he means home and bread. And this would be the normal condition of things if the world were not so terribly jarred and jangled. Men and things would be in their right places. The wisest the teachers, the most prudent the managers, the ablest the rulers, the most liberal the almoners, the bravest the captains, the noblest the kings. But all is dislocated and confused. Yet through the whole there runs the law which finds expression in the text. "Trust in the Lord, and do good," and your home among your brethren is sure. They know the well-doers, they love them, they make room for them. "Come in and abide with us, O thou blessed of the Lord." ( J. Baldwin Brown, B. A. ) On trust in God S. Partridge, M. A. I. THE NATURE AND GROUNDS OF TRUST IN GOD. To trust in the Lord signifies, in general, to be free from anxiety concerning any events, present or future, under a firm persuasion that God careth for us, and will direct all events for our real happiness. Many persons are ingenious in tormenting themselves, and possess the unfortunate art of destroying their own happiness. If they have no real causes of affliction, they will imagine some. Their ill-boding foresight discerns, in what is future, a mu

Benson Commentary Psalm 37:1 A Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Psalm 37:1-2 . Fret not thyself — Give not way to immoderate grief, or anger, or impatience; because of evil-doers — Because they prosper in their wicked enterprises, while thou art sorely afflicted. Neither be thou envious, &c. — Esteeming them happy, and secretly wishing that thou wert in their condition. They shall wither as the green herb — For their happiness, the matter of thy envy, is but short-lived. Psalm 37:2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Psalm 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Psalm 37:3 . Trust in the Lord — Depend upon God’s promise for thy protection and support, for their infidelity is the root of their wickedness. And do good — Continue in the practice of that which is good and well- pleasing to God. So shalt thou dwell in the land — That is, upon this condition thou shalt dwell in safety and quietness in Canaan, as God had often promised. Hebrew, ???? ??? , dwell in the land, as if it were a command to abide in Canaan when troubles came, and not to flee to the Philistines or other heathen for shelter, as he had foolishly done. But it is rather a promise, as appears by comparing this with Psalm 37:27 ; Psalm 37:29 , such promises being often expressed by imperative verbs put for futures. And verily thou shalt be fed — Hebrew, ??? ????? , feed, or, thou shalt be fed, (that is, every way provided for,) in truth, that is, truly or assuredly; or with, or by faith, as this word signifies; that is, by thy trusting in the Lord: thou shalt live by faith, as is said Habakkuk 2:4 . Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4 . Delight thyself also in the Lord — In his favour and service, and in the study of his word and promises; and he shall give thee the desire of thy heart — Thy just desires, or whatsoever is truly desirable and good for thee. This limitation is necessary to be understood, both from divers places of Scripture, and from the nature of the things; for it is unreasonable to imagine that God would engage himself to grant their sinful and inordinate desires, and it would also be a curse to them to have them granted. Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37:5-6 . Commit thy way unto the Lord — All thy cares and business, thy desires and necessities. Commend them to God by fervent prayer, referring them to his good-will, and expecting a happy issue of all from him. And he shall bring it to pass — Hebrew, he shall do, or work, namely, for thee, or what is fit to be done; or what thou desirest, in the sense explained on Psalm 37:4 . He shall bring forth thy righteousness — Namely, to the view of the world, from which it hath hitherto appeared to be hid, or eclipsed, by reproaches, and by grievous calamities, which most men are apt to mistake for tokens and punishments of great wickedness; as the light — It shall be as visible to men as the light of the sun at noon-day. Psalm 37:6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Psalm 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Psalm 37:7-8 . Rest in the Lord — Hebrew, ??? , dom, Be silent unto, or for, or because of, the Lord: that is, do not murmur or repine at his dealings with thee, but silently and quietly submit to his will, and adore his judgments, and, as it follows, wait for his help. This advice and command is urged again and again, to teach us how hard it is to learn and practise this lesson. Fret not because of him who prospereth in his way — In his evil way, as it is limited in the following words. Cease from anger — Either against the sinner for his success, or against God for suffering him to prosper. Fret not, &c., in any wise to do evil — Or, at least so far as to do evil. If any such anger or grief do secretly arise in thy mind, take care that it do not cause thee to reproach or distrust God’s providence, or to dislike his ways, or to approve of or imitate the wicked practices of those men, in hopes of the same success. Psalm 37:8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Psalm 37:9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. Psalm 37:9-11 . For evil-doers shall be cut off — Namely, from the earth, as appears by comparing this with the next clause, and with Psalm 34:16 . Their end shall certainly be most miserable. But those that wait, &c., shall inherit the earth — According to God’s promise, often made to such; which also generally was literally fulfilled in that state of the church; and if in any instances it was not, it was fulfilled with far greater advantage in spiritual and eternal blessings. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be — Namely, in the land of the living. His time and prosperity are very short, and therefore no matter for envy. He shall be dead and gone; as the phrase here used is commonly taken. Thou shalt diligently consider his place — Industriously seeking to find him; and it shall not be — That is, his place, and estate, and glory shall be gone. Or, he shall not be, as ????? , eenennu, rather signifies. But the meek — The godly, who are frequently so called; those who patiently bear God’s afflicting hand, and meekly pass by injuries from ungodly men; shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace — Partly of outward peace and prosperity, which God, in his due time, will give them: but principally of inward peace and satisfaction of mind, arising from a sense of God’s favour and the assurance of their own endless happiness. Psalm 37:10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be : yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be . Psalm 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Psalm 37:12 The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. Psalm 37:12-13 . The wicked plotteth against the just — There is a rooted enmity in the seed of the wicked one against the righteous seed: their aim is, if they can, to destroy their righteousness; if that fail, then to destroy them. To this end they plot, or act with a great deal of policy and contrivance; and gnasheth upon him with his teeth — Out of malice and rage. They join zeal and fury to craft and subtlety, inflamed with eager desire to have it in their power to destroy them, and full of wrath and indignation because it is not in their power. The Lord shall laugh at him — Shall despise and deride all their hopes and endeavours against the good, as vain and foolish. For he seeth that his day is coming — The day of his punishment. Thus, Jeremiah 5:31 , Thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. Psalm 37:13 The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming. Psalm 37:14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Psalm 37:14-15 . The wicked have drawn out the sword, &c. — They are furnished with all sorts of arms, and are ready to give the deadly blow. To slay such as be of upright conversation — Those against whom they have no quarrel, for any injury they have done them; but only for their integrity and righteousness, or because they are better than themselves, and will not comply with their wicked counsels and courses. Their sword shall enter into their own heart — God will not only defend the upright from their mischievous designs, but will make those designs to fall upon their own heads. “I cannot but think,” says a writer quoted here by Dr. Dodd, “that David understood by these weapons, with which he has furnished the ungodly, their bitter and malicious invectives, their false and foul reproaches, &c. These were the arms, in the use of which, as he frequently complains, they were admirably well skilled.” Thus, ( Psalm 57:4 ,) speaking of wicked men, he says, Whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. And if so, then Psalm 37:15 “will mean that their intention will be frustrated; they shall not do the mischief they intended; their bows shall be broken — And their invectives and calumnies shall recoil and do themselves hurt; their sharp sword, their false and malicious tongues, shall pierce through their own soul. And that this was the psalmist’s meaning, who can doubt, after reading Psalm 64:3 , where the wicked doers are said to have whet their tongue like a sword, and to shoot out their arrows, even bitter words.” Psalm 37:15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. Psalm 37:16 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. Psalm 37:16-17 . Is better than the riches of many wicked — Because he hath it with many great and glorious advantages; with God’s favour and blessing, with great serenity and satisfaction of his own mind, which is infinitely more desirable and comfortable than all earthly possessions, with the consolations of God’s Spirit, and the assurance of everlasting felicity: while wicked men’s riches are loaded with many encumbrances; with the wrath and curse of God; the torment of their own consciences and passions; and the dreadful expectation of an after-reckoning, and of endless miseries. The Lord upholdeth the righteous — This is a proof of what he had said Psalm 37:16 . For what the wicked have shall suddenly be lost and gone, but God will maintain the righteous in their happy estate. Psalm 37:17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous. Psalm 37:18 The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. Psalm 37:18-20 . The Lord knoweth — Observeth with singular care and affection; the days of the upright — Their condition, and all things which do or may befall them; their dangers, and fears, and sufferings from ungodly men; and therefore will watch over them, and preserve them from all the designs and attempts of their enemies. Days, or years, or times, are often put for things done, or events happening in them. And their inheritance shall be for ever — To them and their seed for ever: see Psalm 37:29 . When they die the inheritance is not lost, but exchanged for one infinitely better. They shall not be ashamed — For the disappointment of their hopes, but their hopes and desires shall be satisfied; as it follows. But the wicked shall be as the fat of lambs — Which in an instant melteth before the fire. They shall consume into smoke — Utterly and irrecoverably. Psalm 37:19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. Psalm 37:20 But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away. Psalm 37:21 The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth. Psalm 37:21-22 . The wicked borroweth and payeth not again — Either through covetousness, or injustice; or, rather, because of that great penury into which God brings him; while the righteous is not only provided for sufficiently for himself, but hath abundance and to spare for others. For the psalmist is here comparing the wicked and the righteous, not so much with respect to their virtues or moral qualities as their outward conditions. This also appears from the following verse, which gives the reason of this. For such as be blessed of him — Of the Lord, as appears from Psalm 37:20 , where he is named, and from the nature of the thing, this being God’s prerogative to bless or to curse men. And this he mentions, both as the foundation and as the proof of the certainty of their future happiness. Psalm 37:22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Psalm 37:23-24 . The steps of a good man — Hebrew, of man, namely, of the righteous, or blessed man, mentioned Psalm 37:21-22 ; are ordered by the Lord — Or, directed, or disposed, that is, so governed as to attain the end at which he aims; or strengthened, or established, so as he shall not stumble and fall into mischief. For he seems still to be describing, not their virtue, but their prosperity. And he delighteth in his way — Hebrew, ????? ???? , vedarcho jechpats, he favoureth his way, that is, succeeds and prospers his counsels and enterprises. Though he fall — Into distress or trouble, as Micah 7:8 ; he shall not be utterly cast down — Not totally, or irrecoverably ruined. Psalm 37:24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Psalm 37:25-26 . I have been young, and now am old, &c. — As if he had said, “I say nothing but what I can confirm by my own long observation: when I was young I began to take notice of it; and I have continued so to do, till now that I am grown old: and I cannot remember that in all my life I ever saw a truly pious; just, and charitable man, left destitute of necessary things, or his children after him,” (treading in his steps,) “reduced to such poverty that they were constrained to beg from door to door.” — Bishop Patrick. He is ever merciful and lendeth — He is so far from begging from others, that he hath ability, as well as inclination, to give, or lend to others, as need requires. And his seed is blessed — Not only with spiritual, but with temporal blessings, wherewith God rewards his benevolence and liberality to the poor and destitute. So far shall he be from wasting his property, and undoing himself and family by his charity and bounty, as covetous and worldly people supposed he would do, that he and his posterity will rather be enriched thereby. It must be observed that these temporal promises were more express and particular to the Jews in the times of the Old Testament, than to Christians in the New, and therefore were more generally fulfilled. Under the Christian dispensation, however, godliness hath so far the promise of the life that now is, that they who seek first and principally the kingdom of God, shall have the necessaries of life provided for them in some way or other, Matthew 6:33 , and he that watereth others shall be watered himself. To fear and serve God is the readiest way to secure ourselves and families from want; and “so far is charity from empoverishing, that what is given away, like vapours emitted by the earth, returns in showers of blessings, into the bosom of the person who gave it; and his offspring is not the worse, but infinitely the better for it. The bread which endureth, as well as that which perisheth, is his; and the blessings of time are crowned with those of eternity.” — Horne. Psalm 37:26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed. Psalm 37:27 Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore. Psalm 37:27-29 . Depart from evil and do good — Having therefore these glorious promises and privileges, let no man do any evil or unjust thing, to enrich or secure himself, nor abstain from any pious or charitable action, for fear of empoverishing himself thereby: but let every man live in a conscientious discharge of all his duties to God and men, committing himself and all his affairs to God’s fatherly care and providence, and confidently expecting his blessing thereupon. And dwell for evermore — That is, he shall dwell for evermore in heaven, and for a long time on earth. See on Psalm 37:3 . The Lord loveth judgment — That is, just judgment, or righteousness, as the word ?????? , mishpat, often signifies. That is, he loves it in himself: he loveth to execute it upon the wicked, and for the righteous: which he doth in the manner expressed in this Psalm. And he loves it in the righteous, whose justice, and piety, and charity he sees, approves, and will reward. And forsaketh not his saints — Hebrew, ?????? , chasidaiv, his kind, merciful, and beneficent ones who exercise benignity and charity to others. Psalm 37:28 For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. Psalm 37:29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever. Psalm 37:30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. Psalm 37:30 . The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom — And that freely, customarily, and from his heart, as the next verse shows. Having showed, in divers verses, God’s singular care over and respect to the righteous, he proceeds to give a character of them, and withal to assign one reason of the great difference of God’s way of dealing with them, and with other men. And his tongue talketh of judgment — This respects either, 1st, The manner of his discourse: it is with wisdom and judgment; or, rather, 2d, The matter of it, which is God’s judgment, word, or law, as it follows, Psalm 37:31 . While the discourses of other men are either wicked, or vain and useless, his are serious, pious, and edifying, concerning the word and ways of God. Psalm 37:31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. Psalm 37:31 . The law of his God is in his heart — According to God’s command, Deuteronomy 6:6 , and promise, Jeremiah 31:33 . His thoughts, and meditations, and affections are fixed upon it. He doth not talk religiously with design, or with ostentation, but out of the abundance of his heart, Matthew 12:35 . None of his steps shall slide — Or, slip, or swerve from the rule of God’s law. His piety and virtue shall continue and increase: or, God will uphold and preserve him from falling into that mischief which wicked men plot against him. Psalm 37:32 The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. Psalm 37:32-33 . The wicked watcheth the righteous — To find out a fit season or occasion to destroy him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand — That is, will not give him up to his power and rage; nor condemn him when he is judged — Will not give his consent to the sentence of condemnation, which the wicked have pronounced against him, but will justify him, and vindicate his innocence, and deliver him. Some understand the words thus: Nor shall he (the wicked) condemn him when he is judged, observing, “that it seems more to the purpose to say, that God would not suffer the wicked man to condemn the righteous, or to find him guilty, (for that probably was the way in which he proposed to murder him,) than that he would not do it himself.” — Mudge. Psalm 37:33 The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. Psalm 37:34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it . Psalm 37:34 . Wait on the Lord — Seeking and trusting to him, and to him only, for help and deliverance. And keep his way — Continue in the practice of thy duty, or in those ways which God hath prescribed to thee in his word, and do not use indirect and irregular means to deliver thyself. When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it — Thou shalt not only escape the destruction they designed for thee, but shalt live to see their ruin. Psalm 37:35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Psalm 37:35-36 . I have seen the wicked in great power — Hebrew, ???? , gnaritz, violent, or formidable: not only himself out of danger, as it seemed, but terrible to others; and spreading himself — And therefore firmly and deeply rooted; like a green bay-tree — Which is continually green and flourishing, yea, even in the winter season. Hebrew, ????? , cheezrach, sicut arbor indigena virens, like a green native plant, or a green tree in its native soil, where trees flourish much better than when they are transplanted into another soil. Houbigant, after the LXX., and many of the ancient versions, renders it, Like a flourishing cedar. Yet he passed away — Houbigant, I passed by; and lo, he was not — He was gone, like a tree blasted and blown down, or cut off and rooted out, and carried away in a moment. I sought him, but he could not be found — There was no monument nor remainder of him left. Psalm 37:36 Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Psalm 37:37 Mark the perfect man , and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. Psalm 37:37-39 . Mark the perfect man, &c. — Behold now a very different character, a man who is upright before God, who sincerely desires and endeavours to please and glorify him, and therefore makes it his care to walk in his ordinances and commandments blameless: mark him, keep your eye upon him, and observe the issue of his course and conversation. For the end of that man is peace — Though he may meet with troubles in his way; though his days may be long, dark, and cloudy; yet all shall end well with him; he shall be happy at last. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together — Or, alike, one as well as another, all without any exception or respect of persons. The end of the wicked shall be cut off — That is, he shall be cut off at last, or in the end. His prosperity shall end in destruction. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord — And therefore it shall certainly come to and be conferred upon them. Psalm 37:38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. Psalm 37:39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble. Psalm 37:40 And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 37:1 A Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Psalm 37:1-40 THERE is a natural connection between acrostic structure and didactic tone, as is shown in several instances, and especially in this psalm. The structure is on the whole regular, each second verse beginning with the required letter, but here and there the period is curtailed or elongated by one member. Such irregularities do not seem to mark stages in the thought or breaks in the sequence, but are simply reliefs to the monotony of the rhythm, like the shiftings of the place of the pause in blank verse, the management of which makes the difference between a master and a bungler. The psalm grapples with the problem which tried the faith of the Old Testament saints-namely, the apparent absence of correlation of conduct with condition-and solves it by the strong assertion of the brevity of godless prosperity and the certainty that well-doing will lead to well-being. The principle is true absolutely in the long run, but there is no reference in the psalm to the future life. Visible material prosperity is its promise for the righteous, and the opposite its threatening for the godless. No doubt retribution is not wholly postponed till another life, but it does not fall so surely and visibly as this psalm would lead us to expect. The relative imperfection of the Old Testament revelation is reflected in the Psalms, faith’s answer to Heaven’s word. The clear light of New Testament revelation of the future is wanting, nor could the truest view of the meaning and blessedness of sorrow be adequately and proportionately held before Christ had taught it by His own history and by His words. The Cross was needed before the mystery of righteous suffering could be fully elucidated, and the psalmist’s solution is but provisional. His faith that infinite love ruled and that righteousness was always gain, and sin loss, is grandly and eternally true. Nor is it to be forgotten that he lived and sang in an order of things in which the Divine government had promised material blessings as the result of spiritual faithfulness, and that, with whatever anomalies, modest prosperity did, on the whole, attend the true Israelite. The Scripture books which wrestle most profoundly with the standing puzzle of prosperous evil and afflicted goodness are late books, not merely because religious reflectiveness was slowly evolved, but because decaying faith had laid Israel open to many wounds, and the condition of things which accompanied the decline of the ancient order abounded with instances of triumphant wickedness. But though this psalm does not go to the bottom of its theme, its teaching of the blessedness of absolute trust in God’s providence is ever fresh, and fits close to all stages of revelation; and its prophecies of triumph for the afflicted who trust and of confusion to the evil-doer need only to be referred to the end to be completely established. As a theodicy, or vindication of the ways of God with men, it was true for its age, but the New Testament goes beneath it. As an exhortation to patient trust and an exhibition of the sure blessings thereof, it remains what it has been to many generations: the gentle encourager of meek faith and the stay of afflicted hearts. Marked progress of thought is not to be looked for in an acrostic psalm. In the present instance the same ideas are reiterated with emphatic persistence, but little addition or variation. To the didactic poet "to write the same things is not grievous," for they are his habitual thoughts; and for his scholars "it is safe," for there is no better aid to memory than the cadenced monotony of the same ideas cast into song and slightly varied. But a possible grouping may be suggested by observing that the thought of the "cutting off" of the wicked and the inheritance of the land by the righteous occurs three times. If it is taken as a kind of refrain, we may cast the psalm into four portions, the first three of which close with that double thought. Psalm 37:1-9 will then form a group, characterised by exhortations to trust and assurances of triumph. The second section will then be Psalm 37:10-22 , which, while reiterating the ground tone of the whole, does so with a difference, inasmuch as its main thought is the destruction of the wicked, in contrast with the triumph of the righteous in the preceding verses. A third division will be Psalm 37:23-29 , of which the chief feature is the adduction of the psalmist’s own experience as authenticating his teaching in regard to the Divine care of the righteous, and that extended to his descendants. The last section ( Psalm 37:30-40 ) gathers up all, reasserts the main thesis, and confirms it by again adducing the psalmist’s experience in confirmation of the other half of his assurances, namely the destruction of the wicked. But the poet does not wish to close his words with that gloomy picture, and therefore this last section bends round again to reiterate and strengthen the promises for the righteous, and its last note is one of untroubled trust and joy in experienced deliverance. The first portion ( Psalm 37:1-9 ) consists of a series of exhortations to trust and patience, accompanied by assurance of consequent blessing. These are preceded and followed by a dehortation from yielding to the temptation of fretting against the prosperity of evil-doers, based upon the assurance of its transitoriness. Thus the positive precepts inculcating the ideal temper to be cultivated are framed in a setting of negatives, inseparable from them. The tendency to murmur at flaunting wrong must be repressed if the disposition of trust is to be cultivated; and, on the other hand, full obedience to the negative precepts is only possible when the positive ones have been obeyed with some degree of completeness. The soul’s husbandry must be busied in grubbing up weeds as well as in sowing; but the true way to take away nourishment from the baser is to throw the strength of the soil into growing the nobler crop. "Fret not thyself" (A.V.) is literally, "Heat not thyself, and be not envious" is "Do not glow," the root idea being that of becoming fiery red. The one word expresses the kindling emotion, the other its visible sign in the flushed face. Envy, anger, and any other violent and God-for-getting emotion are included. There is nothing in the matter in hand worth getting into a heat about, for the prosperity in question is short lived. This leading conviction moulds the whole psalm, and, as we have pointed out, is half of the refrain. We look for the other half to accompany it, as usual, and we find it in one rendering of Psalm 37:3 , which has fallen into discredit with modern commentators, and to which we shall come presently; but for the moment we may pause to suggest that the picture of the herbage withering as soon as cut, under the fierce heat of the Eastern sun, may stand in connection with the metaphors in Psalm 37:1 . Why should we blaze with indignation when so much hotter a glow will dry up the cut grass? Let it wave in brief glory, unmeddled with by us. The scythe and the sunshine will soon make an end. The precept and its reason are not on the highest levels of Christian ethics, but they are unfairly dealt with if taken to mean, Do not envy the wicked man’s prosperity, nor wish it were yours, but solace yourself with the assurance of his speedy ruin. What is said is far nobler than that. It is, Do not let the prosperity of unworthy men shake your faith in God’s government, nor fling you into an unwholesome heat, for God will sweep away the anomaly in due time. In regard to the positive precepts, the question arises whether Psalm 37:3 b is command or promise, with which is associated another question as to the translation of the words rendered by the A.V., "Verily thou shalt be fed," and by the R.V., "Follow after faithfulness." The relation of the first and second parts of the subsequent verses is in favour of regarding the clause as promise, but the force of that consideration is somewhat weakened by the non-occurrence in Psalm 37:3 of the copula which introduces the promises of the other verses. Still its omission does not seem sufficient to forbid taking the clause as corresponding with these. The imperative is similarly used as substantially a future in Psalm 37:27 : "and dwell for evermore." The fact that in every other place in the psalm where "dwelling in the land" is spoken of it is a promise of the sure results of trust, points to the same sense here, and the juxtaposition of the two ideas in the refrain leads us to expect to find the prediction of Psalm 37:2 followed by its companion there. On the whole, then, to understand Psalm 37:3 b as promise seems best. (So LXX, Ewald, Gratz, etc .) What, then, is the meaning of its last words? If they are a continuation of the promise, they must describe some blessed effect of trust. Two renderings present themselves, one that adopted in the R.V. margin, "Feed securely," and another "Feed on faithfulness"; ( i.e ., of God). Hupfeld calls this an "arbitrary and forced" reference of "faithfulness"; but it worthily completes the great promise. The blessed results of trust and active goodness are stable dwelling in the land and nourishment there from a faithful God. The thoughts move within the Old Testament circle, but their substance is eternally true, for they who take God for their portion have a safe abode, and feed their souls on His unalterable adherence to His promises and on the abundance flowing thence. The subsequent precepts bear a certain relation to each other, and, taken together, make a lovely picture of the inner secret of the devout life: "Delight thyself in Jehovah; roll thy way on Him; trust in Him; be silent to Jehovah." No man will commit his way to God who does not delight in Him; and unless he has so committed his way, he cannot rest in the Lord. The heart that delights in God, finding its truest joy in Him and being well and at ease when consciously moving in Him as an all-encompassing atmosphere and reaching towards Him with the deepest of its desires, will live far above the region of disappointment. For it desire and fruition go together. Longings fixed on Him fulfil themselves. We can have as much of God as we wish. If He is our delight, we shall wish nothing contrary to nor apart from Him, and wishes which are directed to Him cannot be in vain. To delight in God is to possess our delight, and in Him to find fulfilled wishes and abiding joys. "Commit thy way unto Him," or "Roll it upon Him" in the exercise of trust; and, as the verse says with grand generality, omitting to specify an object for the verb, "He will do"-all that is wanted, or will finish the work. To roll one’s way upon Jehovah implies subordination of will and judgment to Him and quiet confidence in His guidance. If the heart delights in Him, and the will waits silent before Him, and a happy consciousness of dependence fills the soul. the desert will not be trackless, nor the travellers fail to hear the voice which says, "This is the way; walk ye in it." He who trusts is led, and God works for him, clearing away clouds and obstructions. His good may be evil spoken of, but the vindication by fact will make his righteousness shine spotless; and his cause may be apparently hopeless, but God will deliver him. He shall shine forth as the sun, not only in such earthly vindication as the psalmist prophesied, but more resplendently, as Christian faith has been gifted with long sight to anticipate, "in the kingdom of my Father." Thus delighting and trusting, a man may "be silent." Be still before Jehovah, in the silence of a submissive heart, and let not that stillness be torpor, but gather thyself together and stretch out thy hope towards Him. That patience is no mere passive endurance without murmuring, but implies tension of expectance. Only if it is thus occupied will it be possible to purge the heart of that foolish and weakening heat which does no harm to anyone but to the man himself. "Heat not thyself; it only leads to doing evil." Thus the section returns upon itself and once more ends with the unhesitating assurance, based upon the very essence of God’s covenant with the nation, that righteousness is the condition of inheritance, and sin the cause of certain destruction. The narrower application of the principle, which was all that the then stage of revelation made clear to the psalmist, melts away for us into the Christian certainty that righteousness is the condition of dwelling in the true land of promise, and that sin is always death, in germ or in full fruitage. The refrain occurs next in Psalm 37:22 , and the portion thus marked off ( Psalm 37:10-22 ) may be dealt with as a smaller whole. After a repetition ( Psalm 37:10-11 ) of the main thesis slightly expanded, it sketches in vivid outline the fury of "the wicked "against "the just" and the grim retribution that turns their weapons into agents of their destruction. How dramatically are contrasted the two pictures of the quiet righteous in the former section and of this raging enemy, with his gnashing teeth and arsenal of murder! And with what crushing force the thought of the awful laughter of Jehovah, in foresight of the swift flight towards the blind miscreant of the day of his fall, which has already, as it were, set out on its road, smites his elaborate preparations into dust! Silently the good man sits wrapped in his faith. Without are raging, armed foes. Above, the laughter of God rolls thunderous, and from the throne the obedient "day" is winging its flight, like an eagle with lightning bolts in its claws. What can the end be but another instance of the solemn lex talionis , by which a man’s evil slays himself? Various forms of the contrast between the two classes follow, with considerable repetition and windings. One consideration which has to be taken into account in estimating the distribution of material prosperity is strongly put in Psalm 37:16-17 . The good of outward blessings depends chiefly on the character of their owner. The strength of the extract from a raw material depends on the solvent applied, and there is none so powerful to draw out the last drop of most poignant and pure sweetness from earthly good as is righteousness of heart. Naboth’s vineyard will yield better wine, if Naboth is trusting in Jehovah, than all the vines of Jezreel or Samaria. "Many wicked" have not as much of the potentiality of blessedness in all their bursting coffers as a poor widow may distil out of two mites. The reasons for that are manifold, but the prevailing thought of the psalm leads to one only being named here. "For," says Psalm 37:17 , "the arms of the wicked shall be broken." Little is the good of possessions which cannot defend their owners from the stroke of God’s executioners, but themselves pass away. The poor man’s little is much, because, among other reasons, he is upheld by God, and therefore needs not to cherish anxiety, which embitters the enjoyments of others. Again the familiar thought of permanent inheritance recurs, but now with a glance at the picture just drawn of the destruction coming to the wicked. There are days and days. God saw that day of ruin speeding on its errand, and He has loving sympathetic knowledge of the days of the righteous ( Psalm 1:6 ), and holds their lives in His hand; therefore continuance and abundance are ensured. The antithetical structure of Psalm 37:16-22 is skilfully varied, so as to avoid monotony. It is elastic within limits. We note that in the Teth strophe ( Psalm 37:16-17 ) each verse contains a complete contrast, while in the Yod strophe ( Psalm 37:18-19 ) one half only of the contrast is presented, which would require a similar expansion of the other over two verses. Instead of this, however, the latter half is compressed into one verse ( Psalm 37:20 ), which is elongated by a clause. Then in the Lamed strophe ( Psalm 37:21-22 ) the briefer form recurs, as in Psalm 37:16-17 . Thus the longer antithesis is enclosed between two parallel shorter ones, and: a certain variety breaks up the sameness of the swing from one side to the other, and suggests a pause in the flow of the psalm. The elongated verse ( Psalm 37:20 ) reiterates the initial metaphor of withering herbage ( Psalm 37:2 ) with an addition for the rendering "fat of lambs" must be given up, as incongruous, and only plausible on account of the emblem of smoke in the next clause. But the two metaphors are independent. Just as in Psalm 37:2 , so here, the gay "beauty of the pastures," so soon to wilt and be changed into brown barrenness, mirrors the fate of the wicked. Psalm 37:2 shows the grass fallen before the scythe: Psalm 37:20 lets us see it in its flush of loveliness, so tragically unlike what it will be-when its "day" has come. The other figure of smoke is a stereotype in all tongues for evanescence. The thick wreaths; thin away and melt. Another peculiar form of the standing antithesis appears in the Lamed strophe ( Psalm 37:21-22 ), which sets forth the gradual impoverishment of the wicked and prosperity as well as beneficence of the righteous, and, by the "for" of Psalm 37:22 , traces these up to the "curse and blessing of God, which become manifest in the final destiny of the two" (Delitzsch). Not dishonesty, but bankruptcy, is the cause of "not paying again"; while, on the other hand. the blessing of God not only enriches, but softens, making the heart which has received grace a wellspring of grace to needy ones, even if they are foes. The form of the contrast suggests its dependence, one the promises in Deuteronomy 15:6 . Thus the refrain is once more reached, and a new departure taken. The third section is shorter than the preceding: ( Psalm 37:23-29 ), and has, as its centre, the psalmist’s confirmation from his own experience of the former part of his antithesis, the fourth section similiarly confirming the second. All this third part is sunny with the Divine favour streaming upon the righteous, the only reference to the wicked being in the refrain at the close. The first strophe ( Psalm 37:23-24 ) declares God’s care for the former under the familiar image of guidance and support to a traveller. As in Psalm 37:5 , Psalm 37:7 , the "way" is an emblem of active life, and is designated as "his" who treads it. The intention of the psalm, the context of the metaphor, and the parallelism with the verses just referred to, settle the reference of the ambiguous pronouns "he" and "his" in Psalm 37:23 b. God delights in the good man’s way ( Psalm 1:6 ), and that is the reason for His establishing his goings. " Quoniam Deo grata est piorum via, gressus ipsum ad laetum finem adducit " (Calvin). That promise is not to be limited to either the material or moral region. The ground tone of the psalm is that the two regions coincide in so far as prosperity in the outer is the infallible index of rightness in the inner. The dial has two sets of hands, one within and one without, but both are, as it were, mounted on the same spindle, and move accurately alike. Steadfast treading in the path of duty and successful undertakings are both included, since they are inseparable in fact. True, even the fixed faith of the psalmist has to admit that the good man’s path is not always smooth. If facts had not often contradicted his creed, he would never have sung his song; and hence he takes into account the case of such a man’s falling, and seeks to reduce its importance by the considerations of its recoverableness and of God’s keeping hold of the man’s hand all the while. The Nun strophe brings in the psalmist’s experience to confirm his doctrine. The studiously impersonal tone of the psalm is dropped only here and in the complementary reference to the fall of the wicked ( Psalm 37:35-36 ). Observation and reflection yield the same results. Experience seals the declarations of faith. His old eyes have seen much; and the net result is that the righteous may be troubled, but not abandoned, and that there is an entail of blessing to their children. In general, experience preaches the same truths today, for, on the whole, wrong doing lies at the root of most of the hopeless poverty and misery of modern society. Idleness, recklessness, thriftlessness, lust, drunkenness, are the potent factors of it; and if their handiwork and that of the subtler forms of respectable godlessness and evil were to be eliminated, the sum of human wretchedness would shrink to very small dimensions. The mystery of suffering is made more mysterious by ignoring its patent connection with sin, and by denying the name of sin to many of its causes. If men’s conduct were judged by God’s standard, there would be less wonder at God’s judgments manifested in men’s suffering. The solidarity of the family was more strongly felt in ancient times than in our days of individualism, but even now the children of the righteous, if they maintain the hereditary character, do largely realise the blessing which the psalmist declares is uniformly theirs. He is not to be tied down to literality in his statement of the general working of things. What he deals with is the prevailing trend, and isolated exceptions do not destroy his assertion. Of course continuance in paternal virtues is presupposed as the condition of succeeding to paternal good. In the strength of the adduced experience, a hortatory tone, dropped since Psalm 37:8 , is resumed, with reminiscences of that earlier series of counsels. The secret of permanence is condensed into two antithetical precepts, to depart from evil and do good and the keynote is sounded once more in a promise, cast into the guise of a commandment (compare Psalm 37:3 ), of unmoved habitation, which is, however, not to be stretched to refer to a future life, of which the psalm says nothing. Such permanent abiding is sure, inasmuch as Jehovah loves judgment and watches over the objects of His lovingkindness. The acrostic sequence fails at this point, if the Masoretic text is adhered to. There is evident disorder in the division of verses, for Psalm 37:28 has four clauses instead of the normal two. If the superfluous two are detached from it and connected as one strophe with Psalm 37:29 , a regular two-versed and four-claused strophe results. Its first word ( L’olam =" forever") has the Ayin, due in the alphabetical sequence, in its second letter, the first being a prefixed preposition, which may be passed over, as in Psalm 37:39 the copula Vav is prefixed to the initial letter. Delitzsch takes this to be the required letter; but if so, another irregularity remains, inasmuch as the first couplet of the strophe should be occupied with the fate of the wicked as antithetical to ‘that of the righteous in Psalm 37:29 . "They are preserved forever" throws the whole strophe out of order. Probably, therefore, there is textual corruption here, which the LXX helps in correcting. It has an evidently double rendering of the clause, as is not unfrequently the case where there is ambiguity or textual difficulty, and gives side by side with "They shall be preserved forever" the rendering "The lawless shall be hunted out," which can be returned into Hebrew so as to give the needed initial Ayin either in a somewhat rare word, or in one which occurs in Psalm 37:35 . If this correction is adopted, the anomalies disappear, and strophe, division, acrostic, and antithetical refrain are all in order. The last section ( Psalm 37:30-40 ), like the preceding, has the psalmist’s experience for its centre, and traces the entail of conduct to a second generation of evil-doers, as the former did to the seed of the righteous. Both sections begin with the promise of firmness for the "goings or steps" of the righteous, but the later verses expand the thought by a fuller description of the moral conditions of stability. "The law of his God is in his heart." That is the foundation on which all permanence is built. From that as centre there issue wise and just words on the one hand and stable deeds on the other. That is true in the psalmist’s view in reference to outward success and continuance, but still more profoundly in regard to steadfast progress in paths of righteousness. He who orders his footsteps by God’s known will is saved from much hesitancy, vacillation, and stumbling, and plants a firm foot even on slippery places. Once more the picture of the enmity of the wicked recurs, as in Psalm 37:12-14 , with the difference that there the emphasis was laid on the destruction of the plotters and here it is put on the vindication of the righteous by acts of deliverance ( Psalm 37:32-33 ). In Psalm 37:34 another irregularity occurs, in its being the only verse in a strophe and being prolonged to three clauses. This may be intended to give emphasis to the exhortation contained in it, which, like that in Psalm 37:27 , is the only one in its section. The two key words "inherit" and "cut off" are brought together. Not only are the two fates set in contrast, but the waiters on Jehovah are promised the sight of the destruction of the wicked. Satisfaction at the sight is implied. There is nothing unworthy in solemn thankfulness when God’s judgments break the teeth of some devouring lion. Divine judgments minister occasion for praise even from pure spirits before the throne, and men relieved from the incubus of godless oppression may well draw a long breath of relief, which passes into celebration of His righteous acts. No doubt there is a higher tone, which remembers truth and pity even in that solemn joy; but Christian feeling does not destroy but modify the psalmist’s thankfulness for the sweeping away of godless antagonism to goodness. His assurance to those who wait on Jehovah has his own experience as its guarantee ( Psalm 37:35 ), just as the complementary assurance in Psalm 37:24 had in Psalm 37:25 . The earlier metaphors of the green herbage and the beauty of the pastures are heightened now. A venerable, wide-spreading giant of the forests, rooted in its native soil, is grander than those humble growths; but for lofty cedars or lowly grass the end is the same. Twice the psalmist stood at the same place; once the great tree laid its large limbs across the field, and lifted a firm bole: again he came, and a clear space revealed how great had been the bulk which shadowed it. Not even a stump was left to tell where the leafy glory had been. Psalm 37:37-38 make the Shin strophe, and simply reiterate the antithesis which has moulded the whole psalm, with the addition of that reference to a second generation which appeared in the third and fourth parts. The word rendered in the A.V. and R.V. "latter end" here means posterity. The "perfect man" is further designated as a "man of peace." The psalm might have ended with this gathering together of its contents in one final emphatic statement, but the poet will not leave the stern words of destruction as his last. Therefore he adds a sweet, long, drawn out close, like the calm, extended clouds, that lie motionless in the western sky after a day of storm in which he once more sings of the blessedness of those who wait on Jehovah. Trouble will come, notwithstanding his assurances that righteousness is blessedness; but in it Jehovah will be a fortress home, and out of it He will save them. However the teaching of the psalm may need modification in order to coincide with the highest New Testament doctrine of the relation between righteousness and prosperity, these confidences need none. Forever and absolutely they are true: in trouble a stronghold, out of trouble a Saviour, is God to all who cling to Him. Very beautifully the closing verse lingers on its theme and wreathes its thoughts together, with repetition that tells how sweet they are to the singer: "Jehovah helps them, and rescues them: He rescues them, and saves them." So the measure of the strophe is complete, but the song flows over in an additional clause, which points the path for all who seek such blessedness. Trust is peace. They who take refuge in Jehovah are safe, and their inheritance shall be forever. That is the psalmist’s inmost secret of a blessed life. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.