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Be still before the Lord

    and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when people succeed in their ways,

    when they carry out their wicked schemes.

8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

    do not fret – it leads only to evil.

9 For those who are evil will be destroyed,

    but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more;

    though you look for them, they will not be found.

11 But the meek will inherit the land

    and enjoy peace and prosperity.

As I have observed before, waiting for the Lord is an important Christian discipline (not just waiting on Him). ‘Patience’ is one of the nine ‘flavours’ of ‘the fruit of the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:22,23), and how greatly we need the Holy Spirit’s help in this area, because most of us are not naturally patient.

The big picture painted by this psalm is that of a topsy-turvy world in which the wicked often seem to do well, while the godly fare badly. But David assures us that if we await God’s timing, in just a “little while” (10) the scales will be balanced, and every wrong will be righted. The Lord will set everything straight: “…the meek…will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5, see verse 11). The problem for us, however, is that this “little while” seems to take so long!

Of course this principle can be applied at the micro (as well as the macro) level: to trying situations where we ourselves need patience to know the next step. We’re aware that these are comparatively small matters, when compared, for example, with all the violence and injustice in the world. Nevertheless, they are big to us, and they matter in our eyes.

In his introduction to Michael Yankoski’s book, ‘Under the Overpass’, Francis Chan writes:

‘ I was warned when entering seminary that if I was not careful, a dangerous habit could form: I could learn to read the Bible and do nothing in response. I still remember our seminary president warning us that study to the neglect of action becomes easier and easier with each occurrence. We should be terrified if we have mastered the art of becoming convicted and doing nothing in response.’

Today, I don’t want to theoretically accept the truth that I need to wait on the Lord, but actually do it. I know I will need God’s grace for this, but it is possible. Will you join me? If you have done everything you know to do, and God hasn’t yet shown you the next step, let me encourage you to wait for Him to reveal it to you in His way and time. He is infinitely trustworthy.

PRAYER: Lord, I do so want to obey your Word. I know it is the only way to live. Please help me.

(P.S. Today’s reading opens with the words Be still. It includes the idea of being silent, and ‘describes calm surrender to the Lord’ (Warren Wiersbe – see also Psalm 62:5). For many years now, I have begun most days by making a cup of tea, sitting in a familiar chair, and just being quiet before God for 10-15 minutes. It has become such a grounding experience that I cannot imagine not doing it. It may not be for everyone, but I mention it because I’ve found it such a help. However you work out the truth of today’s verses, may God bless you in the pursuit)

Commit everything you do to the Lord.

    Trust him, and he will help you.

6 He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,

    and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. (‘New Living Translation’)

This psalm seems to paint a picture of a world in which the powerful oppress the weak, and the innocent often find themselves wrongfully accused. But there is a simple message running through the psalm that if they trust in God He will “help”, and one way or another, sooner or later, He will vindicate them. They can take their case to the Highest Court of all and will find no injustice there. As we saw recently, Jesus knew this and acted accordingly:

“Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

22 “He committed no sin,

    and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:18-23)

‘In the matter of personal reputation we may especially be content to be quiet, and leave our vindication with the Judge of all the earth. The more we fret in this case the worse for us. Our strength is to sit still. The Lord will clear the slandered. If we look to his honour, he will see to ours. It is wonderful how, when faith learns to endure calumny with composure, the filth does not defile her, but falls off like snowballs from a wall of granite. Even in the worst cases, where a good name is for awhile darkened, Providence will send a clearing like the dawning light, which shall increase until the man once censured shall be universally admired. “And thy judgment as the noonday.” No shade of reproach shall remain. The man shall be in his meridian of splendour. The darkness of his sorrow and his ill repute shall both flee away.’ C.H.Spurgeon.

Trust in the Lord and do good;

    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

4 Take delight in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Increasingly, as the years have gone by, I’ve realised there’s no use fretting over things I can’t change or control; I need to get on with doing those things I know I am called to do. Here are three of them, and they belong together in the life of discipleship. We are called live lives of trust, obedience and prayer. (By the way, “…enjoy safe pasture” can read “tend faithfulness”: in other words, cultivate being faithful to God and His way like a shepherd tends his flock).

This is a scary world where violent, greedy, selfish people elbow others out of the way, govern callously and cruelly, and regularly appear to get away with it. But, as Walter Wink observed, ‘History belongs to the intercessors.’ Against many appearances to the contrary, it is the people who know how to pray who shape history. They tend to be hidden, anonymous, out of the way. They may often be be poor and unimpressive, marginalised and weak, but the power to change the world lies with them. They are the ones who “Keep company with GOD” (‘The Message’). Is there any better way to live?

Do not fret because of those who are evil

    or be envious of those who do wrong;

2 for like the grass they will soon wither,

    like green plants they will soon die away.

Last Sunday, I preached my final sermon, as a pastor, in the church I have served for nearly 32 years. Now here is a confession: during these long years I have fretted about many things. Even though I know we shouldn’t do it, it’s hard not to at times. But this I do know: none of it changed anything. It is totally unproductive (other than it may make the fretful person ill).

This psalm opens with the words: “Do not fret” (see also 7,8). In particular, it’s concern is with the ungodly who seem to prosper in this world and get away with the bad stuff they do. Much of the news is made by ‘those who are evil” and “those who do wrong”, and too much exposure to it could cause fretfulness – especially at the moment!

‘The Message’ translates:

Don’t bother your head with braggarts

    or wish you could succeed like the wicked.

In no time they’ll shrivel like grass clippings

    and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.

The thing is, these petty dictators (and their ilk) have got a limited life-span (as have we all). They won’t be around forever. Vladimir Putin will die and face God. Would you really want to be in his shoes?

For some reason, Robert Mugabe also came to mind as I read this. I remember him coming to power years ago. For a long time he brutally ruled the roost in Zimbabwe, causing mayhem, oppressing the people, treading them down. One article accused him of reducing the population of Zimbabwe by millions in just a few years. But eventually, in the frailty of old age and illness, he passed away.

Psalm 37 encourages us to take the long view, and recognise that although evil people may have their little ‘hour on the stage’, the curtain will surely fall.

A message from God: The transgression of the wicked resides in their hearts.

In the first devotional I wrote on Psalm 36:1, I made the point that preaching must travel through the ‘heart’ of the preacher if it is to move other hearts. That surely is a true point. If your message doesn’t stir your soul, how can you expect it to move anyone else’s?

However, in the course of studying this psalm, I have come to see that verse 1 can be alternatively rendered as above. I read somewhere that the psalmist may be referring to the pleadings, the arguments of sin within his own heart. We will readily understand this. We all know how sin argues its own case within us, and if we give it the time of day, we will, if we’re not careful, allow it to win the argument. This is the paradox Paul wrote about in Romans 7: 21-23:

“It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.” (‘The Message’).

What is the solution for this internal dichotomy? It is the inner tug-of-war we all feel from day to day. What is the answer? Paul goes on to write that the answer is a Who rather than a What. It is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself:

“He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.”

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are my Lord. Help me to turn a deaf ear to the siren call of sin, and listen only to you.

P.S. Thank you again for reading these notes. It’s been a little over ten years since I started to write them, and I’m grateful for the encouragement I’ve received. From next week, I will no longer post these notes on ‘the King’s church’ facebook page, but they will go onto my ‘A date with Jesus’ facebook site.

See also the blog site: http://stephenthompson216.wordpress.com/

Continue your love to those who know you,

    your righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,

    nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12 See how the evildoers lie fallen—

    thrown down, not able to rise!

Derek Kidner, in his ‘Tyndale’ commentary on Psalms 1-72, sees this as an example of a prayer of faith. The psalmist prays that God’s people, who have come to enjoy His love, will continue to do so (10). He also prays for protection (11), and in his final statement (12) he already sees the prayer answered and the wicked decisively dealt with.

Here is the Kidner quote. I found it wonderfully encouraging:

‘The psalmist finds himself stationed on the disputed ground between human wickedness (1-4) and divine grace (5-9); so he turns to urgent prayer. Twice he has praised the steadfast love of God (5,7); now let it reach out to the place of need (10!)…The last verse shows the victory already claimed; it speaks as though the scene were present and clearly visible…This is the faith defined in Hebrews 11:1 (Phillips) as ‘putting our full confidence in the things we hope for…being certain of things we cannot see’.

So the early eloquence was genuine. The evil which David portrayed in the first stanza he was ready to fight; the grace which he praised in the second he was ready to invoke; and, once invoked, to accept as given and as settling the matter.’

God’s love is meteoric,

    his loyalty astronomic,

His purpose titanic,

    his verdicts oceanic.

Yet in his largeness

    nothing gets lost;

Not a man, not a mouse,

    slips through the cracks.

7-9 How exquisite your love, O God!

    How eager we are to run under your wings,

To eat our fill at the banquet you spread

    as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.

You’re a fountain of cascading light,

    and you open our eyes to light.

10-12 Keep on loving your friends;

    do your work in welcoming hearts.

Don’t let the bullies kick me around,

    the moral midgets slap me down.

Send the upstarts sprawling

    flat on their faces in the mud. (The Message).

I’d like to encourage you to re-read these verses in the translation you normally use, then read it once more in Peterson’s paraphrase above. I believe these songs/poem-prayers, are to be felt, not merely analysed. So let the gigantic waves of God’s generous love sweep over you. Feel exhilaratingly washed in the ocean of His undeserved favour; eat your fill at His banqueting table (and consider the words of Jesus in John 10:10).

In the ‘NIV’ verse 8 reads: “They feast on the abundance of your house;

    you give them drink from your river of delights.”

I understand that the word for “delights” is closely related to the word for ‘Eden.’ So this may take us back in thought to Genesis 2:10 where “A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.” It maybe also causes us to think about Ezekiel 47:1-12 and Revelation 22:1,2. Also, the words of Jesus in John 4: 13, 14 and 7:37-39.

The bottom line is this: eternal destinies, and current lifestyles are at stake; and it is better to swim in the deeps of God’s lavish love, than to drown in the polluted river of self-love.

We each have a choice to make.

PRAYER: Lord God, you have poured immeasurable spiritual wealth upon me.Help me not to live (needlessly) as a pauper.

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,

    your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,

    your justice like the great deep.

    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

‘In this psalm, there is a choice to be made which determines the sort of life we experience now and the destiny that awaits: the choice is how to react to the revelation of God. To reject it is to be condemned to listen to our own hearts and to a life without values; to embrace it is to enjoy life, light, provision and protection.’ (Alec Motyer: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.508).

Ultimately, there are only two types of people in this world:  those who are marked by the self-love of sin, and those for whom the love of God has become their greatest reality. This is a love the psalmist describes as “priceless” and “unfailing.” Motyer says, reflecting on verse 5, that it is ‘something far bigger and higher than anything on earth.’

What hope can there be for sinners (1-4) – something we all are by nature?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16).

I heard that on a wall, in a mental institution, somewhere behind the ‘iron curtain’, a (no doubt) sane person, imprisoned there for having the ‘wrong’ beliefs, had written:

‘Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made;

We’re every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.’

I have a message from God in my heart

    concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:

There is no fear of God

    before their eyes.

2 In their own eyes they flatter themselves

    too much to detect or hate their sin.

3 The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;

    they fail to act wisely or do good.

4 Even on their beds they plot evil;

    they commit themselves to a sinful course

    and do not reject what is wrong.

Sin is a slippery, down-hill slope, and it starts, in some form, with the rejection of God (1b – as in Romans 1:18-32). Although Alec Motyer has an interesting observation to make:

‘The issue is not whether God exists but whether he matters; not his reality but his relevance. It is the position of many people all the time; it is the position of believers some of the time – not as a stated creed but in practice’ (‘New Bible Commentary’, p.508).

It is sadly true that, even as ‘believers’, we can be ‘practical atheists.’

A few years ago, my wife, Jilly, tried to engage a couple of friends in a conversation about spiritual matters. They didn’t fall out with her, but their attitude was, in essence, ‘Why would I want to go to church?’ The issue wasn’t whether or not God existed; they just felt no need for Him. As far as they were concerned, life was good and they had all they could need.

At its core, sin is about self-love (2): the rejection of the true God and the enthronement of self in His rightful place. When thinking about the word ‘sin’, I often think of it as ‘’sIn’: it is when ‘I’ am in the middle of my life calling the shots. It is when my theme song has become ‘I did it my way.’ This self-love blinds us so that we cannot see ourselves as we really are, and cannot hate what we are, or have become (or are becoming). For sin does tend to be a slippery down-hill slide, and can lead a person to a place where verse 4 is their reality. It is possible to see a Putin type figure in this verse, but it is has become true for many unknown people also.

What hope is there for sinners? As we will see, it is to be found in the love of God.