Real Psalms 37:27-40
Psalms 37 is relevant to any day and age as God’s people constantly find themselves engaged in the battle between good and evil. If you’re like me, you sometimes feel like evil is winning so I need constant reminders of God’s triumph over wickedness. And we all need daily assurance that the joys and blessings of our eternity with Christ will eclipse even the greatest pain and injustice we have suffered.
In the midst of offering those reminders, the psalmist calls us in verse 27 to, “Turn from evil and do good.” Many prophetic voices today are calling the church to repentance as a key to revival; the church has all too often conformed to worldly mindsets and excused passivity and sin rather than being transformed by Christ and embracing lives of holiness.
In searching my own heart, I have seen anger, bitterness, judgement, impatience, love of ease, and fear of man. We need the Holy Spirit’s help to make the crooked ways straight to open the way to personal and national revival (Matt. 3:3). The Lord promises to be faithful as we seek Him for He is a God who loves to see wrong made right. In His heart of goodness and justice, He will work great wonders on our behalf and on behalf of His purposes (v. 28).
Verses 30-34 speak of the characteristics of Christians in the midst of the wicked schemes all around them. Instead of following the wisdom this world has to offer which promotes selfish ambition and human exaltation (James 3:13-18) we are to get our wisdom from God’s Word and teach it to others (v. 30). We then become a powerful force for defining good and evil in a world that’s strayed far from God’s moral compass. As we make the holy scriptures part of who we are (verse 31) and live by them, our walk of faith becomes steady and stable. We are then able to persevere through every trial.
I could skip over verses 32-33 that say the Lord protects godly people from being condemned by the wicked. Christians suffering persecution often do face death. But our God has the right to choose how our lives or deaths best glorify Him. After all, He sent Jesus to the cross for our sake and we are called to suffer with Him that we might reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:11-12).
The verses following 33 offer more reassurance that one day, the tables will be turned and those who have continued in their opposition against God will go to their eternal punishment. The righteous, however, will shine as the stars (Daniel 12:1-3) and share in the glory of their Savior (Rom. 8:17-18).
God is sovereign and victorious not just for the future, not just in glorious past events, but every moment of every day in each of our lives and in the world. He is constantly at work, constantly winning battles, constantly enforcing His authority. If we align ourselves with Him, we will share in that victory even though all may look bleak and dim.
So take courage. The best is yet to come and it is far more awesome and glorious than the most brilliant minds can imagine!
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Comments