Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:1-4 NKJV)
Psalm 37 is an acrostic poem, meaning that the first letter of each phrase begins with a successive letter of the alphabet, so not only does it communicate a message of hope in the face of evil, but it is beautifully and intelligently written. Our God is an intelligent God who is looking for people who use their reason, in a world that is every day more controlled by the feelings of the heart. Though we’ve invented many things as human beings, though we’re living in a modern world with amazing gadgets, we frequently act like we’re still in the Dark Ages by allowing emotions to rule over us.
Why should we fret or be envious of evil people? Don’t we believe in God? Isn’t He much greater than the devil and the evil around us? We don’t need to be worried about the evil, unjust people around us because their day is coming, according to God. They will be cut down like grass and wither like green herbs. They are not like us—trees planted by streams of water that do not fail to bear fruit and whose leaves do not wither. When evil people attack us or succeed by unjust means, we need to pray for them, ask God to have mercy on their souls, and pray for their salvation. But we should NEVER fret because of them or envy them. Whenever we do we show that we have forgotten who we are and how big our God is. God guarantees to do much, much more for us than the devil does for his people.
By the way, the devil is thrilled when we fret and are envious—it’s as if we had thrown him a great banquet. Do we really want to do that?
God wants to give us the desires of our hearts (or inner being). When we surrender to Him, many of our thoughts and desires change and merge with His, but we still have desires of our own… things that we would like to see come true in our lives, in our family, in our career—and each of us has different desires. When we DELIGHT ourselves in the Lord, He promises to give us those desires. When we honor Him by delighting in Him, enjoying His presence, and loving His commands, He turns around and gives us exactly what we’ve always wanted.
Think about what you need to do to delight yourself in God. This is not a function of our emotions, but of our mind… deciding that you love to follow Him, to obey His word, and that He is deserving of praise. — May the desires of your heart come true as you delight in Him.
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