Psalm 37
When others lie, tell the truth. When people give you a hard time, make life easy for others. When people talk bad about you, have a kind word to say. Give when others take. Pray when others persecute. Stand when others fall. Speak life when all you see is death. Be honest when others lie, steal, and cheat. Have integrity. Lift up the name of the Lord.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.—Psalm 37:22-25
Matthew 5:38-42 – Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
1. People hate being mistreated. People want to be treated with respect at all times – to include their time, property, money, and family. They may avoid some people and treat others badly to ensure everybody knows not to mess with them. They will not be taken for a ‘fool’ or be used as anyone’s doormat. They don’t want to be taken advantage of or seem like they’re weak. They want to be strong in the eyes of man, but does that ‘strength’ equate to obedience in God?! No, it doesn’t.
Psalm 119:105 – Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
When thinking about this Psalm, considered the times you were in a dark room unable to see. Without the ability to see exactly what’s around you, you’re prone to bump into one of a bed post, dresser, or television stand. You can injure yourself while trying to navigate to another part of the room.
As we live in a world surrounded by darkness, we’re often injured by trials, tribulations, and sin. No matter how badly we want to navigate through this dark place, we will only hurt ourselves and others without God’s Word. It is God’s Word that will allow us to see where we have been, keep us mindful of the steps ahead, and allows us the opportunity to choose the path we know we should be on (Psalm 1:1, Psalm 37:23). However, we can’t flick God’s Word on and off when convenient. We must stay in His Word and allow it to guide our steps.
The light is available to us…we only need to use it.
Photo courtesy of Stock.XCHNG.com/timschell
Psalm 37:4 – Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
To delight in something is to be happy about it; take exquisite delight; to make merry over, or make sport of.1 Within this writing, we take notice to the delight that is in the Lord, but there is another ‘delight’ that affects the hearts and souls of men as well.
There are but two delights a person can place their hearts upon. To witness the first delight, we can go to the beginning with Adam and Eve. The Lord created the heavens and earth. They had been dressed and arrayed according to His good pleasure. The man was created out of the dust of the ground and the woman out of one of his ribs. She was to be a help meet to share a common purpose: to be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over ever living thing that moves upon the earth (Genesis 2:29).
Psalm 37:8 – Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
There comes a time when you’re so mad that the the scripture above doesn’t come to mind. In fact, the only thing that comes to mind when you’re mad is revenge; giving into temptation/sin; and going O-F-F on someone! Peace, love, calmness are no where near your mind.
Anger is a dangerous emotion. Anger desires a response. It doesn’t consider the consequences. It only considers itself – at all costs. It’s a highway to other emotions and actions:
There are many reasons why we make the decisions we do. When we look back at the outcome of some of the decisions we made, sometimes we can’t understand how we got into such predicaments, how to get out of them, or what we can do to live as God desires. Listed below is an outline of why we make the decisions we do; the consequences behind them; and how we can make good (and godly) decisions.
1. What consumes our decision making?
- Fear of Man (Proverbs 29:25; John 12:37-43)
- Motives (Proverbs 16:2; James 4:2-3)
- Friend of the World (1 John 2:15-17)
- Emotions (Proverbs 19:2)
- Sin/Temptation (John 3:19-21)
Sometimes no matter how much we try to help others and spin our time and energy to share all we know, they still don’t get it! They want to go their own way and live how they like. If you’re not careful (and watchful), you’ll get mad (really mad) because it seems that they’re treating your hard work and life-giving messages as trash. You feel like you’ve wasted your time. Well, before you go down that road (which you should not go), let’s consider this…
1 Corinthians 3:5-8 – Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
Here, Paul is speaking about the people siding with specific ministers of the gospels, but he writes how he planted the word in the people’s heart, another watered it, but God made the seeds grow.
Many times, we want our friends to agree with our thoughts, decisions, and conduct. Before, after or during our decisions, we seek the advice of one our friends for love, understanding, acceptance, or appreciation.
We have different friends for different situations. We have some friends that we only allow to help us with a specific situation or area. We have other friends we call to help us get through tough times or make difficult decisions. Of all the friends we can have, the most dangerous is the sin buddy.
A sin buddy is someone that will either agree with, encourage, or promote sinful conduct. The sin buddy can exist in any of our categories of friends, but usually they are in their own category.
For example, you have a friend that hates your spouse and have made it known. They have told you to leave them and find another spouse or to find someone ‘on the side’ to please you. Now, if you’re having marital problems and you’re trying to work through your problems, would you call this person? NO! You know their position and can guess what they will tell you. But if you didn’t want your marriage to work, they may be the first person you call…
Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1. Faith proves what you believe. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For those mentioned in Hebrews 11, the substance of what they were hoping for was the eternal city (Hebrews 11:13-16) and the evidence of what they were hoping for was their obedient life. They were living as if they believed they would receive entrance into the eternal city (eternal life). Their lives proved (gave evidence) of what they hoped for.
2. Faith doesn’t fill in the blanks. The path the Lord desire you to travel upon (before reaching eternal life) doesn’t come with complete instructions. There will be times when the Lord will not tell you where money will come from, where you will live, who will help you, or what will happen tomorrow. You must believe that He will never leave or forsake you as He promised.
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