Author: Psalm37

Psalm 37:5-6 “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.” Genesis 50:19-20 “But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.’ ”

Joseph’s brothers greatly betrayed him.  They sold him as a slave. You know the story. However, God positioned Joseph through over 20 years of suffering for a strategic and divine purpose. Joseph’s pain was not random. The Bible says that God uses suffering to produce perseverance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3-4). God’s Sovereign plan for Joseph would advance the story of redemption and foreshadow the present redemption we have in Christ.

So, how do we react to things intended to harm us? Hopefully like Joseph. When evil occurs, God’s children are called to a special assignment that could go either of two ways. Revelation 13:10 says, “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.” Revelation 13:18 says, “This calls for wisdom.” Revelation 14:12 says, “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.” Revelation 17:9a says, “This calls for a mind with wisdom.”

God’s promise in Psalm 37:5-6 is completely trustworthy. The thing to remember from Joseph’s life is the illustration that God may choose to enmesh us in a completely different culture for a long season. This definitely calls for wisdom and patient endurance. But, the dawn is the result of how He orders our days. And, the noonday sun is the beauty of God’s purposes fulfilled in us. His righteousness will grow out of our dawns and noonday suns, praise Him!

God will always be my “however.”

 

 

 

 

Psalm 37:4 “Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Lamentations 3:22-23 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

One of my heart’s desires is the gift of true friendship in Christ. My friend Lisa is a longterm friend in Christ and former partner in ministry. (She is pictured on the left end of the photo.) Our earthly and heavenly friendship has stood the hard tests of time and distance. When recently she sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness” with my daughter Charlotte (also her former student) at a celebration of ministry, the moment can only be described as the delight of my heart because of a bond of friendship that Jesus formed long ago, more than 20 years ago. The eternal impact Lisa has had in my life and the life of my daughter, and eventually my son, is unsurpassed.

I have been to Orlando to see my friend Lisa several times since she moved there. Granted, it is not too shabby to have a friend to visit who is headquartered in sunny Florida!! But, it’s much more than that. In one of her capacities – she is a gifted voice teacher and I was privileged to be hanging around on an afternoon when she taught several voice students. I was blessed to be reminded of how God has used Lisa to lift many hearts and voices many times through the gift of music for His glory!

Because of Christ, His mercy has come through her to me. These mercies in my life are too numerous to count – Lisa’s hospitality, sense of humor, generosity, listening ear, loyalty, co-parenting, prayer, North Carolina accent (I love to hear it), cuisine, “Olive Garden” love, beloved teacher-student relationships, love for the Lord, sense of justice, value of family, beautiful alto soloing (you should hear her sing “Revelation Song”- Kari Jobe), dedicated mothering and sistering and daughtering, Proverbs 31 character as a wife to Alan, undying friendship. Mercies.

A wise woman once told me that people only have 5 or less dear genuine friends in a lifetime if they are fortunate. The ones that are there for you no matter what. The ones you call when  you need help. The ones that appreciate you as well as understand your shortcomings. The ones who share Christ. The ones who you can talk to about deep spiritual realities. The ones you know you’ll be with in eternity. The ones that make you laugh and cry. Lisa is one.

 

Psalm 37:7 “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.” Matthew 7:15-16a “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.” Mark 13:23 “So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.” I John 4:3a “But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.”

In this world, wicked schemes will be successfully carried out. This is a fact. Deception is alive and well. Wolves engage us incognito more than we know. But, God gives believers a storehouse of ways to avoid fretting:

• Be still before Him, unplug and listen for Him
• Patiently endure
• Recognize good fruit and bad fruit
• His Word gives us all the intel we need
• The name of Jesus is the most powerful test of the spirits

 

Psalm 37:18,19,23,24 “The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty…If the Lord delights in a man’s way, He makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand.”

2 Corinthians 4:7-10 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”

The main paradox of faithful living is that God uses trouble and turns it into something great or beautiful! He gets the glory and others get to see His transforming grace up close and personal. As His beloved, we learn to live comfortably in the paradoxes of being weak, but ultimately strong; persecuted, but not left alone; having nothing, but possessing so much; slapped down, but not wiped out; unsteady, but not free-falling. Like David, we use Psalm 37 to pour out our hearts to God in prayer. We don’t repress or vent our persecutions or knockdowns, but we redirect these to God. We leave timing, methods, vindication, and vengeance completely up to Him. We don’t allow fretting to chew us up and paralyze us.

Faithful living is a glorious puzzle. In the Lord, we have abundance in spite of painful losses and defeats. It is a paradox – death and life simultaneously. By God’s Holy Spirit, we can die and live faithfully so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in us!

 

 

Psalm 37:34 “Wait for the Lord and keep His way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.”

Waiting on the Lord is one of the most difficult things to do. As I experience increasing hostility to the gospel of Christ and the unfolding reality of the “love of most growing cold” (Matthew 24:12), I really don’t want to wait much longer for Jesus to return and make all things new, do you?

Still, I know that the Lord is very patient and not willing for anyone to perish. In His great patience, He is showing me how to wait. Jesus says (Matthew 10:16), “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be a shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” This is what I will do while I am waiting – trust God to give me deeper discernment and keener insight into the motives and intentions of those around me. I will pray for clarity of mind and spirit. I will also pray for those who persecute believers and ask God to empower believers to respond always with the graciousness of Christ.

I recently heard Ravi Zacharias speak at the Commonwealth Prayer Breakfast in Richmond, Virginia on January 13, 20016. He told a personal story about his daughter when she was very young. She asked a guard for a glass of lemonade at a bridge of passage between two hostile territories in the Middle East. Amazingly, the guard not only provided the lemonade, but also provided a car and personal escort of the family across the bridge. The graciousness of Christ is at the same time truthful and disarming. The little girl’s dovelike demeanor was disarming in the midst of hostility.

God promises to cut off the wicked. While waiting, build disarming bridges.

 

 

My favorite Bible teacher at my church, Cyndi Anderson, sent the following devotional to encourage the ladies that have been in her classes:

“Your suffering occurs alongside of Christ’s. Your life story is embedded in His story. Your suffering, therefore, is actually a participation in the sufferings of Christ (2 Corinthians 1: 5; Philippians 3: 10; 1 Peter 4: 12– 13). Consider Paul’s amazing statement: ‘Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church’ (Colossians 1: 24). Paul is not saying that your sufferings add anything to Christ’s work on the cross. There’s nothing deficient about Jesus’ suffering and death. He is saying that there is a purposeful link between the sufferings of Christ and your own suffering. Your connection with Jesus means that your identity is bigger than what you suffer. Paul says: “If we are children, then we are heirs— heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8: 17). Paul is saying that your suffering actually confirms your identity as a child of God. It does not undermine that identity, even though it sometimes feels that way. This perspective reminds you that as you suffer, you suffer in Christ. Your life (both suffering and, ultimately, glory) is intimately connected with his life.” (Michael Emlet)

Heart of the Matter: Daily Reflections for Changing Hearts and Lives (Kindle Locations 407-409). New Growth Press. Kindle Edition.

 

Psalm 37:1-2 “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die.” God’s Word tells me that I should not be continuously and obviously worried, because anxiety hammers away at my soul and my emotions, and can become a constant state of being if I let it. I know that My Redeemer Lives and that His Word can be trusted here. In Psalm 37, God tells me that I should replace fret with trust, delight, and stillness. The image of unmovable mountains is a reminder of these 3 things. His power working in me will enable me not to fret.

 

 

 

 

Psalm 37:3-6 “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”