January 03, 2022 – Monday
Psalm 37:1-2 NKJV
1 Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.
Comment.
This is not what I planned on commenting on today, but Bible studies will do that. Tonight, we covered all forty verses of Psalm 37 and there was so much there it might take a few days to cover all the verses I would like to discuss. There were seven of us there and we finished about 8:40 PM ten minutes later than usual and we could have gone on another twenty minutes.
This is a Psalm of David and verse 25a tells us it is in his old age that he writes this Psalm. Thus like any older believer who has been through the suffering and trials of life, David takes the long view of life. He does this by looking at any life situation and assesses the right-now and momentary circumstances in terms of the definitive and eternal conclusion.
Thus, it is no wonder in the very first verse he tells us Do not fret because of the evildoers. Do not is from the Hebrew אַל or ‘al and could easily have been translated Never. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon simply tells us that it is an adverb of negation. Then we have fret which is the Hebrew חָרָה or ḥārâ with the following possible definitions from Strong’s Dictionary, figuratively (usually) to blaze up, of anger, zeal, jealousy:—be angry, burn, be displeased, × earnestly, fret self, grieve, be (wax) hot, be incensed.
Frankly, the definition of fret surprised me as I had always thought of fretting as a mild worry or even a silly worry. However, looking at an online Merriam-Webster Dictionary I was soon disabused of such thinking. Two definitions there were 1) to eat or gnaw into : corrode as in The acid fretted the metal and 2) to cause to suffer emotional strain : vex as in Don’t you fret yourself about me.
With this in mind we might look at verses one and two the following way
Never get burned up in anger because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. And then verse two tells us why not:
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb. They are not going to last, they will come to an end and their end will not be desirable.
We are ti take the long view, remember how the worst of the worst all ended up – dead, lost, unsaved, and destined for hell. As Christians that is not our destination. However, as Christians when we know of evildoers or workers of iniquity, we can pray for them to turn to the Lord before they die as we would not wish an eternity of hell upon anyone.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Help me to always take the long-view, doing what I can when I can, but knowing the final result is always in Your hands. I need not worry, but simply to trust in You and Your Son, my Lord and Savior. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor
Calvary Chapel of Dayton in Beavercreek