Psalm 37.1-11
Today, we'll be looking at what, for many of you, is a familiar Psalm. Actually, we're going to focus our attention on just one verse of the Psalm, verse 5: 'Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.' My goal is not to tell you anything radically new but rather simply to remind you of what you already know. And I do that because we all forget. We live in a non-Christian world, or better, in an anti-Christian world. And one effect of that is that sometimes we forget what we already know. Sometimes what is right is overwhelmed by what is wrong. This is the same situation that David's original audience faced. They were confronted by the wicked - the anti-Christians - and had to deal with the effects that these others had on believers. This is an ongoing battle, and the Church will never be beyond it - until Jesus comes back. So, let's take our verse apart and see what it has to say.
Let's start where the verse starts, 'Commit'. Some of your Bibles might have a footnote with a more literal translation. It's 'roll'. So, more literally, it would be 'Roll your way onto the Lord.' It's the word that you would use when referring to a boulder. So, listen to this from Genesis. 'The stone on the well's mouth was large, and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep...' Now, it's understandable why it's translated as 'commit' in our Bibles. That's what David was getting at. So, 'commit' makes sense. But all of this does provoke a question. Why did David use the word that means 'roll'? There are other Hebrew words that are literally translated 'commit'. Why this more figurative word here? Here's my best guess. The use of a word that is associated with moving large boulders includes a sense of the difficulty involved. For most of us the word 'commit' points to a mental exercise. It's something that you say in your head. 'I commit this to God.' How hard is that? But to roll something as a great boulder - well that's clearly difficult. The Spirit wants us to catch the sense of difficulty here. This is hard and we need to see that. That doesn't mean that we need to try harder. It means that it will take more grace.
The difficulty becomes a bit clearer when we see what it is that we are to roll. 'Roll your way...' What's this 'way'? Here, think: 'pathway' or 'I'm on my way to the store'. David is talking about your life. And he is picturing it as a path that you walk. So, Psalm 1 closes with the final contrast between 'the way of the righteous' and 'the way of the wicked'. David is calling us to roll the boulder that is the pathway of your life. He's talking about your way of life; not just what you do but how you do it. And where are we to roll this boulder? We roll it onto Jesus. 'Commit your way to the Lord.'
It's the next phrase that really uncovers the difficulty of doing this. '...trust in Him.' Here, your thoughts might jump to a word like 'faith'. 'Trust in the Lord' means to have faith in Him, no? Well, it does. But 'faith' is another of those church words that we can easily use without really getting it. So, instead, let's talk about risk. To trust is to put yourself at risk. When you entrust something to the care of another you take a risk. Your sense of the risk is tied to how precious that 'something' is. Lending your mower to your neighbor is no big deal, even if he returns it damaged. The risk isn't that great. The sense of risk goes up if it's your brand new car that your neighbor wants to borrow for the weekend. But David tells us to risk more. Roll your life onto Jesus. Now we're talking risk. What is more precious than your life? True faith is all about risk. It's about taking the risk, each day, to roll your life - what you do and how you do it - onto Jesus. What do you think? Will He return it to you damaged or more whole than when you rolled it onto Him?
That leaves the last phrase. Listen again: 'Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act.' It's here that we see something of the beauty of the verse. As we commit our way to our God and in this way trust Him, the promise is that He will act in such a way that our trust pays off. The risk will be shown to have been the right move. He will take care of us. He will deal with the troubles and burdens that we meet as we walk on our way. He will see our trust, our taking that risk, and He will respond. He will act.
To make this clear let's look at a related Psalm. This is from Psalm 22 which describes Jesus. Listen. 'He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!' The Psalmist is prophesying about what Jesus did. He trusted in His God. What's interesting here is that the word translated 'trusted' is our old friend 'roll'. Jesus did what David encouraged us to do back in Psalm 37. Jesus rolled His way onto His God. He took the risk and trusted Him to respond, to act. And what happened? Was His trust well-founded? Well, where is Jesus now? Right now, He sits on His throne as Lord over all things. Jesus is exalted over all fully enjoying all that that means. His God promised that to Him, and His God kept His word. Jesus rolled His way onto His God, and His God acted. The risk was worth it.
Our God has made promises to us as well. Listen again: 'Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. ... For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. ... the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.' One day, we too will be exalted. We will inherit the earth and delight ourselves in the complete absence of any troubles and an overflow of peace. Glory awaits us in the new heavens and the new earth. This is the promise of our God. All we need do is roll our way onto Jesus. He will act.
We have an amazing future ahead of us. It makes sense to me for us to ponder this future of ours. What would it be like to experience it right now? This future is sure. Jesus will act. In fact, He is acting right now. He is in the process of getting us to that place of such enjoyment that He has promised. Our God is keeping His word. The more we believe that the more we will rejoice.
I could stop here and simply exhort you to believe the Gospel. But there would be something missing, something significant left out. What happens in the meantime? What fills in the time until we get to enjoy what our God has promised? And that gets us back to that quote from Psalm 22. Jesus took David's advice. He rolled His way onto His God. But when did Jesus actually hear those words from Psalm 22? He heard them when He was dying on that cross. 'also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him."' He had rolled His way onto His God. But before He received the promised glory, He suffered. He certainly did receive the glory - but only by going through the way of the cross. No cross, no throne. But since there was a cross, there is a throne. What Jesus enjoys now is beyond description. Committing your way to Jesus does not take away the difficulties of life. It just makes them worthwhile. This is something to bear in mind, to remember, when Jesus places a cross in your pathway. And it's times like these when having a sense of what awaits is so very helpful.
Let me close with three thoughts.
Today's sermon speaks to your relationship with Jesus. Every day, in one way or another, some questions are posed, 'Will I bear this cross that Jesus has put in my path in the hope of enjoying the glory that lies beyond it? Is the risk worth it?' You answer those questions every day by the choices you make. It is my desire that we all become more conscious of those decisions so that we might seek the help of the Spirit for them.
Today's sermon speaks to your relationships with each other. We all forget. And so, we need to remind each other at those times of forgetfulness. We need to tell each other, 'Roll your way onto Jesus. It's worth the risk.' This is one reason why Jesus created His Church. We need each other.
Today's sermon speaks to your relationships with your neighbors. They have also made commitments, but to an empty god who exists only in their imaginations. And as a result, they are disappointed in their god. He has let them down. How could he not? Some are so disappointed that they are bitter, bitter at 'god', bitter at life. But there are others who, in their disappointment, are just confused and hurting. They don't understand. 'Why doesn't my god act?' To approach them with words about finding forgiveness in Jesus misses the mark. They aren't thinking about forgiveness. They are thinking about disappointment. They need to see your faith, your risk-taking. They need to see you commit your way to Jesus. And they especially need to see that when it's time for you to bear some cross. They need to see what a real trust, a real faith, in a real God looks like. And they need to see how Jesus acts when we do trust Him. Why else would they be interested in coming to Jesus?
Today, we'll be looking at what, for many of you, is a familiar Psalm. Actually, we're going to focus our attention on just one verse of the Psalm, verse 5: 'Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.' My goal is not to tell you anything radically new but rather simply to remind you of what you already know. And I do that because we all forget. We live in a non-Christian world, or better, in an anti-Christian world. And one effect of that is that sometimes we forget what we already know. Sometimes what is right is overwhelmed by what is wrong. This is the same situation that David's original audience faced. They were confronted by the wicked - the anti-Christians - and had to deal with the effects that these others had on believers. This is an ongoing battle, and the Church will never be beyond it - until Jesus comes back. So, let's take our verse apart and see what it has to say.
Let's start where the verse starts, 'Commit'. Some of your Bibles might have a footnote with a more literal translation. It's 'roll'. So, more literally, it would be 'Roll your way onto the Lord.' It's the word that you would use when referring to a boulder. So, listen to this from Genesis. 'The stone on the well's mouth was large, and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep...' Now, it's understandable why it's translated as 'commit' in our Bibles. That's what David was getting at. So, 'commit' makes sense. But all of this does provoke a question. Why did David use the word that means 'roll'? There are other Hebrew words that are literally translated 'commit'. Why this more figurative word here? Here's my best guess. The use of a word that is associated with moving large boulders includes a sense of the difficulty involved. For most of us the word 'commit' points to a mental exercise. It's something that you say in your head. 'I commit this to God.' How hard is that? But to roll something as a great boulder - well that's clearly difficult. The Spirit wants us to catch the sense of difficulty here. This is hard and we need to see that. That doesn't mean that we need to try harder. It means that it will take more grace.
The difficulty becomes a bit clearer when we see what it is that we are to roll. 'Roll your way...' What's this 'way'? Here, think: 'pathway' or 'I'm on my way to the store'. David is talking about your life. And he is picturing it as a path that you walk. So, Psalm 1 closes with the final contrast between 'the way of the righteous' and 'the way of the wicked'. David is calling us to roll the boulder that is the pathway of your life. He's talking about your way of life; not just what you do but how you do it. And where are we to roll this boulder? We roll it onto Jesus. 'Commit your way to the Lord.'
It's the next phrase that really uncovers the difficulty of doing this. '...trust in Him.' Here, your thoughts might jump to a word like 'faith'. 'Trust in the Lord' means to have faith in Him, no? Well, it does. But 'faith' is another of those church words that we can easily use without really getting it. So, instead, let's talk about risk. To trust is to put yourself at risk. When you entrust something to the care of another you take a risk. Your sense of the risk is tied to how precious that 'something' is. Lending your mower to your neighbor is no big deal, even if he returns it damaged. The risk isn't that great. The sense of risk goes up if it's your brand new car that your neighbor wants to borrow for the weekend. But David tells us to risk more. Roll your life onto Jesus. Now we're talking risk. What is more precious than your life? True faith is all about risk. It's about taking the risk, each day, to roll your life - what you do and how you do it - onto Jesus. What do you think? Will He return it to you damaged or more whole than when you rolled it onto Him?
That leaves the last phrase. Listen again: 'Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act.' It's here that we see something of the beauty of the verse. As we commit our way to our God and in this way trust Him, the promise is that He will act in such a way that our trust pays off. The risk will be shown to have been the right move. He will take care of us. He will deal with the troubles and burdens that we meet as we walk on our way. He will see our trust, our taking that risk, and He will respond. He will act.
To make this clear let's look at a related Psalm. This is from Psalm 22 which describes Jesus. Listen. 'He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!' The Psalmist is prophesying about what Jesus did. He trusted in His God. What's interesting here is that the word translated 'trusted' is our old friend 'roll'. Jesus did what David encouraged us to do back in Psalm 37. Jesus rolled His way onto His God. He took the risk and trusted Him to respond, to act. And what happened? Was His trust well-founded? Well, where is Jesus now? Right now, He sits on His throne as Lord over all things. Jesus is exalted over all fully enjoying all that that means. His God promised that to Him, and His God kept His word. Jesus rolled His way onto His God, and His God acted. The risk was worth it.
Our God has made promises to us as well. Listen again: 'Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. ... For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. ... the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.' One day, we too will be exalted. We will inherit the earth and delight ourselves in the complete absence of any troubles and an overflow of peace. Glory awaits us in the new heavens and the new earth. This is the promise of our God. All we need do is roll our way onto Jesus. He will act.
We have an amazing future ahead of us. It makes sense to me for us to ponder this future of ours. What would it be like to experience it right now? This future is sure. Jesus will act. In fact, He is acting right now. He is in the process of getting us to that place of such enjoyment that He has promised. Our God is keeping His word. The more we believe that the more we will rejoice.
I could stop here and simply exhort you to believe the Gospel. But there would be something missing, something significant left out. What happens in the meantime? What fills in the time until we get to enjoy what our God has promised? And that gets us back to that quote from Psalm 22. Jesus took David's advice. He rolled His way onto His God. But when did Jesus actually hear those words from Psalm 22? He heard them when He was dying on that cross. 'also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him."' He had rolled His way onto His God. But before He received the promised glory, He suffered. He certainly did receive the glory - but only by going through the way of the cross. No cross, no throne. But since there was a cross, there is a throne. What Jesus enjoys now is beyond description. Committing your way to Jesus does not take away the difficulties of life. It just makes them worthwhile. This is something to bear in mind, to remember, when Jesus places a cross in your pathway. And it's times like these when having a sense of what awaits is so very helpful.
Let me close with three thoughts.
Today's sermon speaks to your relationship with Jesus. Every day, in one way or another, some questions are posed, 'Will I bear this cross that Jesus has put in my path in the hope of enjoying the glory that lies beyond it? Is the risk worth it?' You answer those questions every day by the choices you make. It is my desire that we all become more conscious of those decisions so that we might seek the help of the Spirit for them.
Today's sermon speaks to your relationships with each other. We all forget. And so, we need to remind each other at those times of forgetfulness. We need to tell each other, 'Roll your way onto Jesus. It's worth the risk.' This is one reason why Jesus created His Church. We need each other.
Today's sermon speaks to your relationships with your neighbors. They have also made commitments, but to an empty god who exists only in their imaginations. And as a result, they are disappointed in their god. He has let them down. How could he not? Some are so disappointed that they are bitter, bitter at 'god', bitter at life. But there are others who, in their disappointment, are just confused and hurting. They don't understand. 'Why doesn't my god act?' To approach them with words about finding forgiveness in Jesus misses the mark. They aren't thinking about forgiveness. They are thinking about disappointment. They need to see your faith, your risk-taking. They need to see you commit your way to Jesus. And they especially need to see that when it's time for you to bear some cross. They need to see what a real trust, a real faith, in a real God looks like. And they need to see how Jesus acts when we do trust Him. Why else would they be interested in coming to Jesus?
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