Scripture to Meditate

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. ​Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalms 37.1-4

Consider the assumptions behind this part of Scripture. We live in a dark world. It is filled with evil people, people who do much wrong and, to all appearances, get away with it. Confronted by what we see, we will, in one way or another, respond. The Psalmist warns against a couple of responses that are quite common: the fear of those who live by evil and (maybe even at the same time?) being envious of them. Neither of these responses are wise. Aware of this, our writer offers us an alternative to the common responses. He reminds us: there will be justice. These who don't play by the rules will find that living in that way is a losing proposition. He encourages us to believe that Yahweh really does know what He is doing. And, because of that, we can trust Him. He calls us to work at doing what is good and keeping our promises while we wait for God's justice. To be able to live such a life will require training our affections so that we will delight in God.

All of this is obviously good to do. But we need to remember that apart from God blessing us with the ability to actually do these things, we will fail. And that is something that we would do well to ask of Him. Apart from the grace of God, all that His wise instructions will do is crush us.