Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of the wicked, For the evil man has no future hope and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out. Fear the Lord and the king, my child, and do not join with the rebellious, for those two will send sudden destruction upon them, and who knows what calamities they may bring. ~Proverbs 24:19
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 away. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pastures. 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. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath. Do not fret—it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. ~Psalm 37:1-9
This is actually a good follow up to yesterday. Yesterday, we were exhorted to live at peace with all men as much as it is possible with us. We talked about remembering the humanity of those who have different views than ours and to keep in mind that we are sinners in need of grace as much as they are. We admitted that there is evil in the world, but there are also the deceived. We may not be able to discern which is which, but God, who knows the heart does. Our enemy is satan, not our fellow man. Our responsibility is to love anyway.
“Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future hope and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.” “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 away.” There, we have been told again, “Don’t fret!” Evil will be dealt with. Why? It is a tool of satan, but an enemy of God, and God will deal with evil on His terms, in His time.
He reassures us over and over, it will not last, it will not succeed. If it could, God would not be God. If there were any possibility that evil could prevail, then God cannot keep His promises and we are fools for trusting in Him. However, God has already won, on the cross. The victory is His. Our real struggle is in the fact that we are here, on earth below, where the mess still is.
We don’t like the mess. It looks hopeless and any time that satan can encourage that thought of hopelessness, he enjoys that because it is one more of God’s soldiers, sidelined by the thought, “We can’t win.” Oh, wouldn’t he love that. We are not supposed to fret and worry about evil, just join in the battle against it.
“Fear the Lord and the king, my child, and do not join with the rebellious, for those two will send sudden destruction upon them, and who knows what calamities they may bring.” Our job is to fear the King, be concerned with obeying Him. That’s how we combat evil, by making sure that His Will is done. “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.” Your light, in a dark place, fights back at the evil all around.
There are two things that we must not allow ourselves to do. First of all, as I said at the beginning, we may not know who is really choosing evil for its power and who is simply deceived. The behavior may look the same, but the reasons may be different. It isn’t our job to judge which is which. Our work is to pray. Pray against the evil, no matter which way it is being delivered, but don’t judge the heart. The behavior is the fruit. That is what we are encouraged to discern, (Matthew 7:15-20). But the heart we must leave in God’s hands to do with it what is best.
The other thing that we must not do is become like them in our tactics. Fighting fire with fire is not God’s way. “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath. Do not fret—it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.” How can fretting lead to evil? It encourages us to plot and scheme how we can defeat it, which is one of evil’s tactics, thinking that we must stop the evil on our own, at all costs. We begin trusting in ourselves and stop trusting that God has everything under control. We cannot allow ourselves to become like the evil we oppose.
Do you see the antidote? “Those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.” We have hope because of Christ. That is a hope that those who choose evil ways do not have. They never know if everything will turn out their way, so they need to do everything humanly possible to make it happen. On the other hand, while things may not necessarily go the way that we want them to in the short run, or may seem confusing, we are never without hope because of His promise that evil will lose in the end. We can just relax and trust and obey His commands and let Him do the worrying about the outcome.
When we fret we are beginning to take back control. When we trust and follow orders, we also allow God to be responsible for the victory. After all, we will inherit the land. It has been promised to those who place their hope in Him, which is a greater vision than simply winning. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” Just keep trusting. I know that’s easier said than done. But if we see it as our first act of obedience, then everything else falls into place.
Prayer: Father I will trust You! I will obey your command to love even my “enemies.” Because no matter how much I may not like their ideas or what they are doing, they are not really my enemies. I fight not against flesh and blood. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: I Turn to You
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