PSALMS 38
We will now begin by giving Psalm 37 in metre.
THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE
Chapter 37
Verse 1 "For evil-doers fret thou not Thyself unquietly; Nor do thou
envy bear to those That work iniquity."
Verse 2 "For even like the fading grass, Soon be cut down shall they;
And, like the green and tender herb, They wither shall
away."
Verse 3 "Set thou thy trust upon the Lord, And be thou doing good;
And so thou in the land shalt dwell, And verily have food."
Verse 4 "Delight thyself in God; he'll give Thy heart's desire to
thee. Thy way to God commit him trust, It bring to pass
shall he."
Verse 5 "And like the morning light he shall Thy righteousness
display; And he thy judgement shall bring forth Like noon-
tide of the day."
Verse 6 "Rest in the Lord, in patience wait, Nor for the wicked fret
Who prospering in his evil way, Success in sin doth get.
Verse 7 "Do thou from anger cease, and wrath see thou forsake also;
Fret not thyself in any wise, that evil thou shouldest do."
Verse 8 "For they that evil-doers are shell be cut off and fall; But
they who wait upon the Lord The earth inherit shall."
Verse 9 "For yet a little while, and then The wicked shall not be;
His place thou shalt consider well, but it thou shalt not
see."
Verse 10 "But by inheritance the earth The meek ones shall possess;
They also shall delight themselves In an abundant peace."
Verse 11 "The wicked plot and gnash their teeth; Against the just they
stand; The Lord shall laugh at them, because He sees their
day at hand.
Verse 12 "The wicked have drawn out the sword, And bent their bow to
slay The poor and needy and to kill the men of upright way.
Verse 13 "But yet the sword which they have shall enter their own
Heart; [drawn their bows which they ave bent shall And into
pieces part. [break,
Verse 14 "A little that a just man hath is more and better far Than is
the wealth of many such As lewd and wicked are.
Verse 15 "For sinners' arms broken be; But God the just sustains.
he knows their days, and evermore Their˙heritage remains."
Verse 16 "They shall not be ashamed when they The evil times shall
see; And when the days of famine are They satisfied shall
be."
Verse 17 "But wicked men and foes of God As fat of lambs decay; They
shall consume, yea, into smoke They shall consume away."
Verse 18 "The wicked borrows, but the same Again he doth not pay;
Whereas the righteous mercy shows, and gives his own away."
Verse 19 "Because they whom the Lord doth bless The earth as heirs
shall own; But all accused of him shall be cut off and
overthrown."
Verse 20 "The footsteps of the righteous man The Lord directs aright;
And in the way in which he walks He taketh great delight."
Verse 21 "Although he fall, yet shall he not be cast down utterly;
Because the Lord with his own hand Upholds him mightily."
Verse 22 "I have been young, and now am old, Yet have I never seen The
just man left, nor that his seed For bread have beggars
been."
Verse 23 "He's ever merciful, and lends; His seed is therefore blest.
Depart from evil, and do good, And ever dwell at rest."
Verse 24 "For God loves judgment, and his saints Leaves not in any
case; They are kept ever; but cut off shall be the sinner's
race."
Verse 25 "The just inherit shall the land, And ever in it dwell; The
just man's mouth doth wisdom speak, His tongue doth judgment
tell.
Verse 26 "The law of God is in his heart, His steps slide not away.
The wicked watcheth for the just, And seeketh him to slay."
Verse 27 "Yet him the Lord will not forsake, Nor leave him in his
hands: The ill he not condemn, When he in judgment stands."
Verse 28 "Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, And thee exalt shall he
To hold the land by heritage, And sinners' ruin see."
Verse 29 "I saw the wicked great in power, Spread like a green bay-
tree; He passed, lo, he was gone, I sought, but found he
could not be."
Verse 30 "Mark thou the perfect, and behold The man of upright ways;
Because the man of holy life in peace shall end his days.
Verse 31 "But God upon transgressors shall A common ruin send; And
when the wicked are cut off, In woe their days shall end."
Verse 32 "But the salvation of the just Is from the Lord above; He in
the time of their distress Their stay and strength doth
prove."
Verse 33 "The Lord shall help, and rescue them; He shall them free and
save From wicked men, because in him Their confidence they
have."
We will begin now in the verse by verse study of Psalms chapter
37. Psalms 37:1 "{ [A Psalm] of David.} Fret not thyself because of
evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity."
To envy anyone would be to say that we would like to trade places
with them. You can see how wrong this would be. Sometimes it seems
that that evil people are better off financially than the people who
are living for God. We must be careful not to covet things that others
have, even if they did get their possessions in an evil way. We should
let God take care of them and just try to keep our own affairs in
shape.
Psalms 37:2 "For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and
wither as the green herb."
The only pleasures the evil will have is in this life, because
they are destined for an eternity in hell. The grass and the green
herb are here today and gone tomorrow.
Psalms 37:3 "Trust in the LORD, and do good; [so] shalt thou
dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed."
We should stop looking to others' affairs and just start
operating in faith. The evil man has no reward stored up for heaven.
The only thing he has, is this world. Look with me at the wonderful
things God has in store for those who believe. I Corinthians 2:9 "But
as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him." Not only does God have wonderful preparations
made for us in heaven, but He takes care of our needs here on the
earth, as well. Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Psalms 37:4 "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give
thee the desires of thine heart."
The most beautiful verse in the Bible, to me, that says this same
thing is John 15:7 "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." The key to
this is abide. If we are hid in Christ and He is uppermost in our
thoughts and deeds, then He will give us the desires of our heart. We
will not want things that would not be in His will to give us. The
desire of our heart would be to do His will. All through the Bible, we
see blessings abundant, if we are obedient to His Word. If we do not
obey His Word there are curses abundant. The blessings depend on us
lining our will up with the will of God.
Psalms 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and
he shall bring [it] to pass.
This, again, is speaking of turning our will over to the will of
God. We must make Jesus Lord of our life, as well as our Saviour, and
He will bring it to pass.
Psalms 37:6 "And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the
light, and thy judgment as the noonday."
Righteousness is a gift from God. Notice, {He shall bring forth
thy righteousness}. If the righteousness that we had on our own was
good enough, then we would not have needed Him to bring righteousness.
Our righteousness, that we had before, was as filthy rags. Praise
God! He clothed us in His righteousness when we accepted Jesus as our
Saviour. He took our sin and gave us His righteousness. When we are
saved, we take the Light of the world into our body. His Light shines
in us and through us. There will be no negative judgement of the man
who takes Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord.
Psalms 37:7 "Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret
not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the
man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."
Paul made a statement that should be the statement of all who are
followers of Jesus. Philippians 4:11 "Not that I speak in respect of
want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, [therewith] to be
content." Paul had discovered the peace that comes from total trust of
the Lord. When a Christian can get to this point of not worrying
regardless of whether they are rich or poor, then they can rest in the
Lord. We should not have wandering eyes, looking at the state of
others. We should be content in the Lord knowing that whatever is
happening to us at the moment is for our good, if we have put our
trust in the Lord.
Psalms 37:8 "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not
thyself in any wise to do evil."
Sometimes the Lord allows us to see these things that those who
are not believers haveto see how we will react to it. Tribulations
come to make us strong. Problems that loom up that might anger us, are
perhaps a test, to see if we have grown out of anger and wrath. If we
fail the test and lose our temper and get angry, then we will possibly
face another very similar situation, until we learn to rise above it
and not sin. We are not perfect when the Lord saves us. He lets
problems arise, so that we can grow to depend totally on Him in every
situation.
Psalms 37:9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait
upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5 "Blessed [are] the meek: for they shall inherit the
earth." When a Christian dies to this world, they step through a door
to a better life. The evildoers are not so. When an evil person dies,
they are headed for a life of torment in hell. Possibly, the
inheriting of the earth is speaking of the 1000 year reign of Jesus on
the earth when the Christians will reign with Him.
Psalms 37:10 "For yet a little while, and the wicked [shall] not
[be]: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it [shall]
not [be]."
Life, as we know it now on the earth, is like a vapour. It is
here for a moment in time and then gone. This 70 years, or perhaps
even up to 100 years that we live in this life, is over so quickly.
The only life worth having is one that prepares us for all eternity
with Jesus. The wicked will not be in heaven with the believers in
Christ. It will be as if they had never been to us.
Psalms 37:11 "But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall
delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
There will be peace, because the King of Peace, Jesus Christ,
will be with them. This, too, is speaking of the 1000 year millennial
reign of Jesus on the earth.
Psalms 37:12 "The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth
upon him with his teeth."
The sons of the flesh and the sons of the spirit have always been
opposed to each other. In Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The devil, and all of his
followers, have always tried to destroy those who chose to follow the
Lord. The wicked are not satisfied that they are lost, but are
constantly trying to get Christians to follow the devil, too.
Psalms 37:13 "The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his
day is coming."
There is a day when the wicked of this earth will be cast into
outer darkness with the devil and his angels. Notice, in the next
verse that, the unbelievers are cast out with the devil and his
angels. Matthew 25:41 "Then shall he say also unto them on the left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for
the devil and his angels:" Now, lets look where the devil and angels
were cast. Revelation 20:10 "And the devil that deceived them was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false
prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and
ever."
Questions 38
1. What are you really saying when you envy someone?
2. Instead of worrying about what others have, what should we do?
3. The evil shall be cut down like what?
4. Why should an evil person get all the happiness they can in this
world?
5. Quote 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9.
6. Seek ye first the ______ __ ___.
7. If ye _______ in me, and my ________ _____ in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8. We receive blessings from God, if we do what?
9. If we disobey God, what can we expect?
10. What should we make Jesus in our life, besides our Saviour?
11. Righteousness is a ____ from God.
12. When does Jesus clothe the Christian in His righteousness?
13. There will be no negative judgement of whom?
14. What was the statement Paul made in Philippians, that all
believers should do?
15. In verse 8 of this lesson, we are told to cease_______.
16. If we are tested and fail the test, what happens to us?
17. Quote Matthew chapter 5 verse 5.
18. Life on this earth, as we know it, is like a _______.
19. Who shall inherit the earth?
20. When will there be peace on the earth?
21. What lesson can we learn from Genesis chapter 3 verse 15?
22. Who will be thrown into the lake of fire?
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