Psalm 37

Introduction

“Welcome to Torah Today Ministries and our continuing series Tehillim Talks, our studies in the Psalms. And today we’ll be looking at Psalm 37. Let me ask you a question.

Do you feel like the world is just really being shaken? That things are kind of upside down? Good is being called bad and bad is being called good.

Does it feel like the bad guys are winning, the immoral people are holding the upper hand, and the moral people just seem to keep losing the political battles and the moral battles in our culture? I know that in our studies of Psalms 35 and 36, I shared with you how timely these Psalms were in my own life in light of current events. Well, Psalm 37 falls right into this group of Psalms.

I’ve received calls and had a number of conversations with people over the last few weeks, just since we did Psalm 36. People just saying, help me out here. How am I supposed to think?

How am I supposed to move forward? It seems like everything in this world I relied on before. These things are falling to pieces.”

“everything in this world I relied on before. These things are falling to pieces.

Nothing’s reliable. Nothing seems to be holding together. What do I do?

Well, Psalm 37 is the answer to that. And I keep pointing people over the last couple of weeks, I keep pointing them to this Psalm, and without exception, they find comfort from it, as I have, and I hope that you will too. In fact, you might want to make Psalm 37 part of your daily reading.

I was gonna say part of your daily prayers, but this Psalm does not contain any prayers. This Psalm is what’s called a wisdom Psalm. It’s 40 verses long, but none of the verses address God directly.

There are no words of praise directly to God, or words of complaint, or of plea, or anything like that. It’s almost like Solomon had written this Psalm. It’s like a series of proverbs of instructions to us, and that is why it’s called a wisdom Psalm.

So as we go through this Psalm, we’re gonna see three things being repeated over and over. First of all, the wicked, despite their apparent success in the world, are going to come into judgment, and their works and their accomplishments in this world are gonna come to nothing. Second, the righteous, though they seem to be losing the culture war, and it seems like everywhere around them, they’re being persecuted, mocked, and just being derided.

They’re gonna be exalted. They’re going to be favored, and they’re going to inherit the earth. And the third thing is that God has the final say.

The story has a happy ending, so just hang in there. It’s all gonna come out right in the end. Now, if that sounds a little too rosy for you, then maybe you just need to have more faith, because I’ve read the end of the book several times, and it always ends the same way.

It ends with God’s kingdom coming to the new heavens and the new earth, and the garden of Eden being restored, and us living in joyful fellowship with our God. That is the final end. But I hope that this psalm will strengthen your faith so that you will not be anxious, you won’t fret, and you won’t be worried and shaken. (Philippians 4:6)

Though the rest of the world is being shaken to pieces, you will stand firm on the rock. So let’s dive right in. This is, of course, a psalm of David.

And look at its opening words, fret not yourself. Fret not yourself. In Hebrew, fret not is al titḥar.

It’s two words, al titḥar. And that phrase is found four times in the Bible, three times in this psalm, Psalm 37. The fourth time it’s found is by David’s son Solomon over in Proverbs.

Let me read Proverbs 24, verses 19 and 20. Al titḥar, do not fret yourself because of evildoers. And do not be envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future.

The lamp of the wicked will be put out. (Proverbs 24:19–20) So we are given some instructions here, some commandments. Don’t worry.

As Paul wrote, be anxious for nothing. (Philippians 4:6) Don’t be anxious. Don’t worry.

Don’t be afraid. So fret not yourself because of evildoers, nor be envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon wither like the grass and fade like the green herb. (Psalm 37:1–2) In other words, their time is short.

They flourish. They make a lot of noise, and then they fade away. It’s as if they were never there.

Now, before we go on, you’ll notice that this is an acrostic psalm. Verse 1 begins with an Alef. Then over here in verse 3 begins with Beit.

Verse 4 with a Giemel. And as you go through, instead of each verse starting with the next letter of the alphabet, it’s usually pairs of verses. That’s why we have 40 verses in this psalm instead of 22 verses to go with the 22 letters of the alphabet.

So generally it’s two verses, sometimes one, sometimes three, but generally two verses, couplets that go with each letter.

Psalm 37:3–4

Then we go to verse 3, letter Beit. Trust in Adonai, do good, dwell on the earth, and I love this phrase here, shepherd faith or shepherd faithfulness.

I know the translations don’t translate it that way, but in the Hebrew, that’s exactly how this should be translated. What does it mean, shepherd faith? Robin and I talked about this quite a bit the other day, and we shared it with friends who were here on the last Sabbath.

And everyone we shared this with, it’s been such a blessing, and every time I share it, I’m blessed again. Here’s the picture. Shepherd faith, picture yourself as a shepherd.

And your sheep, each sheep in your flock, is, you might call it, a piece of the truth. Something you know to be true. Something like, I know that God loves me.

That is one of your sheep. That’s a piece of truth. Shepherd that.

Don’t let that get away from you. Another would be, I know that God wins in the end. I know that he’s faithful.

Another might be, is that I know I’m forgiven. I know he’s forgiven me for my sins, past, present and future. Another piece of truth might be, I know his kingdom is coming.

I know that his will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10) And you can begin to go through your life and through your theology or the things that God has impressed upon your heart, his promises to us. And each of these things is like a sheep in our flock.

Now, how do we shepherd sheep? We shepherd them by feeding them and protecting them. We need to take each of these blocks of truth, each of these pieces of the living truth.

We need to feed them, keep them strong. We need to protect them because the enemy is going to come along and he’s going to try to steal them away, to damage them, to weaken them. And of course, we don’t want to allow these truths in our life to wander away and dwindle into the distance.

Every bit of counseling I do with people, it’s the result of them not shepherding faith, not shepherding the things and watching over and feeding and strengthening the things they know to be true. And they forget and they let things wander away and they’re not bringing them together. We must shepherd our faith.

And what is our staff? It is the Torah. It is the Word of God.

We hold on to that. That is what we rely on and lean on. It’s the thing that is our authority in our lives, and we must hold on to it tightly.

So make sure you shepherd your faith. Write down the things you know to be true and review them every day. Hold on to them.

Don’t let them drift away. Don’t let the enemy attack and diminish them. And feed them and strengthen them so you believe in them more every single day.

So trust in Adonai. Do good. Dwell on the earth.

This is the place God has given us to dwell. Dwell here, whether it’s shaking or not. Dwell here while this is our temporary home.

Stay here. Be fruitful. And be a good steward of the things that God has given you to do.

And shepherd your faith. Verse 4. Delight yourself on Adonai.

This word delight is the word oneg. You know, on Shabbat, after we have prayer and teaching, we then have oneg. Oneg means pleasure.

And it means we eat together. We get to sit around and eat delicious food and talk. And oneg, when I think of oneg, I think of Gan Eden (Garden of Eden/Spiritual Paradise).

And it’s like the time we just forget about the world. We sit together in fellowship. We’ve spent time in prayer and in learning, and now we feed our bodies.

And we just really enjoy being with one another. So, delight yourself in Adonai, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Turn over your path to Adonai.

Trust in him, and he will act. He will lead forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. (Psalm 37:4–6) So, you notice that each verse here gives us something to do.

These aren’t the things we do to go out there and change the world. These are the things that we do so we can stand strong in this world.

Psalm 37:7–11

And then the next section, verse 7.

Be silent before Adonai, and then you’ll notice this phrase in red, and wait with longing for him. (Psalm 37:7) Now, that is how the great bulk of translations translate this one word. And it’s a good translation of the word.

The problem is, it’s not the only translation of the word. You could almost say that this is where you get to pick your translation. Down here at the bottom, I have the word in Hebrew.

It’s the word v’hitḥolel, v’hitḥolel, and the root is this chet–vav–lamed. Those three letters are the root. V’hitḥolel.

And it can mean to wait with longing. It’s a word that’s also used for a woman who’s waiting for a baby to come. She’s in labor and she’s like, hurry, get this out of me.

But there are a number of ways to translate this word. But there are three main ones I want to give you right now. And you have to decide how are you translating this word in your life right now.

One of the ways to translate this word is to writhe in pain, to tremble in pain, to be shaking. You’re in such pain, you’re just writhing.

Is that what you’re doing in relationship to God right now? Are you letting all the worries and anxiety and the pain and the shaking our world is going through to cause you just to writhe and worry, to curl up in a ball, and you just want to hide away from everything? So, this is one way that you can translate this word.

And for some of you, this may be the appropriate way, because this is what you’re doing. Another way is to wait with longing. To say, I know God’s coming.

I have His promise. I know Messiah is going to return. I know He’s going to come and establish righteousness on the earth.

And He’s going to justify the righteous. He’s going to punish the wicked. His judgment will stand.

He’s going to make everything right. I know that’s happening. And if I don’t live to see that day, I know He’s going to come for me at the right time and take me home to be with Him.

That I’ll either step out of this body and die and step through the door into His presence, or He’ll bring His presence here, whichever one. It’s great, it’s perfect, it’s wonderful. But I know my time here is temporary, and He’s got me in the palm of His hand.

So to wait with longing. But there’s another way to translate this word. This word can also mean to dance.

Be silent before Adam and I and dance. Dance for Him, dance in His presence. So while this world is shaking, are you writhing in pain?

Are you waiting patiently with longing for Him? Or are you dancing? Dancing in the minefield, so to speak.

And what’s interesting about these three possible translations of the word is that David seems to reflect each of these three in the next verses. So let’s read verse 7 again. Be silent before Adonai and hitḥalel for him.

So writhe or wait with longing or dance. Fret not yourself. There we find the phrase again.

Don’t fret yourself over the one who prospers in his way over the man who carries out evil schemes. (Psalm 37:7–8) So if you’re the one who’s writhing, here’s God’s advice to you. Let go of anger and forsake wrath.

Fret not yourself. It tends only to evil. (Psalm 37:8) So if you’re fretting in the light of current events and the tensions in the world right now, be careful you don’t become angry.

You know, God’s really convicted me. I try to be very careful about not practicing evil speech, lashon hara, against the people I know. Boy, I sure didn’t have any compunction about not practicing lashon hara against politicians I know about.

But God’s convicted me that these are human beings, too. And just because they may be distant from me geographically, they’re still souls, lost souls, or misguided souls. And I have no right to practice lashon hara against them either.

So I have to be very careful about that. Because saying things even though I know they’re true can lead to anger. I’m told to let go of anger for sake wrath, fret not yourself.

Why? Because it tends only to evil. So if you’re the one who’s writhing because you’re just so angry and you’re in pain and you just can’t take it anymore, this verse, verse 8, speaks to you.

For evildoers will be cut off, but those who hope in Adonai shall inherit the earth. (Psalm 37:9)

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more. They will look carefully at this place. He will not be there. (Psalm 37:10)

But the humble, the afflicted, shall inherit the earth and delight themselves in abundant peace. (Psalm 37:11) There’s that word once again. It’s twice in this psalm.

So I think the three definitions of v’hitḥolel are alluded to in the following set of verses, all three of those definitions. Now, this should look familiar to you, where it talks about people who inherit the earth. Here’s what’s interesting.

That phrase, shall inherit the earth, is found five times in this psalm. Five times. Now, we know there will be attitudes in Matthew 5.

The master says, for the meek, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5) And the question always is, what does it mean to be meek? Some people think it means to be weak.

It does not mean to be weak. I think of meekness as power under control. It’s like a person who knows how to use a sword, but doesn’t.

He knows how to get his way and how to conquer his enemies, but he doesn’t. Unless it’s exactly the right time to then apply the sword or do what needs to be done. So he knows what he’s capable of, but he’s very reticent to use it, unless it’s absolutely necessary.

But here’s something that will help us with our definition of meekness. I really believe that when Yeshua said, contented, blessed or contented his brother, are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. I think he had Psalm 37 in his mind. (Matthew 5:5; Psalm 37)

And the five times that inherit the earth are used. I think when we look at these five applications of this phrase, we’ll understand the five facets of what meekness is. So here’s the first one.

A meek person is one who hopes in Adonai. So if you’re taking notes, you can write that down. Evildoers will be cut off, but those who hope in Adonai shall inherit the earth. (Psalm 37:9)

So if the meek inherit the earth, then the meek must be those who hope in Adonai. And that makes sense because I’m really hoping in him. That means I can rest.

I don’t have to go out there and try to make things the way I want them to be. All I have to do is wait on God, obey him when he gives me instructions, do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with my God, (Micah 6:8) do the work he gives me to do, but not fret, but I know he’s going to come because I have hope in him. And just a little while, the wicked will be no more, you will look carefully at his place, he will not be there. (Psalm 37:10)

But the humble, and that word humble, ‘anav can also mean afflicted. It means someone who’s bent, who’s just been bent down because they’ve been hurt, they’ve been broken, they have really suffered. But the humble, the afflicted, shall inherit the earth and delight themselves in abundant peace. (Psalm 37:11)

So the meek are also those who are indeed humble. They’re people who may have been broken, been damaged by this world, who have been molested by sin, by the culture, and both emotionally, maybe physically as well. People who have really been hurt by this world.

God says, I’ve got you. You’re going to inherit the earth and you will delight yourself in abundant shalom. So let’s keep going.

Psalm 37:12–15

The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him. (Psalm 37:12) Whenever you see the gnashing of teeth in the Bible, it means anger, anger, not pain, anger.

Now, you might gnash your teeth when you’re in pain, but every single place gnashing of teeth is mentioned in Scripture. It is always attached to anger. And this is no exception.

The wicked plots against the righteous. (Psalm 37:12) And as I look at some of the bills that are put forward, not only in our own country, but in other countries, it’s like there’s a devious plot, a purposeful intention to damage the righteous, to go against the righteous, to do something totally contrary to righteousness. But the master laughs at him. (Psalm 2)

So the wicked plot against the righteous, all they want. But God’s just like going, huh, you think that’s going to work? This reminds me of Psalm 2, where it talks how God just laughs at them. (Psalm 2)

He derides them as he looks at the people who are making so much noise and boasting about what they’re going to do in the world. But the master laughs at him for he sees that his day is coming. (Psalm 37:13) Verse 14.

The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright.(Psalm 37:14) But what happens to them? Their sword shall enter their own heart and their bows shall be broken.(Psalm 37:15)

I was in conversation with someone just I think two days ago. They were sharing this amazing incident of how Hamas had planned this horrible attack against this village. There is no way this village is going to survive.

But something happened and their weapons were turned against them. And how many times have we read about rockets Hamas has launched to go into Israel? They turned out landing right there in Gaza, killing the enemy himself.

It’s like the more they try to attack and kill Israel, their weapons turned into suicidal weapons. And this is a principle throughout Scripture. It’s the story of Haman, who built a gallows to hang a righteous Mordecai.

But who was hanged on it instead? Haman was. (Esther 7:10) So, enemy, I’m sorry, wickedness, it collapses under its own weight.

Unrighteousness is self-destructive. Sin is self-destructive. And I think this is one of the reasons God hates sin.

And he doesn’t want us to practice sin because it is destructive to the one who practices it. So when you see a group like Hamas, which is so utterly completely devoid of morals, devoid of conscience, they are utterly demonic, it’s self-destructive. That’s why God hates sin.

It’s not that our sin hurts him; it’s our sin hurts us. So if we live righteous lives, that’s the healthiest thing you can do. And don’t worry, don’t fret about those who plot against you.

Be patient, hope in the Lord, dance, because what they plot will turn back against them.

Psalm 37:16–20

And then we go on to verse 16. Better is the little that the righteous has than the noisy abundance of many wicked.(Psalm 37:16)

That noisy abundance is one word in Hebrew, it’s the word hamon. And it’s a word that usually means a noisy mob, a noisy crowd. And it’s a great picture, word picture, that David is using here.

Better is the little that the righteous has than the noisy abundance of many wicked. (Psalm 37:16) And boy, are people noisy today. And again, I keep going back to the current events, and I see these people who are so anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian, and one pro-Israeli demonstrator, I think in California, was killed by a Palestinian protester.

It’s just utterly violent and noisy and loud and distracting. And it’s all empty. Let them make their noise.

It won’t accomplish anything. But the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but Adonai upholds the righteous. (Psalm 37:17) Verse 18.

Adonai knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever. (Psalm 37:18) They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, and in the days of famine, they have abundance. (Psalm 37:19) *But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of Adonai, like the fat of rams, vanish.

Like smoke, they vanish away.* (Psalm 37:20) Why is it talked about the fat of rams? Well, when the fat of rams will be put on the altar, that fat is almost like gasoline on the fire.

It burns so hot, there’s hardly even any ash or dust left at all. When the flesh and the bones are burned, there’s ash. But when the fat burns, there’s nothing left.

There’s nothing left to show it was even there. So like smoke, they vanish away.

Psalm 37:21

Verse 21, the wicked borrows, but does not repay.

But the righteous is generous and gives. (Psalm 37:21)

Let this be convicting to you. If you are one who’s known to borrow, but you have a reputation for not repaying, God says that’s a wicked thing. Now if you’re a lender, you lend, and if they don’t repay, you forgive.

But if you’re a borrower, God really takes it very seriously that you repay your debts. It’s something that’s very, very important to him.

Psalm 37:22–24

For those he blesses, here’s our inherit the earth again, those he blesses shall inherit the earth, but those he curses shall be cut off. (Psalm 37:22)

So we see that the ones who inherit the earth are those who hope in the Lord. They are the ones who are humble and broken. We see that they are ones who God blesses.

Why? Because they’re generous and good, because they live righteous lives.

And we go on to verse 23. The steps of a man are established by Adonai when he delights in his way, when he, Adonai, delights in his, the righteous person’s way. (Psalm 37:23) So when we do our best to walk in the commandments of God and live according to his word, then the decisions we make will be righteous decisions and God will order our steps, will establish them.

He’ll make sure that what we choose to do and the direction we go, he’s gonna firm it up, he’s gonna make it work, he’s gonna bless it and make it fruitful. So it’s wonderful to have your steps established by God. But that doesn’t mean we never stumble.

We do, we goof up. I know I do. I try my best to live a righteous life according to God’s word, and sometimes I stumble and just fall flat on my nose because I’ll forget myself and say something stupid or hurtful, or I’ll do something that was insensitive or fail to do something I should do.

I stumble. But it says, if we’re really trying, we’re really trying to live a righteous life the best we can, as we’re growing in this, because though he fall, he shall not be cast down. In other words, though he stumbles and falls, God’s not going to say, ah, forget you and just throw you to the side.

He’s not going to sideline you if you’re doing, if you’re trying to live a righteous life and you goof. He’s not going to sideline you anymore than a parent of a little child who’s learning how to walk. He’s doing his best.

He takes three steps and then he falls. What does the father do? He applauds the child.

Well done, you did three steps. He’s not so worried about the time he fell. He’s so excited about the steps he did take without falling.

That’s the way God is with us. He’s cheering us on. He’s not fretting about us.

But I think sometimes we can be harder on ourselves than God is. We can be more judgmental of our failures than God ever would be. Imagine a child who’s trying to learn to walk, takes two or three steps, falls down, then just breaks to a puddle of tears.

I’m such a failure, I’ll never learn to walk. I’m not even going to try anymore. Now there’s a problem.

That’s a child that needs rebuke. That’s a child who needs a definite attitude adjustment. But there’s so many believers I know who just consciously, constantly are beating themselves up because they keep telling themselves they’re not good enough.

All I can say is such people are listening to the enemy. They’re not listening to their father. They’re listening to the enemy.

And he’s using a lot of ego to just keep them down. Don’t be one of those.

So, though he fall, he shall not be cast down, for Adonai upholds his hand. (Psalm 37:24)

Psalm 37:25–27

You may have tripped, but I got your hand and help you back up. I have been young, and now I’m old, yet I have not seen a righteous man forsaken, or his children begging bread, for he is ever lending generously, and his seed become a blessing.

Turn away from evil, do good, and so shall you dwell forever. (Psalm 37:25–27) Now, you notice this letter Ayin, I haven’t been mentioning the Hebrew letters much as we go through.

But after Samach, which starts verse 27, there should be an Ayin starting the next verse, or the verse after that, either 28 or 29. But it skips Ayin, and it goes on to the letter after Ayin, in verse 30, with a letter Pe. There is no verse here that starts with Ayin.

Why isn’t that? Did David make a mistake? No, not at all.

The reason he skipped dying is very purposeful, and we’ll get to it right at the end.

Psalm 37:28–31

Verse 28, for Adonai loves justice, and he will not forsake his holy ones. They are guarded forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

So we saw back here that the seed of the righteous shall be blessed, the righteous shall be blessed. And where do we see it? Oh yes, right here, his seed becomes a blessing.

But what happens to the seed of the wicked? The seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the earth.

Here is our, I think, our fourth, if I’m counting correctly, our fourth expression. The righteous shall inherit the earth. So if the meek inherit the earth, that means meek people are righteous.

They’re trying to live according to God’s ways, God’s law, God’s commandments, and not according to the pressure of the culture. The righteous shall inherit the earth and dwell upon it forever. The mouth of the righteous man utters or meditates wisdom.

The word there is hāgāh, hāgāh. It’s usually translated meditate, as it is back in Psalm 1. But it’s a word that means like the purring of a lion, the guttering of whatever the term is when a lion is kind of growling over his food.

It’s very quiet, it’s just very personal, just this constant kind of a muttering that goes on. And the righteous person always has God’s word in his mouth. As the angel commanded Joshua in this book of the law, shall not depart from your mouth. (Joshua 1:8)

In other words, it’s always in your mouth. You’re always talking about it, always chewing on it, always kind of meditating on it, kind of muttering and growling over it, so to speak. So, where do we leave off?

In verse 30, the mouth of the righteous man utters, meditates, hāgāh, he’s always, wisdom is what he’s constantly focused on, and his tongue speaks justice. God’s Torah is in his heart. Now, some people tend to think, in light of Jeremiah 31, 31, where he describes the new covenant, I will write my Torah on their heart. (Jeremiah 31:31–33)

Some people tend to think that nobody had God’s Torah on their heart prior to the new covenant. But that’s not the case. There are many people who have had God’s Torah on their heart.

In other words, it was their desire. They wanted to do it. But through the new covenant, through God’s Spirit coming into us and abiding us, through the resurrection of Yeshua, it means that having God’s Torah on our heart becomes a very widespread thing, rather than more or less a rare thing.

But definitely people had God’s Torah in their heart prior to the coming of Messiah. God’s Torah is in his heart. His steps do not slip. (Psalm 37:31)

Psalm 37:32–34

The wicked watches the righteous. He spies on him. He’s focused on the righteous.

It just aggravates him that there are righteous people who aren’t walking the way he is. The wicked watches the righteous man and seeks to put him to death. (Psalm 37:32) Adonai will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is judged.

Hope for Adonai and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the earth. So people who hope for Adonai, who keep his way, what does God do? He will exalt him, and they’ll inherit the earth.

You will see the wicked cut off. (Psalm 37:33–34)

Psalm 37:35–38

And then we come to our final section. Verse 35, I have seen a wicked, roofless man spreading himself out like a green laurel tree.

Think of something for a moment as we go through this. We have a lot of trees on our property, and big ones, old ones, and some of them are starting to die. And this tree that is such a fixture in our landscape, it’s sad when the day comes, we just have to have it cut down.

And when it is cut down, it’s like it looks just so naked out there because this tree, which takes up this much space on the ground, when it’s gone, it’s just like, it’s just this huge absence that leaves behind. Well, think about the wicked man. I have seen a wicked, ruthless man spread himself like a green laurel tree, but he passed away, and behold, he was no more.

Though I sought him, he could not be found. (Psalm 37:35–36) There’s just this big absence. There’s not even a stump left.

There’s no sign that he was even there. You know, a righteous person lives his life, not for himself, but for eternity. He lives it for others, for his children, grandchildren.

A righteous person lives his life for God, and when he is gone, not only is his absence felt, but the fruit of his life remains. The fruit of his life remains for good. And I want to be one of those people.

Whereas the wicked person passes, it’s like, you know, it sounds callous, but good riddance, they were a pain. They made life difficult for everybody. And now that they’re gone, they’re rejoicing.

I mean, Proverbs talks about this, about when the wicked ruler is gone, then there’s such rejoicing and relief that comes as a result of his absence. But though I sought him, he could not be found. So the wicked person, he watches the righteous person, wants to kill him.

But we’re told, watch the blameless, behold the upright. Look at them. If you’re always looking at the politician who’s making the really stupid decisions, the immoral, wicked decisions, quit it, stop it.

Watch the blameless. Look at the people in your life, the ones around you who are upright, who are righteous, who are good. Watch them.

It’s so easy for us to focus our attention and allowed wickedness to rob our attention, that it fills our vision when we think there’s just nobody good anymore. God says quit doing that. There are righteous people around.

Look at them, watch them, learn from them, encourage them, and model your life like theirs. Catch people doing what’s right. So quit focusing on those who are wicked.

Switch your focus to the people who are righteous and good. Watch the blameless, behold the upright, for the man of peace has a future. Now this word future is found twice in the Psalm.

It’s found here in verse 37, but it’s found again right here in verse 38. *Behold the upright, for the man of peace has a future.

But the transgressors shall all together be destroyed. The future of the wicked shall be cut off.* (Psalm 37:37–38) The righteous man has a future because he’s doing eternal things. And every good deed we do, every deed we do for the kingdom is something that becomes eternal.

That’s how we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where there’s no rust and no moth and no thieves to steal. It becomes an eternal treasure. But people who do wickedness, there’s just no future.

There’s no lasting works behind them that impact eternity. So the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

Psalm 37:39–40

And then we come to the Tov verse, the last letter of the alphabet.

And one of the things I encourage you to do is go back and look at the Alef verse. That’s verse one and two. And then compare it here to the Tov verse, the last verse here, next to the last verse of the song.

The rescue of the righteous is from Adonai, their stronghold in time of distress. Adonai helps them and frees them. He rescues them from the wicked and saves them.

Because, there’s always because. Why does he do that? They take refuge in him. (Psalm 37:39–40)

And if you want a Psalm to follow the 37, then go right to Psalm 91 about those who take refuge in God. Now, I mentioned earlier that the verse that should begin with Ayin, there’s no verse that starts with Ayin. Why isn’t there a verse that starts with Ayin?

I think it’s for this reason. Here we go. Ayin should be somewhere between verse 27 and verse 30.

Verse 27 starts with Samach, verse 30 starts with Pe, but there’s no verse that starts with Ayin. Why is that? Why do you think David chose to skip Ayin?

Well, this letter Ayin, its name means eye. And it’s almost as if David said—is saying through the psalm, “quit looking at the world, quit looking at the culture, quit looking at the wickedness all around you. Close your eyes, and hear what I’m telling you.

Shema Yisrael, Adonai our God, Adonai is one. (Traditionally, this prayer is spoken with your eyes covered, to show we live by faith not by sight), Quit looking how the world’s being shaken and getting fearful and fretting. Close your eyes, and just listen to what I’m telling you.”

Live a righteous life, do good, don’t fret, be faithful, be humble, and just keep your focus on God and His Word. Keep hearing the Word. Faith comes by hearing.

I always say that though physical light comes in through the eyes, spiritual light comes in through the ears. Because faith comes by hearing and hearing from the Word of God. (Romans 10:17) And the Word of God is spiritual light.

It comes in through the ears. So there’s no verse here that starts with the eyes. He’s saying, listen, listen to the truth.

And don’t let all the commotion and all the busyness of this world and the shaking of this culture, don’t let it make you fret. Close your eyes. And then you can see God more clearly.

Well, I hope this psalm is a blessing to you. And you’re actually going to get more out of this psalm once you turn off your computer or however you’re listening to this teaching. You’re going to do better once you turn me off.

And you go back and just begin to meditate on this psalm on your own. And I really encourage you, make this a daily practice, especially during these difficult times. If you want to live an unshakable life, you can go back and study Psalm 15.

But put into practice these things here as well. And don’t let the things you see around you shake you. You keep living a righteous life.

And you keep dancing in the minefield. So until next time, may God bless and I wish you Shalom.”

Links

Read Psalm 37

Read Psalm 91

Psalm 15 Teaching