June 8, 2025 • 31 mins
In part 2 of Summer in the Psalms, Rev. Dr. Michael Allen preaches from Psalm 37, offering a pastoral and theological reflection on how believers are to navigate life in a world that often seems dominated by the wicked. Dr. Allen helps us see how Psalm 37 calls God’s people to patience, trust, and steadfastness—not through naive optimism, but through deep confidence in God's justice and faithfulness.
Unpacking themes like fretting, envy, and the seeming prosperity of evildoers, he reminds us that the way of the righteous is marked by waiting on the Lord, delighting in Him, and committing our way to Him. In a culture driven by urgency and outrage, this psalm invites us to slow down, rest in God’s timing, and trust that He will act. Dr. Allen points us to Jesus, who embodies this quiet trust and secures our hope in the final vindication of the righteous.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rev. Damein Schitter (00:07):
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Evan Pederson (00:36):
Fret not yourself because of evildoers.
Be not envious of wrongdoers,for they will soon fade.
Thanks for listening.
Commit your way to the Lord.
Trust in him and he will act.
He will bring forth yourrighteousness as the light and
your justice as the noonday.
Be still before the Lord andwait patiently for him.
Fret not yourself over the onewho prospers in his way, over
the man who carries out evildesires.
(00:58):
Refrain from anger and forsakewrath.
Fret not yourself.
It tends only to evil, for theevildoers shall be cut off, but
those who wait for the Lordshall inherit the land.
In just a little while, thewicked will be no more.
Though you look carefully athis place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit theland and delight themselves in
(01:19):
abundant peace.
The wicked plots against therighteous and gnashes his teeth
at him, but the Lord laughs atthe wicked, for he sees that his
day is coming.
The wicked draw their sword andbend their bows to bring down
the poor and needy, to slaythose whose way is upright.
Their sword shall enter theirown heart and their bows shall
(01:41):
be broken.
Better is the little that therighteous has than the abundance
of many wicked, for the arms ofthe wicked shall be broken, but
the Lord upholds the righteous.
The Lord knows the days of theblameless and their heritage
will remain forever.
They are not put to shame inevil times.
In the days of famine they haveabundance, but the wicked will
(02:03):
perish.
The enemies of the Lord arelike the glory of the pastures
they vanish like smoke.
They vanish away.
The wicked borrows but does notpay back.
But the righteous is generousand gives, for those blessed by
the Lord shall inherit the land,but those cursed by him shall
be cut off.
The steps of a man areestablished by the Lord when he
delights in his way.
(02:23):
Though he fall, he shall not becast headlong, for the Lord
upholds his hand.
I have been young and now am old, yet I have not seen the
righteous forsaken or hischildren begging for bread.
He is ever lending generouslyand his children become a
blessing.
Turn away from evil and do good, so you shall dwell forever,
(02:44):
for the Lord loves justice.
He will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever.
But the children of the wickedshall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit theland and dwell upon it forever.
The mouth of the righteousutters wisdom and his tongue
speaks justice.
The law of his God is in hisheart.
His steps do not slip.
(03:05):
The wicked watches for therighteous and seeks to put him
to death, but the Lord will notabandon him to his power or let
him be condemned when he isbrought to trial.
Wait for the Lord and keep hisway, and he will exalt you to
inherit the land.
You will look on when thewicked are cut off.
I have seen a wicked, ruthlessman spreading himself like a
(03:28):
green laurel tree, but he passedaway.
And behold, he was no more.
Though I sought him, he couldnot be found.
Mark the blameless and beholdthe upright, for there is a
future for the man of peace, buttransgressors shall be
altogether destroyed.
The future of the wicked shallbe cut off.
The salvation of the righteousis from the Lord.
(03:50):
He is their stronghold in thetime of trouble.
The Lord helps them anddelivers them.
He delivers them from thewicked and saves them because
they take refuge in him.
This is God's word.
Rev. Dr, Michael Allen (04:04):
Thanks be to God.
Well, hey, it's one thing tofix something up, it's a very
different thing to fit it out.
This is true in all sorts ofareas of life.
It's one thing to fix somethingup, it's another thing to fit
it out.
In philosophy, they study theproblem of suffering, yes, why
(04:28):
evil things happen, but theyalso consider the good life,
where happiness lies.
In modern psychology, it beganand was dominated for almost a
century of studying disorderafter disorder until finally, in
the 1990s, positive psychologybegan to consider what makes for
(04:49):
the full and rich life.
It's true in health and medicineas well.
We go to the hospital and wetake medicine to address
problems that are ailing ourbody, but we also think about
rest, about food and diet, aboutexercise, about what makes for
(05:10):
fitness, for energy and forstrength.
Yesterday, early in the morningon a Saturday, I was driving
down Colonial and I passed manyplaces where one could take your
car.
You could get new rims here,you could get a new sound system
there, ways to customize, waysto upgrade, ways to fit out or
(05:34):
trick out your vehicle.
I got to make the wonderfuldrive to have my windshield
replaced, to fix up a problemthat had been bothering me, and
that's the reality, isn't it?
(05:55):
Sometimes we have to focus onfixing a problem so much that we
don't have eyes for, oropportunity to or resources to
pursue filling it out, fittingit out, pursuing wholeness and
flourishing and the best theremight be.
Sometimes, even as we study ourBible, we are so struck by the
need for our problems to befixed, sin especially, we don't
(06:17):
have eyes or hearts to catch thegoodness, the richness, the joy
and happiness that's beingpromised.
Sometimes, as we think aboutthe Bible, we are so rightly
struck by how sin and corruptionand death and guilt, they
reduce our lives, our lives witheach other and our lives
(06:37):
especially before God.
And that's appropriate.
And even this Psalm has so muchto say about how we need God's
saving grace, his mercy in ourlives.
But the Bible isn't onlytalking, in describing God's
grace, about how God longs tofix the situation, how God longs
(06:58):
to address the corruption andthe sin and to offer mercy for
what has gone wrong.
God also longs to bless, godalso longs to give.
God wants not merely to fixwhat's gone awry in your life
and your walk before him, godwants to fit you out with
(07:20):
fullness and richness.
And today we're going to focuson verses here.
In Psalm 37, particularlyverses three through five, where
we see the psalmist describingthe struggle, yes, but the joy
that's found in turning to God,not merely for survival and
(07:41):
subsistence but for satisfactionthat God would provide in every
area of life, and that Godwould do so to the full.
First, though, as we look atthis psalm, we need to be honest
, as the psalmist is right offthe bat.
Oftentimes we experience whatwe might call the fuzziness of
(08:04):
joy.
We know that we long to behappy, we long to be in a world
where we are cared for andblessed, and sometimes it seems
as though God's ways aren't whatwe observe flourishing and
succeeding out there.
Musicians they have sung of thisfor decades now.
(08:25):
You can go back to the 70s.
Credence Clearwater Revivalsang Fortunate Son about those
who didn't have to go, sufferand struggle in the war.
Billy Joel sang of how only thegood die young.
In the 90s, rage Against theMachine, they sang Take the
(08:49):
Power Back, calling out to thosewho apparently didn't have it
and didn't have lives as happyand joyful as those who did.
More recently, billie Eilishsings all the good girls go to
hell.
It seems often that those wholive according to the Lord's
ways, they don't get what Psalm1 describes.
And those who go selfishly,those who go ruthlessly.
(09:14):
They seem too often to prosper.
Yesterday I was at a youthbasketball tournament, watching
three games.
And here's the thing the rulesof basketball don't change.
They're the same.
But I watched three games wherethe rules were applied very
differently.
By the end I could tell notonly were the players tired, the
(09:37):
coaches frustrated, but thereferees.
At least one was plainlyinterested in just letting the
clock run out, never blowing thewhistle, so that we could all
get home and he could cash thatcheck.
We know it's one thing forthere to be rules on paper or in
principle.
It's one thing for there to bean order by which the world is
(09:57):
meant to run.
It's a very different thing tosee that applied consistently.
And oftentimes we look aroundand it seems like the refs
aren't calling thingsappropriately.
They're throwing it for theother team, aren't they?
And if we're honest, we lookaround in areas of real
(10:18):
consequence.
It seems like some scoundrelswe know are getting ahead even
as we're stuck, and it seemslike some of the most powerful
and the most wealthy and themost consequential.
They're getting there.
They're getting ahead.
They're getting ahead of us bygoing and living in ways that
very much cut against the grainof God's design.
(10:38):
Joy can seem really fuzzy.
God's promises can seem not tomatch what we sense around us.
I want to invite you today toconsider what it is, whether
it's in the success of theseeming scoundrels or in the
struggle of the saints aroundyou.
What is it that makes it hardto believe the promises of God
(11:00):
and his goodness?
What is it that seems to throwcognitive dissonance in the way
we see the world functioning?
Where is it that the words wesang from Psalm 1 just don't
seem to match my perception ofthe world and of the way things
actually go Now?
(11:22):
Our psalm, just like Psalm 1that we sang earlier, it speaks
of how there are those who theytriumph now, but they will face
judgment later.
There is wrath yet to come.
There is a day of the Lord thatnot only the Psalms, but
especially the prophets willspeak of.
And one thing that's crucial tocatch from Psalm 37 is you
(11:44):
haven't seen the end of thestory.
There will be a day of the Lordwhere Jesus stands in judgment.
There will be a day of the Lordwhere the wicked will be undone
.
And we all know, don't we, thatsometimes, like the prophet Joel
said, the day of the Lord seemsto come a little early.
We know what it is to look atour device and to see the latest
(12:07):
item in the news that speaks ofsome lofty person being brought
low because it's discovered,it's found out, it's shown that
they've broken the law, they'vemistreated others, they've been
found to be a wrongdoer and theyare damaged forevermore,
canceled in this life, condemnedin that to come.
(12:30):
That's one word that the psalmoffers.
As we observe cognitivedissonance, as we see that so
often, it's the scoundrels thatseem to get ahead and the saints
that seem to struggle.
But there's another word thatverses three through five offer,
and it's there that I want todraw your attention this morning
as we take one more glance atPsalm 37 in our slow meditation
(12:55):
on it throughout the course ofthis summer season.
In verses three to five, we seetwo different ways in which we
are led to consider the goodnessof God.
So, secondly, we see here thefullness of joy.
We see this especially in versethree and verse five, the way
(13:15):
in which the psalmist is goingto address God's goodness as it
pertains to every circumstanceand area of life, the way in
which God longs to be all andsufficient on our behalf.
Consider the miracle of Israel.
At this point David thepsalmist speaks, and he's been a
(13:37):
part of what's actually arather small or meager kingdom.
But think of their story.
They were brought outmiraculously from the greatest
empire of the day and they havelived and survived and actually
been provided for in remarkablefashion, being blessed with the
land flowing with milk and honey.
(13:59):
Where are the Edomites?
Where are the others, theJebusites and so forth, who
marked the story so long before?
Israel alone has been preservedand cared for.
At this point we can easily takeGod's care, god's provision in
(14:20):
different areas of life.
We can first take it forgranted.
We can presume on what we haveexperienced, as though it were
just the normal state of affairs, that things go on and they go
well.
We can also sometimes take itcynically.
We can despair that this couldcontinue.
(14:41):
We could look at the futurewith all its uncertainty At
least.
I can sometimes be tempted tothink how could this possibly
work out?
How could God's ways at allpromise a hopeful future?
I'm not alone, and I suspectyou're not alone, in thinking
(15:02):
that because Jeremiah addressesa people who were tempted to
that in their own day.
In Jeremiah 2, 11 to 13, we hearhim challenging God's people
with these words, challengingGod's people with these words.
My people, they've changedtheir glory for that which
doesn't profit.
Be appalled, oh heavens, atthis, be shocked, be utterly
(15:25):
desolate, declares the Lord.
My people have committed twoevils They've forsaken me, the
fountain of living waters, andthey have hewed out cisterns for
themselves, broken cisternsthat can hold no water.
In the face of that temptation,in the face of that persistent
(15:48):
turning to other sources forprovision, this Psalm reminds us
of God's care, of God'sgenerosity, even in every area
of life.
Notice a number of the versesthat speak to this.
In verse 11, we read the meekshall inherit the land and
delight themselves in abundantpeace.
(16:10):
Notice the language ofabundance that's being
emphasized there.
In verse 22, we're told thatthose blessed by the Lord shall
inherit the land.
Register the presence of theword blessing or blessed there.
In verse 29, we hear that therighteous shall inherit the land
(16:32):
and dwell upon it forever.
Note the persistence andendurance of this provision.
And finally, in verse 34,notice the promise that he will
exalt you to inherit the land.
We are given not merely thepromise of endurance, but of
nothing less than exaltation byGod himself.
(16:56):
Endurance, but of nothing lessthan exaltation by God himself.
And this psalm, and all thosemany promises for every area of
life, it fits and flows fromwhat has been the consistent
story In the very beginning.
When God made Adam and Eve, henot only blessed them with life,
but he put them in a gardenatop a mountain, filled with
goodness and provision trees,here, there and everywhere.
(17:19):
When God called Abram out of Urto begin what would be the
chosen people born of his line,god promised not only that they
would endure and that they wouldbe many, but that they would be
blessed and that the nationswould be blessed by their
blessing.
When God provides for Israel tobe brought out of slavery and
(17:43):
death in Egypt, god is notsatisfied until there has been a
feast on God's own mountainwhere God's people dine with him
.
He's not content merely toremove them from struggle and
slavery.
He longs to provide a feast onthe journey and a land flowing
(18:04):
with milk and honey.
And we look forward to the NewTestament, of course.
And when Matthew tells thestory and the teachings of Jesus
himself, god incarnate.
What's the first thing we learn?
But in the first verses of hisfirst lengthy sermon, he pauses
to talk at length about thehappiness God longs to bring In
(18:28):
beatitude after beatitude,speaking of God's desire to
grant joy and goodness,happiness and fullness, blessing
across every area of life forthose who are his own disciples.
Here we see again and again theemphasis of God's provision
(18:50):
persistently in every area oflife.
And here, in verses three andfive, note what we are called or
summoned to do Trust in theLord, do good, dwell in the land
, befriend faithfulness Noticethat phrase.
(19:10):
Befriend faithfulness.
Grow close to the one who'sdefined by his trustworthiness,
his faithfulness, his provencharacter in following through
on all that he's promised to beand to do for you.
That's what's involved intrusting the Lord here, there
(19:31):
and everywhere in your life.
Verse five adds commit your wayto the Lord, trust in him.
He will act.
I want to ask you this morningit's one thing to entrust
judgment day to God.
Are you entrusting this day tothe Lord?
(19:53):
Are you committing all theareas of your life to God's
provision and promise?
Or are there circumstanceswhere you have not yet committed
them to the Lord?
Are there occasions and areasof your life where you've not
yet befriended faithfulness.
(20:19):
God, in this psalm, is invitingyou to hear the promise of Jesus
, who comes not only to be thebread of life but to ask us to
pray for daily bread that hemight act, that he might give,
that he might fill us up inevery which way.
There's a third thing we seeand need to register as we read
our way through this psalm.
Third, we see, the psalm alsospeaks of what we could call the
(20:44):
finality of joy.
God is interested not merely inyour trust, but in leading you
through your trust, but inleading you through your trust
and his trustworthiness to yourexperience of delight.
And this we see named in versefour.
Delight yourself in the Lordand he will give you the desires
(21:09):
of your heart.
The great novelist JohnSteinbeck wrote of how he could
imagine ruining a life.
He said this a strange specieswe are.
We can stand anything God andnature throw our way, save only
plenty.
(21:29):
If I wanted to destroy a nation, steinbeck said, I would give
it too much and I would have iton its knees.
Miserable, greedy, sick.
Getting what you want, havingyour desires in every area and
(21:49):
circumstance met is quitedangerous circumstance met is
quite dangerous and, if we'rehonest, religion can oftentimes
become a tool in that toolkit.
It can become another way ofpursuing our consumeristic
desires.
It was just 20 years ago thatthe sociologist Christian Smith
(22:11):
wrote a book called SoulSearching, reflecting on the
national study of youth andreligion.
The youth of 20 years ago aretoday's young parents and there
are many of them in this room.
And in that study of thousandsof youth at the time across the
country, by way of phone and anextended 300 lengthy interviews
(22:36):
with persons, they came toprovide a pastiche, a picture of
the view of God held by thepredominant majority of youth in
America at that time.
Smith gave it the term moraltherapeutic deism.
Smith gave it the term moraltherapeutic deism the idea that
God has an order to the universe, it's moral, good and bad,
(23:00):
right and wrong, true and false,righteous and wicked.
The idea that God is a God ofdeism.
He's removed from your everydaylife.
You don't need to have anyterribly intimate communion with
him, but he's got a therapeuticbent, he's got a concern for
your happiness and so long asyou basically do good, you will
(23:23):
find that God is there tosatisfy your yearning for this,
that and the other.
What do we see there?
We see, of course, the registerthat we long to be happy, we
long to have so many needs andwants met, but here we've got
this image of a distant God, godwho's not close, a God who,
(23:47):
like Santa, is there to providein various ways.
And as those youth have aged upand some of them now parent
youth, I wonder how the imageholds when infertility has been
a part of the story for years,or when cancer has been battled,
when marriages have fallenapart or proven not to provide
(24:13):
the intimacy and love that youthought they might, when the
promotion hasn't come and you'vebeen passed over and, worse,
somebody you don't respect hasclimbed up past you.
I wonder what that image of Godas a therapeutic, deistic deity,
as a therapeutic, deistic deity, what it has become in our
(24:38):
minds and hearts.
Here we see, Psalm 37 calls usto something higher.
Learning through the longjourney of turning over elements
in our lives, entrusting themto God, committing them to his
care, we learn eventually thatthey matter less and he proves
to be more.
We learn through hisfaithfulness that he is the
(25:01):
ultimate desire and his presenceis the final satisfaction.
We learn through the way inwhich he, like a good parent,
has cared for us, has patientlyjourneyed with us, has
instructed us, taught us,protected us, guided us,
forgiven us.
(25:22):
By the time we've grown andmatured, we've learned, haven't
we as adults, that far betterthan a little bit of money here
or a wise saying there, farbetter.
What we want truly is real timewith the parent.
What we cry over as agedparents are ready to go, is not
(25:46):
that they didn't give us alittle more money.
It's not that they didn't, insome way, you know, provide this
or that.
It's not that they didn't, insome way, you know, provide this
or that.
It's that we don't get to bewith them longer.
And the value of them has beenproven through the care they've
provided, through circumstanceupon circumstance, year after
(26:09):
decade, season upon season ofour lives.
And so it is not merely withparents in this life, but with
our heavenly father, with theway in which his faithfulness,
that he invites us to befriend,his trustworthiness in every
season and era.
(26:30):
It reveals him to be unique, itshows him to be singular, it
exalts him in our eyes and it'smeant, brothers and sisters, to
grow our desire for him in ourhearts.
And so it is remarkable as Ericread from the lips of Jesus
(26:51):
himself.
As Eric read from the lips ofJesus himself.
We are told God cares for thelilies of the field, god cares
for the birds of the air and Godcares for you this day, in
every circumstance.
But what you'll find in hisprovision and his persistence,
in his faithfulness through theyears, in his generosity across
(27:17):
the board, is that the ultimategood is not that your prayer of
today would be answered, butthat you would learn, with the
psalmist, to ask for somethingstill greater.
This psalm follows severalpsalms after Psalm 27.
And in Psalm 27, 4, david saysone thing I've asked of the Lord
(27:44):
and you're probably thinkingwhat I think when a preacher
goes long or, in this case, thepsalmist goes you've asked a lot
, man.
We are 27 psalms deep One thingI've asked of the Lord.
I've been reading for quite awhile.
The psalmist isn't saying thathe hasn't asked God for
protection for him and hisnation.
He's not suggesting somehowthat he hasn't asked for food
(28:04):
and provision for strength forthe journey.
He's not forgetting the factthat he's asked for forgiveness,
reprieve from the guilt that hebears.
No, he's asked for so manythings and, having seen God
prove good in this and that andthe other context in every
circumstance, he knows.
(28:26):
Now there is but one thing thatmatters that I may dwell
forever in the house of the Lord.
That I may dwell forever in thehouse of the Lord.
And so, friends, this day Iwant to invite you.
Yes, name those ways in whichseeing the success of the
scoundrels and observing thesuffering of the strengths it
(28:47):
makes the promises of God attimes seem like the rules of the
game that a referee just isn'tupholding.
Seem like the rules of the gamethat a referee just isn't
upholding.
But register too these two waysin which Psalm 37 reminds us of
what God is for us.
(29:07):
God calls us to commit our waysto him, to trust it all to the
Lord, to befriend hisfaithfulness.
As you walk into that doctor'svisit, as you take up that
difficult conversation, as youface disappointment and
frustration, a need to makebudget and a desire for wisdom
in parenting that child, commitit to the Lord, trust it to God,
(29:29):
befriend his faithfulness inevery circumstance this day, not
just on judgment day.
But third, note that we are led,we are meant to journey, not
merely to see God provide thegood things that we need, but
(29:51):
the greatest thing that he longsto be for us.
Things that we need, but thegreatest thing that he longs to
be for us.
Romans 8.32 tells us that God,who didn't spare his own son but
delivered him over for ourbehalf, how will he not also,
with him, give us all otherthings?
And the psalmist adds to thatthe words delight yourself in
(30:13):
the Lord, and he will give youthe desires of your heart.
Let's turn to him in prayer.
Oh God, our Father, our King,our Lord, our Redeemer and our
Friend, you know our struggles,our wants, our desires and our
fears, and we commit them to you.
(30:34):
You know too, in ways we don't,what we're made for, and we
pray that you would lead us tolong, to desire, to hope for
that which is truly great, thatwe might, above all else, be led
not only to pray for our dailyneeds and those of the community
(30:54):
around us, but ultimately fornothing less than your goodness,
your presence in our lives.
May we find our true joy whereit shall never be taken away and
where it will not be surpassed,for we pray all this in Jesus'
strong and risen name, amen.
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Evan Pederson (00:36):
Fret not yourself because of evildoers.
Be not envious of wrongdoers,for they will soon fade.
Thanks for listening.
Commit your way to the Lord.
Trust in him and he will act.
He will bring forth yourrighteousness as the light and
your justice as the noonday.
Be still before the Lord andwait patiently for him.
Fret not yourself over the onewho prospers in his way, over
the man who carries out evildesires.
(00:58):
Refrain from anger and forsakewrath.
Fret not yourself.
It tends only to evil, for theevildoers shall be cut off, but
those who wait for the Lordshall inherit the land.
In just a little while, thewicked will be no more.
Though you look carefully athis place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit theland and delight themselves in
(01:19):
abundant peace.
The wicked plots against therighteous and gnashes his teeth
at him, but the Lord laughs atthe wicked, for he sees that his
day is coming.
The wicked draw their sword andbend their bows to bring down
the poor and needy, to slaythose whose way is upright.
Their sword shall enter theirown heart and their bows shall
(01:41):
be broken.
Better is the little that therighteous has than the abundance
of many wicked, for the arms ofthe wicked shall be broken, but
the Lord upholds the righteous.
The Lord knows the days of theblameless and their heritage
will remain forever.
They are not put to shame inevil times.
In the days of famine they haveabundance, but the wicked will
(02:03):
perish.
The enemies of the Lord arelike the glory of the pastures
they vanish like smoke.
They vanish away.
The wicked borrows but does notpay back.
But the righteous is generousand gives, for those blessed by
the Lord shall inherit the land,but those cursed by him shall
be cut off.
The steps of a man areestablished by the Lord when he
delights in his way.
(02:23):
Though he fall, he shall not becast headlong, for the Lord
upholds his hand.
I have been young and now am old, yet I have not seen the
righteous forsaken or hischildren begging for bread.
He is ever lending generouslyand his children become a
blessing.
Turn away from evil and do good, so you shall dwell forever,
(02:44):
for the Lord loves justice.
He will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever.
But the children of the wickedshall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit theland and dwell upon it forever.
The mouth of the righteousutters wisdom and his tongue
speaks justice.
The law of his God is in hisheart.
His steps do not slip.
(03:05):
The wicked watches for therighteous and seeks to put him
to death, but the Lord will notabandon him to his power or let
him be condemned when he isbrought to trial.
Wait for the Lord and keep hisway, and he will exalt you to
inherit the land.
You will look on when thewicked are cut off.
I have seen a wicked, ruthlessman spreading himself like a
(03:28):
green laurel tree, but he passedaway.
And behold, he was no more.
Though I sought him, he couldnot be found.
Mark the blameless and beholdthe upright, for there is a
future for the man of peace, buttransgressors shall be
altogether destroyed.
The future of the wicked shallbe cut off.
The salvation of the righteousis from the Lord.
(03:50):
He is their stronghold in thetime of trouble.
The Lord helps them anddelivers them.
He delivers them from thewicked and saves them because
they take refuge in him.
This is God's word.
Rev. Dr, Michael Allen (04:04):
Thanks be to God.
Well, hey, it's one thing tofix something up, it's a very
different thing to fit it out.
This is true in all sorts ofareas of life.
It's one thing to fix somethingup, it's another thing to fit
it out.
In philosophy, they study theproblem of suffering, yes, why
(04:28):
evil things happen, but theyalso consider the good life,
where happiness lies.
In modern psychology, it beganand was dominated for almost a
century of studying disorderafter disorder until finally, in
the 1990s, positive psychologybegan to consider what makes for
(04:49):
the full and rich life.
It's true in health and medicineas well.
We go to the hospital and wetake medicine to address
problems that are ailing ourbody, but we also think about
rest, about food and diet, aboutexercise, about what makes for
(05:10):
fitness, for energy and forstrength.
Yesterday, early in the morningon a Saturday, I was driving
down Colonial and I passed manyplaces where one could take your
car.
You could get new rims here,you could get a new sound system
there, ways to customize, waysto upgrade, ways to fit out or
(05:34):
trick out your vehicle.
I got to make the wonderfuldrive to have my windshield
replaced, to fix up a problemthat had been bothering me, and
that's the reality, isn't it?
(05:55):
Sometimes we have to focus onfixing a problem so much that we
don't have eyes for, oropportunity to or resources to
pursue filling it out, fittingit out, pursuing wholeness and
flourishing and the best theremight be.
Sometimes, even as we study ourBible, we are so struck by the
need for our problems to befixed, sin especially, we don't
(06:17):
have eyes or hearts to catch thegoodness, the richness, the joy
and happiness that's beingpromised.
Sometimes, as we think aboutthe Bible, we are so rightly
struck by how sin and corruptionand death and guilt, they
reduce our lives, our lives witheach other and our lives
(06:37):
especially before God.
And that's appropriate.
And even this Psalm has so muchto say about how we need God's
saving grace, his mercy in ourlives.
But the Bible isn't onlytalking, in describing God's
grace, about how God longs tofix the situation, how God longs
(06:58):
to address the corruption andthe sin and to offer mercy for
what has gone wrong.
God also longs to bless, godalso longs to give.
God wants not merely to fixwhat's gone awry in your life
and your walk before him, godwants to fit you out with
(07:20):
fullness and richness.
And today we're going to focuson verses here.
In Psalm 37, particularlyverses three through five, where
we see the psalmist describingthe struggle, yes, but the joy
that's found in turning to God,not merely for survival and
(07:41):
subsistence but for satisfactionthat God would provide in every
area of life, and that Godwould do so to the full.
First, though, as we look atthis psalm, we need to be honest
, as the psalmist is right offthe bat.
Oftentimes we experience whatwe might call the fuzziness of
(08:04):
joy.
We know that we long to behappy, we long to be in a world
where we are cared for andblessed, and sometimes it seems
as though God's ways aren't whatwe observe flourishing and
succeeding out there.
Musicians they have sung of thisfor decades now.
(08:25):
You can go back to the 70s.
Credence Clearwater Revivalsang Fortunate Son about those
who didn't have to go, sufferand struggle in the war.
Billy Joel sang of how only thegood die young.
In the 90s, rage Against theMachine, they sang Take the
(08:49):
Power Back, calling out to thosewho apparently didn't have it
and didn't have lives as happyand joyful as those who did.
More recently, billie Eilishsings all the good girls go to
hell.
It seems often that those wholive according to the Lord's
ways, they don't get what Psalm1 describes.
And those who go selfishly,those who go ruthlessly.
(09:14):
They seem too often to prosper.
Yesterday I was at a youthbasketball tournament, watching
three games.
And here's the thing the rulesof basketball don't change.
They're the same.
But I watched three games wherethe rules were applied very
differently.
By the end I could tell notonly were the players tired, the
(09:37):
coaches frustrated, but thereferees.
At least one was plainlyinterested in just letting the
clock run out, never blowing thewhistle, so that we could all
get home and he could cash thatcheck.
We know it's one thing forthere to be rules on paper or in
principle.
It's one thing for there to bean order by which the world is
(09:57):
meant to run.
It's a very different thing tosee that applied consistently.
And oftentimes we look aroundand it seems like the refs
aren't calling thingsappropriately.
They're throwing it for theother team, aren't they?
And if we're honest, we lookaround in areas of real
(10:18):
consequence.
It seems like some scoundrelswe know are getting ahead even
as we're stuck, and it seemslike some of the most powerful
and the most wealthy and themost consequential.
They're getting there.
They're getting ahead.
They're getting ahead of us bygoing and living in ways that
very much cut against the grainof God's design.
(10:38):
Joy can seem really fuzzy.
God's promises can seem not tomatch what we sense around us.
I want to invite you today toconsider what it is, whether
it's in the success of theseeming scoundrels or in the
struggle of the saints aroundyou.
What is it that makes it hardto believe the promises of God
(11:00):
and his goodness?
What is it that seems to throwcognitive dissonance in the way
we see the world functioning?
Where is it that the words wesang from Psalm 1 just don't
seem to match my perception ofthe world and of the way things
actually go Now?
(11:22):
Our psalm, just like Psalm 1that we sang earlier, it speaks
of how there are those who theytriumph now, but they will face
judgment later.
There is wrath yet to come.
There is a day of the Lord thatnot only the Psalms, but
especially the prophets willspeak of.
And one thing that's crucial tocatch from Psalm 37 is you
(11:44):
haven't seen the end of thestory.
There will be a day of the Lordwhere Jesus stands in judgment.
There will be a day of the Lordwhere the wicked will be undone
.
And we all know, don't we, thatsometimes, like the prophet Joel
said, the day of the Lord seemsto come a little early.
We know what it is to look atour device and to see the latest
(12:07):
item in the news that speaks ofsome lofty person being brought
low because it's discovered,it's found out, it's shown that
they've broken the law, they'vemistreated others, they've been
found to be a wrongdoer and theyare damaged forevermore,
canceled in this life, condemnedin that to come.
(12:30):
That's one word that the psalmoffers.
As we observe cognitivedissonance, as we see that so
often, it's the scoundrels thatseem to get ahead and the saints
that seem to struggle.
But there's another word thatverses three through five offer,
and it's there that I want todraw your attention this morning
as we take one more glance atPsalm 37 in our slow meditation
(12:55):
on it throughout the course ofthis summer season.
In verses three to five, we seetwo different ways in which we
are led to consider the goodnessof God.
So, secondly, we see here thefullness of joy.
We see this especially in versethree and verse five, the way
(13:15):
in which the psalmist is goingto address God's goodness as it
pertains to every circumstanceand area of life, the way in
which God longs to be all andsufficient on our behalf.
Consider the miracle of Israel.
At this point David thepsalmist speaks, and he's been a
(13:37):
part of what's actually arather small or meager kingdom.
But think of their story.
They were brought outmiraculously from the greatest
empire of the day and they havelived and survived and actually
been provided for in remarkablefashion, being blessed with the
land flowing with milk and honey.
(13:59):
Where are the Edomites?
Where are the others, theJebusites and so forth, who
marked the story so long before?
Israel alone has been preservedand cared for.
At this point we can easily takeGod's care, god's provision in
(14:20):
different areas of life.
We can first take it forgranted.
We can presume on what we haveexperienced, as though it were
just the normal state of affairs, that things go on and they go
well.
We can also sometimes take itcynically.
We can despair that this couldcontinue.
(14:41):
We could look at the futurewith all its uncertainty At
least.
I can sometimes be tempted tothink how could this possibly
work out?
How could God's ways at allpromise a hopeful future?
I'm not alone, and I suspectyou're not alone, in thinking
(15:02):
that because Jeremiah addressesa people who were tempted to
that in their own day.
In Jeremiah 2, 11 to 13, we hearhim challenging God's people
with these words, challengingGod's people with these words.
My people, they've changedtheir glory for that which
doesn't profit.
Be appalled, oh heavens, atthis, be shocked, be utterly
(15:25):
desolate, declares the Lord.
My people have committed twoevils They've forsaken me, the
fountain of living waters, andthey have hewed out cisterns for
themselves, broken cisternsthat can hold no water.
In the face of that temptation,in the face of that persistent
(15:48):
turning to other sources forprovision, this Psalm reminds us
of God's care, of God'sgenerosity, even in every area
of life.
Notice a number of the versesthat speak to this.
In verse 11, we read the meekshall inherit the land and
delight themselves in abundantpeace.
(16:10):
Notice the language ofabundance that's being
emphasized there.
In verse 22, we're told thatthose blessed by the Lord shall
inherit the land.
Register the presence of theword blessing or blessed there.
In verse 29, we hear that therighteous shall inherit the land
(16:32):
and dwell upon it forever.
Note the persistence andendurance of this provision.
And finally, in verse 34,notice the promise that he will
exalt you to inherit the land.
We are given not merely thepromise of endurance, but of
nothing less than exaltation byGod himself.
(16:56):
Endurance, but of nothing lessthan exaltation by God himself.
And this psalm, and all thosemany promises for every area of
life, it fits and flows fromwhat has been the consistent
story In the very beginning.
When God made Adam and Eve, henot only blessed them with life,
but he put them in a gardenatop a mountain, filled with
goodness and provision trees,here, there and everywhere.
(17:19):
When God called Abram out of Urto begin what would be the
chosen people born of his line,god promised not only that they
would endure and that they wouldbe many, but that they would be
blessed and that the nationswould be blessed by their
blessing.
When God provides for Israel tobe brought out of slavery and
(17:43):
death in Egypt, god is notsatisfied until there has been a
feast on God's own mountainwhere God's people dine with him
.
He's not content merely toremove them from struggle and
slavery.
He longs to provide a feast onthe journey and a land flowing
(18:04):
with milk and honey.
And we look forward to the NewTestament, of course.
And when Matthew tells thestory and the teachings of Jesus
himself, god incarnate.
What's the first thing we learn?
But in the first verses of hisfirst lengthy sermon, he pauses
to talk at length about thehappiness God longs to bring In
(18:28):
beatitude after beatitude,speaking of God's desire to
grant joy and goodness,happiness and fullness, blessing
across every area of life forthose who are his own disciples.
Here we see again and again theemphasis of God's provision
(18:50):
persistently in every area oflife.
And here, in verses three andfive, note what we are called or
summoned to do Trust in theLord, do good, dwell in the land
, befriend faithfulness Noticethat phrase.
(19:10):
Befriend faithfulness.
Grow close to the one who'sdefined by his trustworthiness,
his faithfulness, his provencharacter in following through
on all that he's promised to beand to do for you.
That's what's involved intrusting the Lord here, there
(19:31):
and everywhere in your life.
Verse five adds commit your wayto the Lord, trust in him.
He will act.
I want to ask you this morningit's one thing to entrust
judgment day to God.
Are you entrusting this day tothe Lord?
(19:53):
Are you committing all theareas of your life to God's
provision and promise?
Or are there circumstanceswhere you have not yet committed
them to the Lord?
Are there occasions and areasof your life where you've not
yet befriended faithfulness.
(20:19):
God, in this psalm, is invitingyou to hear the promise of Jesus
, who comes not only to be thebread of life but to ask us to
pray for daily bread that hemight act, that he might give,
that he might fill us up inevery which way.
There's a third thing we seeand need to register as we read
our way through this psalm.
Third, we see, the psalm alsospeaks of what we could call the
(20:44):
finality of joy.
God is interested not merely inyour trust, but in leading you
through your trust, but inleading you through your trust
and his trustworthiness to yourexperience of delight.
And this we see named in versefour.
Delight yourself in the Lordand he will give you the desires
(21:09):
of your heart.
The great novelist JohnSteinbeck wrote of how he could
imagine ruining a life.
He said this a strange specieswe are.
We can stand anything God andnature throw our way, save only
plenty.
(21:29):
If I wanted to destroy a nation, steinbeck said, I would give
it too much and I would have iton its knees.
Miserable, greedy, sick.
Getting what you want, havingyour desires in every area and
(21:49):
circumstance met is quitedangerous circumstance met is
quite dangerous and, if we'rehonest, religion can oftentimes
become a tool in that toolkit.
It can become another way ofpursuing our consumeristic
desires.
It was just 20 years ago thatthe sociologist Christian Smith
(22:11):
wrote a book called SoulSearching, reflecting on the
national study of youth andreligion.
The youth of 20 years ago aretoday's young parents and there
are many of them in this room.
And in that study of thousandsof youth at the time across the
country, by way of phone and anextended 300 lengthy interviews
(22:36):
with persons, they came toprovide a pastiche, a picture of
the view of God held by thepredominant majority of youth in
America at that time.
Smith gave it the term moraltherapeutic deism.
Smith gave it the term moraltherapeutic deism the idea that
God has an order to the universe, it's moral, good and bad,
(23:00):
right and wrong, true and false,righteous and wicked.
The idea that God is a God ofdeism.
He's removed from your everydaylife.
You don't need to have anyterribly intimate communion with
him, but he's got a therapeuticbent, he's got a concern for
your happiness and so long asyou basically do good, you will
(23:23):
find that God is there tosatisfy your yearning for this,
that and the other.
What do we see there?
We see, of course, the registerthat we long to be happy, we
long to have so many needs andwants met, but here we've got
this image of a distant God, godwho's not close, a God who,
(23:47):
like Santa, is there to providein various ways.
And as those youth have aged upand some of them now parent
youth, I wonder how the imageholds when infertility has been
a part of the story for years,or when cancer has been battled,
when marriages have fallenapart or proven not to provide
(24:13):
the intimacy and love that youthought they might, when the
promotion hasn't come and you'vebeen passed over and, worse,
somebody you don't respect hasclimbed up past you.
I wonder what that image of Godas a therapeutic, deistic deity,
as a therapeutic, deistic deity, what it has become in our
(24:38):
minds and hearts.
Here we see, Psalm 37 calls usto something higher.
Learning through the longjourney of turning over elements
in our lives, entrusting themto God, committing them to his
care, we learn eventually thatthey matter less and he proves
to be more.
We learn through hisfaithfulness that he is the
(25:01):
ultimate desire and his presenceis the final satisfaction.
We learn through the way inwhich he, like a good parent,
has cared for us, has patientlyjourneyed with us, has
instructed us, taught us,protected us, guided us,
forgiven us.
(25:22):
By the time we've grown andmatured, we've learned, haven't
we as adults, that far betterthan a little bit of money here
or a wise saying there, farbetter.
What we want truly is real timewith the parent.
What we cry over as agedparents are ready to go, is not
(25:46):
that they didn't give us alittle more money.
It's not that they didn't, insome way, you know, provide this
or that.
It's not that they didn't, insome way, you know, provide this
or that.
It's that we don't get to bewith them longer.
And the value of them has beenproven through the care they've
provided, through circumstanceupon circumstance, year after
(26:09):
decade, season upon season ofour lives.
And so it is not merely withparents in this life, but with
our heavenly father, with theway in which his faithfulness,
that he invites us to befriend,his trustworthiness in every
season and era.
(26:30):
It reveals him to be unique, itshows him to be singular, it
exalts him in our eyes and it'smeant, brothers and sisters, to
grow our desire for him in ourhearts.
And so it is remarkable as Ericread from the lips of Jesus
(26:51):
himself.
As Eric read from the lips ofJesus himself.
We are told God cares for thelilies of the field, god cares
for the birds of the air and Godcares for you this day, in
every circumstance.
But what you'll find in hisprovision and his persistence,
in his faithfulness through theyears, in his generosity across
(27:17):
the board, is that the ultimategood is not that your prayer of
today would be answered, butthat you would learn, with the
psalmist, to ask for somethingstill greater.
This psalm follows severalpsalms after Psalm 27.
And in Psalm 27, 4, david saysone thing I've asked of the Lord
(27:44):
and you're probably thinkingwhat I think when a preacher
goes long or, in this case, thepsalmist goes you've asked a lot
, man.
We are 27 psalms deep One thingI've asked of the Lord.
I've been reading for quite awhile.
The psalmist isn't saying thathe hasn't asked God for
protection for him and hisnation.
He's not suggesting somehowthat he hasn't asked for food
(28:04):
and provision for strength forthe journey.
He's not forgetting the factthat he's asked for forgiveness,
reprieve from the guilt that hebears.
No, he's asked for so manythings and, having seen God
prove good in this and that andthe other context in every
circumstance, he knows.
(28:26):
Now there is but one thing thatmatters that I may dwell
forever in the house of the Lord.
That I may dwell forever in thehouse of the Lord.
And so, friends, this day Iwant to invite you.
Yes, name those ways in whichseeing the success of the
scoundrels and observing thesuffering of the strengths it
(28:47):
makes the promises of God attimes seem like the rules of the
game that a referee just isn'tupholding.
Seem like the rules of the gamethat a referee just isn't
upholding.
But register too these two waysin which Psalm 37 reminds us of
what God is for us.
(29:07):
God calls us to commit our waysto him, to trust it all to the
Lord, to befriend hisfaithfulness.
As you walk into that doctor'svisit, as you take up that
difficult conversation, as youface disappointment and
frustration, a need to makebudget and a desire for wisdom
in parenting that child, commitit to the Lord, trust it to God,
(29:29):
befriend his faithfulness inevery circumstance this day, not
just on judgment day.
But third, note that we are led,we are meant to journey, not
merely to see God provide thegood things that we need, but
(29:51):
the greatest thing that he longsto be for us.
Things that we need, but thegreatest thing that he longs to
be for us.
Romans 8.32 tells us that God,who didn't spare his own son but
delivered him over for ourbehalf, how will he not also,
with him, give us all otherthings?
And the psalmist adds to thatthe words delight yourself in
(30:13):
the Lord, and he will give youthe desires of your heart.
Let's turn to him in prayer.
Oh God, our Father, our King,our Lord, our Redeemer and our
Friend, you know our struggles,our wants, our desires and our
fears, and we commit them to you.
(30:34):
You know too, in ways we don't,what we're made for, and we
pray that you would lead us tolong, to desire, to hope for
that which is truly great, thatwe might, above all else, be led
not only to pray for our dailyneeds and those of the community
(30:54):
around us, but ultimately fornothing less than your goodness,
your presence in our lives.
May we find our true joy whereit shall never be taken away and
where it will not be surpassed,for we pray all this in Jesus'
strong and risen name, amen.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com