Psalm 37:1 Evildoers

Who is evil? Who are the evildoers?

In Romans 1:29-31, Paul refers to "they invent ways of doing evil." Such people are lumped in with a list that includes not only generally agreed upon evils (murder, God-haters), but also things most of us would have to admit to commiting at some time in our lives (gossip, disobey parents).

Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 9:12, warns about the danger of being ensnared into the jumbled net of the evil around us.

Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Satan is at work in this world to mess with us, to get us to become evil like him. His primary tactic is to lure us into getting involved in things that aren't good but don't seem to be actually evil. From there, it's  a slippery slope.

In my own heart, I know the greatest evil to which I've fallen prey is the temptation to see myself as 'good", compared to THOSE evil people.

“People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us... It's people who claim that they're good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of.”

  Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

He's right. Those EVIL PEOPLE are no worse than you or me, but not because it's okay to be evil. They're no worse than us because we also have evil in our hearts.

This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

Nurturing evil in your heart leads to psychological problems, to “madness in our hearts”. Not just the sort of evil madness that leads to murder, rape, or criminal activities, but also heart-driven anger, jealousy, impatience, selfishness. Once evil sets its roots in you heart, it bears fruit through misdirecting your energy and focus.

Don’t swim around in the pool of evil that builds up in your heart. Instead, intentionally engage in positive acts of goodness, thereby overcoming the evil that wants to take over your heart.

Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

Amos 5:13-15

The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

Matthew 12:35

And then there's Psalm 37.

Do not fret because of those who are evil . . . 

Psalm 37:1 

David begins by telling us not to get pulled in by the evil around you, pulled into worry, frustration, anger. Don't get sucked into responding to evil with evil.

He goes on to list about two dozen positive, concrete actions we can take as our righteous and productive response to evil times and evil people.

Try this as a first step: dwell on one verse from Psalm 37 each week. Read it and memorize it.

Repeat it to yourself when you're following the news reports each day, and think creatively about how the week's verse provides practical advice for responding intentionally to evil times.

Repeat the verse of the week to yourself every time you're considering posting something on social media or engaging in conversation. Make sure your public comments reflect the Word you're hiding in your heart, rather than the evil that's trying to invade your heart.

40 verses, 40 weeks.  Do it in 40 days, if you prefer.

The change in your life will be amazing.

Psalm 37:1 On Fire

Do not fret because of those who are evil . . . 
Psalm 37:1 

The Hebrew word translated here as fret is charah (חָרָה) kaw-raw.

The word literally means to burn with anger. That’s what happens when we let ourselves fret over evil people and the evil things they do. Our annoyance catches fire and ignites frustration, which flares into anger and soon becomes a wildfire of wrath. The energy burning in the heart needs to go somewhere, so it expresses itself in bitter speech, boiling over toward violence.

Charaw is most often used to describe God's anger toward evil people. It’s never used to encourage us to allow our anger to burn out of control. In fact we're specifically told in Psalm 37:1 to NOT burn with anger against evil people.

American culture in the 21st century demands the opposite, doesn't it?

Not only are we encouraged to be angry about actual evil actions, we're also supposed to burn with outrage when people say or do something that simply "offends" us. If you think I'm exaggerating, you haven't been paying attention to talk radio, 24-hour news networks, and social media.

Twitter gets fired up easily over a choice of words that would have been acceptable a decade ago, but now is completely unacceptable. Comment threads on Facebook expand like wildfire over a perceived politically correct or politically incorrect meme or viral video. Talk shows are intentionally designed to pour gasoline and a match on every word or action that offends.

The very word, offended, has been stripped of its real meaning and turned into a flammable substance.  To be offended is a personal thing, an emotional response to something that often isn't even personally directed at the person who takes offense.

That phrase, "take offense", exposes itself for what it really is. To take something is a choice. He said or did something I don't like, so I intentionally reach out and grab hold of it and stab myself in the heart with it, as through I've been attacked. The reason I do that is to strike a match to my anger, to get myself worked up about it so I can let the "offender" and everyone else know that his action or words were all about me. When I take offense, I'm robbing the other person of their right to an opinion and their right to free speech, and turning it into something I own.

People of every political, philosophical, or spiritual stripe are guilt of taking away others' freedom of thought for the sake of their own freedom to be offended. Sadly, many Christians wear it as a badge of personal faithfulness.

Many Christians will argue that we ought to be offended by the actual evil words and evil actions of evil people, that we are called to call it out loudly and vehemently. But actually, that's not our calling.

But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

Romans 2:8-12

Who is the judge? No, it's not you. It's God.

And he's not judging people for offending, but for sinning.

Psalm 37:1 Don't Fret

If you watch the video of this song, you'll see a guitar and a bass guitar, both of which operate on similar principles. Strings of varying gauge are stretched along the length of the instrument and tightened to produce a specific note. The musician presses his fingers on various frets - the metal bars spaced along the neck of the guitar - altering the string's tone, higher and lower as needed.

On all Jimi Hendrix' songs, his riffs on the high notes, produced by pressing the frets closest to the body of the guitar, are the dazzling sounds that catch the average listener's attention. But it's the bass notes that actually do the heavy work in his songs, laying down the emotional depth that supports everything else.

The same can be true in life. It's easy to get lost in seeking the highs while forgetting to go deep and establish the kind of emotional and spiritual depth that anchors life.

A life spent tuning in to the highs is risky. Sure, there are plenty of times when things are going great, when you're doing wonderful things with people who share your passions, when you're riffing on those high notes and feeling good.

But while you're grooving to that tune, there will always be things that go wrong, people who disappoint you, others who downright oppose you. When you're riding the high notes, there will be discord. Not everyone will want to pick up on what you're putting down. A sudden fall is always a possibility amid the stress of it all.

It would be so easy to let it get to you. Shout! Scream! Curse!

And before you know it, you've become the note out of tune. You're the one always expressing your frustrations, loud and insistent. And then you find yourself aiming your frustrations at God.

David knew just how you feel. He faced all sorts of difficulties and conflicts during his life. Psalm 37 is his poetic expression of how he learned to deal with it all as "a man after God's own heart."

The Psalm begins, in many of our English translations, with, "Do not fret..."

The original Hebrew word carries the meaning of kindling or burning with anger. That's the unrighteous way of responding to stress in our lives. Tightening the tension by fretting and letting the frustration heat up is not the way to have a heart like God's.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. Psalm 40:3

As people of God, we have a better way to approach the troubles of life. We have a song in our heart that picks up on what God is putting down.

When we sing along with His new song, others around us on the road of life will pick up on what we're putting down, and be drawn to the song of the Lord.

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. Zepheniah 3:17

Psalm 119:176 The Shepherd

I have strayed like a lost sheep.
 Seek your servant,
  for I have not forgotten your commands

Psalm 119:176

I've often pictured myself as a gallant knight on a great journey, striving to do great things for the Lord. With my wife, a true soldier princess, by my side, we're ready for whatever he throws our way.

But, if I'm to be honest, I'm more often like a stupid sheep.  I stray...daily. I've been completely lost a few times, clueless about where I was and where he wanted me to go next.

Except I always seem to want to make it all about me. If I only could grasp hold of my special role in the Lord's grand plan, I tell myself, then I'd finally make it.  I'd arrive at the pinnacle of life.

Every time I think I'm getting in step with the Lord on this road of life, I stumble and fall flat on my foolish face.

I think it's no coincidence that on the same week I finally sat down to write this final blogpost about the final verse on Psalm 119, I was also preparing to lead our Life Group in a conversation about Romans 7.

As someone who has loved Psalm 119 all my life, I've resisted and wrestled with some of Paul's comments about the Law.

What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

Romans 7:7-11

Some preachers and writers today are interpreting verses like that to say we should at all costs avoid preaching and teaching people to follow rules. It's all grace, all the time, because the laws were never any good.

The truth is, the flaw in the law has always been interconnected with the flaw in us. As Paul says, the sin in us seizes the opportunity presented by the law and turns us into even worse sinners.

And  yet Paul spends a large portion of his epistles teaching the early Christians how to be transformed from unrighteous rule-breakers to righteous rule-keepers.

The law - both the capital-L Law of Moses and the numerous rules and commandments of the New Testament - represents the heart of God about how He intends for His people to live. Under the New covenant, He has given believers the Holy Spirit and written His laws on our hearts.

If we put our main focus on trying to obey the rules, we'll fail as badly as Paul describes his own efforts in Romans 7. If instead we focus on praising the Lord (Psalm 119:175) and rely on Him to seek us and guide us as our Shepherd (v. 176), then we'll be fulfilling His best intention for His Word.

On the one road of life, I'm no one special. I'm a stupid sheep, just like everyone else walking alongside me.

What makes me different is this: I know the Shepherd. And the Shepherd knows the way.

And most of the other sheep on this path not only don't know the way, they don't know the Shepherd.

Stupid sheep.

Who will point them to the Shepherd?

I will. Because I have not forgotten His commands.

Psalm 119:175 One Road, One Purpose

When I drive for rideshare, I've learned to be intentional in how I go about it. I've studied the rideshare market here in Columbia and I know where and when the best passengers, the ones seeking good long trips that will pay the best, are most likely to be found. So I drive during those peak times and intentionally park in the spots most likely to be near those passengers.

I could be like a lot of rideshare drivers, who spend their time driving around town, constantly on the move, hoping to get lucky and be in the right place at the right time.

I used to be one of those drivers, when I first started driving rideshare. Until I realized I was just wasting gas and eating up all my potential income. Sometimes I really would get lucky and get a lot of calls for rides. But more often the rides I got weren't that great and my income was hit or miss.

For most people, daily life, moment-by-moment life, is lived unintentionally. We go about our days by habit, led by routine, with no grand purpose other than making it to lunchtime, going home at 4:00, eating three meals a day, working five days a week, and escaping the routine on the weekends - often just replacing the weekday routine with the weekend routine.

We think all that unintentional living will somehow satisfy us, but it seldom does. At best it numbs us, turning us into caricatures of what God intended us to be.

Even a lot of Christians seem stuck in their unintentional lives. The only difference is they added Sunday church attendance and a few other church-related habits. Maybe they've also adopted an unhealthy taste for Pharisaical moral judgment and politics.

Whether spiritual or non-spiritual, the vast majority of people traveling alongside each other on the road of life seem to have stumbled into one of these unintentional ruts.They stay there because they don't realize there's a better way. They've become satisfied with the happenstance rewards of unintentionally living.

But there is a better way. There is a reason for living, a purpose for the journey.

David waited until the second to last verse of his trip diary to spell it our for us.

Let me live that I may praise you,
 and may your laws sustain me.

Psalm 119:175

God didn't give you life so you could spend it stumbling blindly along, with no vision, without purpose. He gave you life and He sustains your life so you can fulfill His greatest intention for your life: that you may praise Him.

The reason for continuing the journey is to praise God with every choice you make. A life spent pursuing anything else is pointless.

The goal is not a destination. Yes, God has promised eternal life with Him in heaven. But that's not the goal of the journey. The goal is to praise God along the way.

Praise Him with your voice of worship. Praise Him with your voice as part of your daily conversation with your fellow travelers.

Praise Him on your knees in prayer. Praise Him with your hands and feet as you walk through your days among people who have no purpose.

Praise Him by loving each of your fellow travelers who are unaware they're also seeking God. Praise Him by helping them, listening to them, counseling them, encouraging them. Praise Him by keeping your spiritual senses attuned for the divine opportunities He puts along your pathway to plant and water and cultivate seeds. Praise Him by being the light in the world's darkness, by letting your words be seasoned with salt.

If that sounds like God is asking a lot of you, He is. That's why He made you a new creature, re-creating you to do the work He has prepared for you.

And He doesn't expect you to do it alone. He'll send other intentional people to walk and work alongside you.

And He'll continually turn your attention back to His Word, His laws that are not only written in a book but have been inscribed on your heart. The laws can help you by reminding you in hundreds of ways how to intentionally live to praise Him. They sustain you and keep the pilgrim progressing.

Intentionally.

Psalm 119:174 Delight

I long for your salvation, LORD,
 and your law gives me delight.

Psalm 119:174

I continually long for salvation.

I long for your salvation, Lord, when I'm in a rut. The road of life is filled with ruts. When I realize I'm stuck in one, I go back to God's Word, where you save me from my doldrums with a renewed perspective and purpose.

I long for salvation, Lord, when I'm feeling alone. Even surrounded by people, I often feel like no one looks at life the way I do. When I'm having a personal pity party like Elijah, I take time out to listen for the still small voice of God. It's often just a simple phrase, a verse, or a forgotten story from His Word that delights me all over again, and fills me with feelings of love and community.

I long for salvation, Lord, when I feel overwhelmed by the people I encounter on this road we're all traveling. Sometimes they're just too much. Too much rudeness and too many sharp opinions. Too many voices clamoring to be heard, even if all they have to say is memes and snark and flippant remarks. An over-abundance of us vs. them and a drought of empathy and kindness. Your Word, though, keeps me centered in your holiness and lovingkindness. It trains my eyes to see the world the way you see it, filled with people longing for your salvation, just like me.

I long for salvation, Lord, when changes descend on my world too quickly. Nothing stays the same. My comfort zone keeps moving around when I'm not paying attention. My job changes. Or my career of four decades comes to an abrupt end. I'm getting older, and countless physical changes accompany aging. More than once in my life, my circle of friends has dissipated overnight. And then I take a step back and revisit your never-changing but always new Word. I delight in seeing how the old, old story speaks to my new situations in surprising ways.

I long for salvation, Lord, when I've failed you miserably. When my hands are dripping with blood, my heart is hardened with apathy, and my mind has been corrupted by the world, it's then I long for your salvation. I can manage the mess I've made. I can pretend to care again. I can try to hide from the lure of the world. But only you, Lord, can clean my hands and soften my heart and transform my mind. Only you can restore delight to my soul.

Psalm 119:173 Choices

May your hand be ready to help me,
 for I have chosen your precepts.
Psalm 119:173

God is ready to give a helping hand while you're traveling the road of life.

Are you?

Are you ready to help people make the most important choices of their life?

When I first wrote the previous question, it was Are you ready to help people make the most important choice of life? But it should be choices.

The difference is vital.

In 1978 I made a choice of whom to marry. It was a very good choice, one I've never regretted. 

I've made the choice each and every day since then to continue being married. I keep making that choice because choosing to be with her and stay with her is part of choosing His precepts.

We've chosen many times to be patient with each other. We've chosen to support one another, to be honest with each other, to never talk smack about one another to other people. We've chosen repeatedly to communicate, to make decisions together, to make time for each other.

When we went through heart-rending times as foster parents, we agreed together to choose to not let the stress tear apart our bond, but to make the hard choices that would cement our bond even tighter by working through the tough times together.

Everything that's important in life requires making a choice. And making that choice again and again.

God has always been there with us when we're making choices. Even if we skipped a few days or weeks, forgetting to live intentionally and choose intentionally, He chose to hang in there with us, waiting patiently for us to choose again.

God's precepts are also always there when we're making those choices. It can become all too easy to fall out of the habit of making good choices, but making the good choice to meditate on God's precepts every day is the best way to stay on track or get back on track.

Another good choice to make, and to remake every day, is the choice to help others make good choices.

I used to think my job as a Christian is to convince people to choose to believe and be baptized, and once I did that I could move on to someone else.

That's so short sighted.

There are people I encounter every day who need to be encouraged to make good choices in small ways. As a rideshare driver I regularly encounter people who need just a little piece of advice or a word of encouragement about relationships, their job, their children, or their choices about setting boundaries.

I could easily rationalize that I'm just there to give them a ride and I shouldn't get all up into their business. And I don't butt in. I don't force myself into their lives. But I do make the choice to ask the kind of questions that prompt them to open up a little. God and I can use that window to help travelers along their way toward discovering His heart.

Because that's the destination. That's where we're all headed to on this journey of life, whether or not we all know it.

We're returning to the heart of God.

And we're in it together.