Wicked Plots Against the Righteous

I am reading in Psalms 37 this morning. I am going to break this up a little bit for this is contrasting the wicked with the righteous, and so I am going to look at these separately.

The Wicked

Psalms 37:12-15 ESV

“The wicked plots against the righteous

    and gnashes his teeth at him,

but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

    for he sees that his day is coming.

The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows

    to bring down the poor and needy,

    to slay those whose way is upright;

their sword shall enter their own heart,

    and their bows shall be broken.”

Now, first I want to state that the wicked are all who make a practice of sin, who walk in sin and not in righteousness. They are all who make evil their practice, who do not submit to Christ as Lord. And although some (or many) of them profess faith in Jesus Christ, they find the Christian walk of faith a chore, a bother to them, and not something they really want to do.

For these are people who are morally unclean, who are liars, deceivers, and manipulators, who take advantage of others for their own sinful pleasures. They are not trustworthy people, for they are fakes and phonies, who make pretenses of righteousness for the approval of others, but who are still living for themselves. They are lacking in spiritual discernment and good judgment, for they are still following the flesh and not the Spirit of God.

Although many of them know the way of righteousness, and they may even give lip service to it, at times, they are dragging their feet when it comes to actually putting into practice what they know they must do. For they resist the Spirit, and they spurn the walk of faith that the Scriptures define for us. And some of them are good at “playing church,” but they are living the opposite of the faith they profess.

And so many of them end up coming against those whose walk of faith in the Lord is genuine, i.e. they are opposed to those who do submit to Christ as Lord and who are those who are exercising true biblical discernment. And so they plot against the righteous in hopes to bring them down, for they hate the righteous, for they are also against the cross of Christ. For they want to be able to profess Jesus as Lord without making him Lord of their lives, and to call themselves “Christians” without becoming Christlike. 

But if they remain in this state of mind, and if they never repent of their sins, and if they never submit to Christ as Lord and follow the Lord in walks of obedience, then it will not end well for them. For those who walk in sin will die in their sins. They will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what faith in Christ their lips have professed. For, as followers of Christ, we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow Jesus in obedience to his ways.

The Righteous

Psalms 37:3-7 ESV

“Trust in the Lord, and do good;

    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

    trust in him, and he will act.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

    and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

    fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

    over the man who carries out evil devices!”

This is how we are to live as followers of Jesus Christ despite what the wicked may or may not do. Our trust needs to remain in Christ despite our circumstances. We are to keep on following Jesus Christ and his ways even if all hell breaks loose against us, and it may. For Satan is our true enemy and he just uses other humans to do his dirty work. But Satan is the one truly out to destroy our lives in any which way that he can.

We have no real control over how other people treat us. They are being ruled by what is in their hearts, and only God has the power to change human hearts. But we can control how we respond to their treatment of us. And we can choose to trust God with our circumstances and to not worry what the wicked may or may not do to us. Even knowing that evil may be lurking around the corner, by the grace of God we can continue in faithfulness.

So, give your circumstances and your enemies over to the Lord and trust him fully with your lives. And keep doing the good that God called you to do no matter what happens. Don’t fret over what evil people may do to you, but just keep moving forward in obeying the Lord and in doing what he says. And believe that God is going to work all things together for good for those who love and obey him and who have been called according to his purpose.

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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