Psalms for Turbulent Times - Psalm 37: Trust in the Lord and do good

Psalm 37[1]

¹ Do not fret because of those who are evil
    or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,
    like green plants they will soon die away.
³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵ Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ he will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun.
⁷ Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
    when they carry out their wicked schemes.
⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
    do not fret – it leads only to evil.
⁹ For those who are evil will be destroyed,
    but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
¹⁰ A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
    though you look for them, they will not be found.
¹¹ But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.
¹² The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;
¹³ but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.
¹⁴ The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow
  to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.
¹⁵ But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
    and their bows will be broken.
¹⁶ Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked;
¹⁷ for the power of the wicked will be broken,
    but the Lord upholds the righteous.
¹⁸ The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care,
    and their inheritance will endure for ever.
¹⁹ In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
²⁰ But the wicked will perish:
    though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field,
    they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.
²¹ The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously;
²² those the Lord blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed.
²³ The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him;
²⁴ though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
²⁵ I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be a blessing.
²⁷ Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land for ever.
²⁸ For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.
Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed;
The offspring of the wicked will perish.
²⁹ The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it for ever.
³⁰ The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
    and their tongues speak what is just.
³¹ The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip.
³² The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,
    intent on putting them to death;
³³ but the Lord will not leave them in the power of the wicked
    or let them be condemned when brought to trial.
³⁴ Hope in the Lord and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;
    when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.
³⁵ I have seen a wicked and ruthless man
flourishing like a luxuriant native tree,
³⁶ but he soon passed away and was no more;
   though I looked for him, he could not be found.
³⁷ Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
    a future awaits those who seek peace.
³⁸ But all sinners will be destroyed; there will be no future for the wicked.
³⁹ The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
    he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and delivers them;
    he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
    because they take refuge in him.

Here’s a psalm that deals with the problem of evil and the apparent prosperity of those who choose that path of life. It is a challenge faced head on by the writer. And the psalm he or she writes, agrees: yes the wicked do seem to prosper… for now.

But the psalm is also future-looking and sees an expanse of time and history beyond the narrowness of yesterday and today. The theological term is ‘eschatological’. The psalm presents the truth that God is sovereign and God’s justice knows no end. Although in real time God’s justice does not always seem to be more powerful. Yet, in order to live in the truth of God’s reign, the psalmist presents the clear pathway: let God be God, and don’t worry about the apparent prosperity of the wicked. For fretting, says the psalmist, is the first step which leads the righteous down the path of evil. Handing over power to God, even when you are most powerless, is the only path that leads to peace. But isn’t this a bit fatalistic? Doesn’t this attitude encourage a shrug of the shoulders and a blind eye to injustice? Isn’t this attitude, frankly, a bit pathetic? Shouldn’t the unjust ways of the wicked by challenged, rebelled against, overturned? Surely, that’s why we have laws – to hold the corrupt, the greedy, the violent and the brutal to account? What kind of turn-the-other-cheek, meek, even weak, way of living is this?

Psalm 37 is one of the psalms classified by scholars as a ‘wisdom’ psalm. It is full of sage advice (like Psalm 1) about the difference between the path of life and the path of death. It sets out two very clear ways of life. And it urges the humble person to choose the path of life – which is to do with living by faith and hope. It is about being cool minded, not hot headed. It is about waiting calmly rather than acting impetuously. It is about the long view rather than the short-term gain. It is about doing good even when doing evil seems to reap instant rewards. It is about discovering a peace that the world cannot give (John 14.7) rather than a piece of the action. This psalm suggests that there are to distinct and clear paths to choose between – the righteous way and the evil way.

During this lockdown phase of life, we, like a lot of households across the UK, have got a Netflix subscription for the first time. I have been watching Ozark. It tells the story of an apparently boring suburban family – Dad Marty is an accountant, Mum Wendy used to work on political campaigns before having two children, Charlotte (15) and Jonah (12). They are from Chicago. But they are far from boring.

It turns out Marty has been laundering earnings of a Mexican drug cartel for 10 years. Suddenly, overnight, they up sticks from Chicago and head to a Lakeland region of Missouri – The Ozarks – to begin a new life. But trouble follows them. They are totally in debt to the cartel and in order to save their lives have to sell their soul. Of course, deceit and lies surround them, cloak them, and bit by bit things start to fall apart. By series two, Wendy has been kidnapped by a heartbroken former pastor whose wife has been killed by a rival drug gang. In a cellar, taped to a chair, she is trying to make sense of her life in a conversation with him as his faith in God is shattered by his grievous losses. He has lost his church, his conviction and his wife as an innocent casualty of a drug turf war.

‘That’s the thing that no one tells you about evil,’ says Wendy Byrde. ‘They make it seem like there are two clearly marked paths with flashing  pointing out each way: sin, redemption. I mean, they tell you that Adam and Eve knew they could eat from every single tree in that garden except one. But the truth is evil comes when the righteous path is so hidden it looks like there is only one way out..… There is another path for you. A better path.’

Evil comes when the righteous path is so hidden it looks like there is only one way out – and that is yet more bad choices.

The psalmist is convinced that notwithstanding the fact that the wicked prosper, there is a greater storyline, a bigger picture – and it is God’s justice, God’s purposes, God’s timeline. Though the wicked do prosper, they shall be ‘cut off’ and those who wait for the Lord ‘shall inherit the land’ (vs9) and ‘shall enjoy great peace’ (vs11).

‘The affirmation of God’s rule is made in circumstances that seem to deny it,’ says my commentary. ‘In short, Psalm 37 is eschatological. For now, the wicked do prosper ‘in their way’ (vs7). Thus the future tense of the two refrains is significant: ‘shall inherit’ and ‘shall be cut off’.’[2]

Centuries after the psalms were collected up, Jesus spoke about this same counter-cultural attitude. With Psalm 37 clearly in mind, he started one of his most important sets of teachings (The Beatitudes) with this phrase: the meek ‘shall inherit the earth’ (Matthew 5.5). And he then walked meekly upon this earth. He is God’s beloved son, and is a co-partner in the creation of all that is. Yet this magnificent co-creator is a meek servant king. He sets the mark – the gold standard – of courageous living in the face of evil. Nearly 40 years ago, a songwriter penned perhaps the most profound 11 words of theology in modern hymnody. He captured the magnificence of all creation and the malfeasance of evil. ‘Hands that flung stars in to space, to cruel nails surrendered.’ [3] Graham Kendrick does not answer the problem of evil so much as describe God’s commitment to all humanity and all creation amidst the reality of evil. 


As we begin to emerge into the reality that this evil virus will continue to shape our lives for many months to come, we also have a path to choose. We can fret about the virus or we can face the reality and live. We reverse evil by choosing to live (L I V E is the opposite of E V I L).

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[1] New International Version - UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[2] New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary ©1996 Abingdon Press, Nashville, p828

[3] Graham Kendrick: The Servant King  © 1983 Thankyou Music/PRS