Trust Him. (Psalm 23 ) Psalm 37

Psalm 37 v  25, reads ' I have been young , and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken ,nor his descendants  begging bread.' David was old and as he looked back on his life he declares God's faithfulness to His children. God is faithful all the time, our Saviour encouraged us , He said that  our heavenly Father will care of His children, ( Matthew 6 v 25 - 34 )But I will share what William Plummer writes on this  verse, 'There  are  in Scripture many general principles stated, which are not universally true,, though they are commonly so, and exceptions to them are rare'. There  many examples in scripture of  God providing for His children. and his children's children. So trust Him child of God  for your needs ,and your children's needs the Lords is your shepherd you shall not want.

Prosperity ( Psalm 37 )

 You want to prosper ?,yes of course you do, well let  us consider Psalm 37  v 3 - 6 tells three things we must do three things,

                                                                 One.

                                   Trust in the lord and do good , Then you will live safely

                                   in the land and prosper.

               .

 Don't just profess to trust the Lord,  show the reality of that, by doing good, ancient Israel failed in this, they did evil, and so  they didn't prosper.

                                                                Two.                                                                                       

                                          Delight  yourself also  in the Lord  ,

                                          And He  shall give you the desires

                                          of your heart.

Consider that word delight , people delight in a multitude of things , but not the Lord, as Christians our greatest delight should be the Lord., the question is He?. Well, if you do ,He shall give you the desires of your heart, in keeping with His will.

                                                                Three 

                                          Commit your way to the Lord . Trust 

                                          also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

Our ways, means all that concerns us ,commit  everything to God, everything, and He will honour that, all your endeavours, our going out and our coming in, Spurgeon  writes, 'Roll the whole burden of life upon the Lord. Cast away anxiety, resign  thy will, submit thy judgment, leave it all ,with the God of all.

                                                                                                        

                                             

                                             

                                              

Cease from anger. ( 2 ) ( 1 Peter 2 v 21 - 23 ) Ps37

  Let us consider v 7- 8  of Psalm 37 ,'Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him, fret not yourself  over the one that prospers  in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices. Refrain  from anger, and forsake wrath!  fret not yourself, it tends only to evil'. David experienced  harm  from people people who sought to hurt him  ,even though he had done them no harm. The first one was King Saul, time after time he sought to kill David, Saul hunted David like an animal .There  arose an opportunity for David to kill Saul CP 1 Samuel 24, but he didn't yield to the temptation, and he spared Saul's life ,it is Plummer who writes ,'He would  not hurt him, but left  his whole cause with God ,expecting  Him to send deliverance'. In 1 Samuel 25 we read of a man called Nabal who refused to help David ,and insulted him, and David was so angry that he were going to destroy him and his household. But Nabal's wife a wise person ,intervened with the result David ceased from his anger, and spared Nabal and his household.  Let us cease from our mad passions, and sinful anger, and leave God to deal with all such wrongs.

Remember. ( Psalm 107 )

Isaiah 63 v 7 ,reads, ' I will tell of the Lord's unfailing love. I will  praise  the Lord for all He has done'. I know life has its difficulties and things can get on top of us, and we forget just what the Lord has done for us. While not making light of the difficulties of life, take the words of the prophet and tell forth God's unfailing love to you, consider the pit He pulled you out of, and the  terrible He saved you from, even HELL. Consider how much it cost our dear Saviour to save you, look to the cross, on that cross ,He  took your punishment, that meant, at its worst experiencing the wrath of God. It does not stop there ,yes there is more, yes much more. John writes in amazement, 'What marvellous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it - we're called children of God! .Israel continually were told to look back and remember  God's pass blessing, His goodness ,mercy, and loving kindness. Mercy thankfully did not stop at the cross, the prophet Jeremiah wrote in a time of great suffering .

                                                Because of the Lord's great love

                                                we are not consumed, for His

                                                compassions never fail. They are

                                                 new every morning; great is your 

                                                 faithfulness.  ( Lamentations 3 v 22 - 23 )

                                                

Fret not ( Luke 16 v 19 - 31 )

 Psalm 37 is a lovely Psalm, it was written by David, a man after God's heart, yet a man for all that, so let us consider it , we will start at the very beginning. v 1- 2.

                                         Don't worry about the wicked or envy those who do 

                                          wrong. For like grass, they soon fade away. Like  

                                         spring flowers, they soon wither.

Psalm 73 deals with this also, there the writer is deeply disturbed  when  he saw how the ungodly  were prospering, so much so that he envied them, they didn't appear to have the troubles that the godly have. It was not until he sought God, that the cloud lifted, like v1-2  of  Psalm 34 v 1-2 ,he is reminded of there end, it will come, 73 v 18 ,reads God places them on slippery ground, and causes them to be cast down to ruin. Envy no one, especially the wicked, Herbert Lockyer writes,' Why envy the wicked, when the candle flickers into everlasting darkness'. Some translation use the word fret, instead of worry, they say that fret means ,'burn not thyself  with grief  or anger, I  occasionally get angry, and  sad, when I see how money grabbing  rascals are taking advantage of  refugees, their time will come, of that I am sure.

Grace in Trials. ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 9 )

 I have a book called 'The Valley of Vison', it comes from a time ,when  many Christian were known as Puritans, they were strict ,but very godly people, They get a bad press, being seen as kill joys I do not believe that was true, they were people who wanted to purify the  church. So here is one the prayers from  the ,Valley of Vision.

                                                    O Lord,  giver of all grace ,I look

                                                    to Thee for strength to maintain them in me,

                                                    for it is hard to practice what I believe.

                                                    Strengthen me against temptations. My

                                                     heart is an unexhausted fountain of sin,

                                                     a river of corruption since childhood days,

                                                     flowing on in every pattern of behaviour;

                                                     Thou hast disarrned me of the means in which I trusted,                        

                                                     and  I have no strength  but in Thee. 

                                                     Thou alone canst hold back my evil ways,

                                                     but without Thy grace to sustain me I fall.

                                                     Satan's darts quickly inflame me, and the 

                                                     shield that should quench them easily  drops 

                                                     from my hand; Empower me against his wiles

                                                    and  assaults, keep  me sensible of  my weakness,

                                                     and of my dependence upon Thy strength.

                                                     Let every trial teach me more of Thy peace,

                                                     more of Thy love.  Thy Holy Spirit  is given to

                                                     increase Thy graces, and I  cannot preserve or

                                                    or improve them, unless He works continually 

                                                    in me. May He confirm my trust in thy  promised help,

                                                    and let me walk humbly in dependence upon Thee,

                                                                           For  Jesus sake,

                                                                                 Amen .

                                                     

 

                                    

When they're gone, they 're gone. ( Romans 4 v 7 - 8 )

 Psalm 103 is one of contrast, we have in v 3 , we have Gods forgiveness ,He is the one who forgives all your sins. that is something we can't do, forgiving sins is Gods business, No priest can forgive sins, the only priest that can do is Jesus our great High  Priest Hebrews 10 v 17- 18. He forgives all our sins, no matter how many they are, no matter how bad they have been, no matter how far back in our lives they have taken place. All our sins can be forgiven ,let me stress this again , all our sins. The death of Christ was for sins we have committed (Christ never sinned ),the blood that He shed, cleanses us from all sin,1 John 1 v 7. Consider v 12 of this Psalm , 'As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us', they are gone, vanished, we are free from guilt, no longer under the wrath of God.

                                                  My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought!

                                                 My sin , not in part but the whole,

                                                 Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more;

                                                 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O  my soul.  ( Words H. G. Spafford)