DC Devotion: Psalm 37
BY KATIE FAIR, SOCIAL WORKER IN INDIANAPOLIS
There’s a lot happening in this Psalm. (Fun fact, it’s actually an acrostic poem, the stanzas of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet in the original translation.)
Do not fret because of those who are evil…
Trust in the Lord and do good…
Commit your way to the Lord…
Be still before the Lord…
Hope in the Lord…
These are the directives of Psalm 37. Light work, right? I don’t know about you, but for me reading through a list of directives like this, it’s easy for me to see the challenges in the instruction. To hear the questions that roll around my mind.
“Do not fret because of those who are evil”. How am I not supposed to worry? The world feels like it is falling apart, people are suffering and newsflash God, I’ve got anxiety! Fret feels like my middle name!
“Trust in the Lord and do good”. Am I trusting in you enough? God, how do I trust you when I don’t feel like I can hear you?
“Commit your way to the Lord.” I’m committed, Lord. I’m trying my best to surrender each day, each moment to you. Will you show me your way?
“Be still before the Lord”. God, sometimes life feels like it’s happening to me and coming a million miles an hour, so being still feels utterly impossible some days. And what’s more – what if I’m still, and all the things I’ve been holding at bay come rushing up inside me?
“Hope in the Lord”. Lord, to hope feels so vulnerable. What if I open myself up to hope, to your holy imagination of what could be and the thing I pray for doesn’t happen? What then?
When evil seems to win, when the promises of God don’t seem to come true, when God doesn’t seem to answer our prayers in the way we thought, it’s really tempting to let fear creep in. To fret, if you will. It’s easy to look around anxiously at the success of those who seem less committed to God and his Word—and wish we had it like them. We wonder if obedience to God and his Word is worth the cost, and discipline. My questions, your questions, are good. They are. And they are not the whole picture. What if… when we read Psalm 37 and we read directives on how to live and lean in to God when it feels like the world is falling down around us, we read them for the invitations they are too. Not just challenges for application.
As I read this passage, I see invitations to experience more. More peace, delight, prosperity, protection, security, generosity, and love.
As you reflect on this passage and spend some time in prayer, consider asking God the following…
Lord, what do you want to say to me through this passage?
Examine my spirit, Lord, and if there is any evil in me root it out and replace it with your goodness. I take responsibility for the ways I may have caused harm to others. Your word says that in you we are made new. Renew my mind, my spirit.
Father, my heart breaks to see the evil in the world around me. Would you cover me and my community in your peace that surpasses all understanding. Would you comfort the brokenhearted and give me wisdom and discernment as I respond. Help me to not get caught up in keeping score, casting judgment, or wishing I had someone else’s success. Keep my eyes on the next step in front of me and focus on the path you continually illuminate to me, keeping in step with you.
And for the questions and the worries and the wondering in my mind – I thank you that you can hold it all. My anger, my doubt, my joy, my fears. Thank you that not only can you hold it all, you want to. I want to know your voice, Lord. Would you speak to me in my seeking and help me know that you are near today.
Amen.
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