Psalm 37: The Righteous vs. the Wicked
I’ve got a disclaimer for you this week: Psalm 37 is full of richness and nuggets to chew on. Like always, I will not be able to do this Psalm justice, and there will be much I don’t even touch on. These Psalm posts are not meant to be comprehensive. Ultimately, I think my goal with this series is to whet your appetite for the Word of God. To give you a little morsel of goodness that inspires you to do your own digging. So, I know I say this every week, but don’t stop here. Read Psalm 37 in a few different translations. Look up related verses and passages—most Bibles will give you some.
I think Psalm 37 reads a bit like Proverbs. The stanzas and groupings of verses pack a punch just by themselves. Each one full of wisdom and a truth-filled principle or general idea. I’ll admit, there are many verses within this Psalm that I know and have memorized over the years. And I’ve typically kept them at a distance from each other. I knew them separately and had never really tried to piece them together with the threads offered by David through this Psalm as a whole.
Psalm 37:4 — Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:5 —Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.
Psalm 37:23 — The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in His way.
Familiar verses. Each one true and full of wisdom. Each one worth meditating on and even standing on in prayer. No argument here about that, because I have a long history of doing just that with each of these verses. In fact, Psalm 37:4 is a kind of life verse for me. When I began understanding it correctly, I realized how it actually could help direct my life and decisions…how it could help me determine whether my dreams and desires were from God or not. (Interested in reading about that? This blog post goes into more detail.)
But for the time I have you today, I want to zoom out. I want to try to piece this Psalm together, to help us begin to see the bigger theme at play. Maybe we’ll better understand what I believe David is revealing through these words.
The Righteous Vs. the Wicked
This Summer in the Psalm series started with Psalm 1. Do you remember what that Psalm was about? (You can read about it here.) It pointed out the reality of TWO PATHS made available in this life: the path of the wicked and the path of the righteous. Here in this Psalm, we see these paths further characterized and fleshed out.
Look at the first couple verses, for example:
“Fret not yourself because of evildoers…for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.”
Those who follow the path of wickedness will fade. They will wither. They “shall be cut off, but those who WAIT FOR THE LORD [trust in Him] shall inherit the land” (v.9). Those who choose the path of righteousness, the path of following the Lord shall be established in the land, shall find their inheritance in the Lord. Wickedness leads to death; righteousness leads to life.
As you read, take note of what David writes of the wicked, the wrongdoers. And just as importantly, notice what he says of those who trust and wait on the Lord. How many times does he refer to them inheriting and dwelling in the land? Deuteronomy 30:15-20 gives some necessary context to what exactly David was referring to when he talks about inheriting the land. This was a promise given to the people of God by God Himself. And for us, it means that God is a promise-keeper.
Throughout Psalm 37, David sets up the stark differences in the eternal future of those who follow God and those who don’t. This is the bigger theme of this Psalm. This is the truth David is pointing to throughout the whole of the Psalm.
Just as in Psalm 1, we see a depiction of the one who follows the path of righteousness, but we get it in more practical terms.
What does it look like to follow the path of righteousness?
Trust in the Lord, and do good. (v.3)
Delight yourself in Him (v.4)
Commit your way to Him (v.5)
Be still and wait for Him (vv.7, 9, 34)
Be meek or humble (v.11)
Live generously (vv.21, 26)
The Law of God is in his heart (v.31)
Take refuge in Him (v.40)
To be clear, these things are not done to become righteous. This is what is done by a righteous person, someone following the narrow path offered by Christ. It’s not something done to earn righteousness; it is done as a response to what was already done for us.
In the time this Psalm was written, these actions were possible based on their history with God. That’s why all throughout the OT, God asks them to REMEMBER what He had done, specifically their deliverance from Egypt and His parting of the Red Sea. This reality was to be so ingrained in their culture and way of viewing and knowing God that it enabled them to trust Him, wait on Him, take refuge in Him, etc. They looked forward to a time when the Messiah would come and save them—of course, they didn’t fully understand what and how that would be.
For us, we still are called to remember what God has done, to believe His Word and the history of His people, but we are also called to remember what Christ, the Messiah, has done, to believe in Him and His sacrifice and how that CHANGED EVERYTHING. We no longer look forward to being saved by His grace. That’s a done deal. But we do look forward to the fulfillment of all that is still promised, to our resurrection and everlasting life. And, ultimately, we are looking forward to meeting our King face to face and when Revelation 21:1-8 becomes reality. (Which, if you read those verses, you’ll notice what happens to those on each of the paths presented throughout the Scriptures—the righteous and the wicked.)
Let’s end here:
“Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future [an eternal future] for the man of peace. But the transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.” Psalm 37:37-38 ESV (emphasis mine)
There is an eternal future of peace at the end of one of the paths. So, the age old question still remains: Which path will you take?
DIG DEEPER:
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Revelation 21:1-8
Psalm 73
Psalm 112
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