Fret Not

Have you ever noticed how often the Bible speaks to contemporary and timely issues even though it was written thousands of years ago?  Take for example, the title of our message today: “Fret not”  Now, unless you play guitar, you don’t use that word in everyday conversation. However, I would submit that everyone of us is quite familiar with what it means to fret.  In the passage of Scripture we’re going to look at in a few minutes, the biblical definition of fretting is to become agitated within.  To burn with a kind of anger that gnaws away at your contentment – an anger that stews in your heart and causes you to get worked up over injustices, over relationships, over finances, over your future.

In fact, it seems our culture continually presents us with one thing after another to keep us in a constant state of fretting: From the covid pandemic, to inflamed racial divisions, to out of control inflation, to corrupt politicians, to cancel culture, to transgender ideology being forced down our throats – we are continually moving from one opportunity to fret to another, and our problems don’t seem to be getting any better. And because of this, most of us find ourselves becoming agitated within about the state of our culture or frustrated with how much evil is having its way. People are moving further and further away from God’s Word.  And some are blatantly flaunting their evil and even attacking the moral foundations of the life we hold dear. And as a result, what’s happening today is gnawing away at your contentment and at times even filling you soul with worry and fear.

But let me encourage you today. For God’s people have often faced this kind of evil. One of those people was David. He experienced times when he burned within over the injustices he faced.  But in the process, he learned how to protect his contentment and even thrive in the face of evil. So, if you’ve ever found yourself burning with anger or losing your contentment because of the evil you’ve seen in our world today and would like to know how to guard your heart and thrive in your relationship with God in the face of evil, then let me encourage you this morning to open your Bible to Psalm 37. For it’s in this Psalm, David is going to give us a process of that well help us guard our hearts and keep our cool when evil seems to be winning the day.

So, if you’ve found Psalm 37, David gives us the first step in the process that will help guard our hearts and help us thrive in the face of evil, and that is this:

Keep Your Perspective   Keep a mindset that sees evil as a temporary reality. David He writes, Do not fret because of evildoers; or be envious of those who do wrong; for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb. Psalm 37:1-2

What David does here is remind us is that there will always be evil people in our world: people who are difficult, hurtful, mean and wicked.  There will be people who abuse their wealth to take advantage of the weak. There will be people who are corrupted by sin, who will say things that will offend you and do things that will wrong you.  But we are to not fret, get angry or get even… because their time is temporary.  Their time is short: for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb.

What David is doing here, is he’s helping us gain some perspective.  He wants us to know that when you see the wicked prosper you are only seeing part of the picture.  God wants us to see all of life from His perspective.  And His Word reminds us right here that everything the wicked have is fleeting. “They will soon fade away!” In fact, throughout this psalm David will continually remind us of the fleeting nature of the wicked.  The evildoers who appear to prosper, that appear to be in control “they will be destroyed,” (verse 9), they “will be no more,” (verse 10), they “will perish” and “will fade away like the smoke” (verse 20).  In other words, what David is calling us to remember, is this: God is still sovereign.  God is still in control. Evil people may appear to be prospering now, but God has numbered their days. Their time is short. So keep your perspective. Line up your few of history with God’s.

This is why it’s so important to be a person of the Word right now.  This is why you need to have people of faith around you right now.  For the evil one is working overtime through evil people to discourage you, to disillusion you and even destroy your faith.  Don’t let him do that. Do not fret.  Keep your perspective.  Remember what Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 So don’t let the evil one or evil people steal your peace or joy in Jesus. Their time is short. Their judgment is coming.

So now instead of fretting, instead of worrying about how bad up things are becoming, David gives us the next step that will not just guard our hearts, but will begin to help us thrive in the face of evil.  What is that next step?  It’s pretty simple actually.  He command us to…

Keep Trusting in God He begins by commanding us to Trust in the LORD, but then he reminds of how we are to do that: and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Psalm 34:3  In other words, to keep trusting in the Lord is not a passive activity where you just throw up your hands and hope God will take care of evil.  No, trusting in the Lord takes active participation. Faith is not passive, it always takes some kind of action on our part. You can do something to keep trusting in God. And David gives us at least four ways to cultivate our trust in verses 3 through 6.

And the first thing we are to do is this: continue doing good. If you’re trusting in the Lord, you’re not just sitting on your hands waiting for Him to wipe away evil.  Instead, you’re intentionally looking for ways to do good in the world.  And every time you do some good in the world, you show something of God’s goodness to the world, and you shine light in the midst of darkness.

For example, if God has been gracious to you in Jesus Christ, then you be gracious to others.  Give them your patience.  Give them your kindness. Forgive them.  Love them with Christ’s love.  Do for them what they do not deserve.  Look for ways to serve them and even bless them.  You see it’s very rare today that anyone blesses those who don’t deserve it.  We live in a day where’s there’s so contention, argument and division. Those who oppose you are looking for ways to discredit you or cancel you.  David is telling us to not play by their rules – but by God’s rules.  Don’t fight with them – give them what they don’t deserve. Love them, serve them, bless them.

In the midst of growing evil around us, God is giving us great opportunity to flip the script by doing acts of kindness, generosity and love.  People are not just experiencing grace today, and yet it is Jesus who calls us to be peddlers of grace.

This one’s personal to me.  Next month, I will be going to Oregon to conduct my mother’s memorial.  On a Friday evening, I will be spreading her ashes next to my dad’s. Then the next day, all the family will gather for a memorial barbecue at my brother’s.  I’ve been fretting over this because I’ve got more than a few nieces and nephews who openly celebrate pride month.  And I’ve got one whose daughter is now a son. And I’ve been stewing over this. How do I avoid confrontation at this memorial? How do I keep my cool if one of them attacks me for holding to my Biblical views?

This verse is helping me.  Because we are not called to hate, NOR to affirm a lifestyle that defies God’s created order.  But I can focus on doing good to them.  To loving them as Christ loved me.  By being gracious. By being kind.  By doing good. As Paul wrote to the Romans: Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.  On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-21

This is the first way we can counter the evil by trusting in God.  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  Now, that’s just one way we can actively keep on trusting in the Lord.

Here’s a second way: cultivate faithfulness  David says it this way: dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.  The idea here is that when evil prospers, insecurity multiplies. So, cultivating faithfulness means what it says it means.  It means staying true to your spouse, when the world says marriage is just a piece of paper.  It means staying involved with your church family, when the world says the church is obsolete and out of touch.  It means paying your bills and paying your taxes.  Our society is looking for stability when the foundations of society are under attack. And we have the means to give our culture that stability.  So cultivate faithfulness.

You may not think your faithfulness to your spouse matters all that much, but it’s huge an example for your grandkids.  Your faithfulness to your children, and their children give a solid footing in an unstable world.  This is one thing our generation can do to bring stability to an evil age.  So, be there for your spouse, be there for your children, be there for your grandchildren and keep living your faith before them.  That’s a second way to keep trusting in God. Cultivate Faithfulness.

Thirdly: take delight in God Verse 4 says, Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Take delight in God. To some of you this might seem to be a strange command.  But if you start to think about it, taking delight in God may be the most natural thing for us to do.  It’s at the core of what it means to be human.  Some of you take delight in creating things like pottery or photography or woodworking.  Some of you take delight in gardening, cooking or traveling.  We all delight in taking delight.  That’s how God made us. So, if you think about it, if God made us to take delight and God gave us all this great stuff to delight in, then maybe He’s worth taking delight in!

And there’s a benefit to taking delight in God.  When we take delight in the LORD, God does something for us.  He gives us what we long for.  He promises to give you the desires of your heart.  After all, he created our hearts.  He gave us these desires.  And God is not stingy.  The world tries to tell us where we can satisfy our hearts.  But only the maker of our hearts can truly satisfy our hearts. Do you believe this?

Think about what David is helping us to do here.  He’s commanding us to take our eyes off the evil around us, and having us focus on our good, our gracious and compassionate God.  When I think about delighting in God, I begin to see that I’m wasting far too much energy and life obsessing on evil.  Yes, our world is broken.  Yes, there’s blatant evil happening in our culture. And our media will gladly have you consume this swill all day long. But God doesn’t your focus to be on evil, but on the good found in Him.. So, maybe it’s time you made God your obsession.  Count your blessings.  Start a thankfulness journal.  Praise Him for His goodness, His grace, His mercy and love – and do so everyday. Taste and see that He is good. Take delight in the Lord.  Are you doing that?  That’s how we are to trust in the Lord.

Now here’s another way: Let God carry your burdens.  Verse 5 says, Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Psalm 37:5-6  This command “commit your way” literally means to “roll your burdens off your backs onto Him.” That’s literally the same command Peter wrote to us: “Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7  Sounds easy doesn’t it?  But it’s not that easy.  Why?  Because we are just too eager to carry our own burdens.  We have a saying, “Carry your own weight.”  This is especially true for us guys.  If a guy doesn’t carry his own weight, we look down on him.  He’s not being a man.  But this kind of thinking keeps us from trusting God.

In fact, this little phrase “Commit your way to the Lord” actually speaks to all of life.  “Your way” speaks to everything you may be carrying: including all your negative feelings, your nagging questions, your concerns about our country, your children, your health, your future – everything.  Here’s the truth behind this command: God expects His children to be children and to put ourselves completely under His Fatherly care.  And when we are doing that, we are trusting in Him to work.  He doesn’t want you to fret or fear. He simply wants you to hand everything over to Him. And if you can do that – if you can trust God with everything in your life, you’ll be free from fretting.

Then you will be able to do the next activity David commands for us to do in the face of evil.  You will be able to Keep Waiting on God  David writes: 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. Psalm 37:7

This command means to “quiet yourself” before the Lord. The picture that comes best to mind is of an infant snuggled in the arms of her mother.  She is content, safe and secure in her mother’s arms.  She has no worries, no fears.  She looks with love into her mother’s eyes and smiles.  And her mother smiles back. This is what trust looks like. When you “quiet yourself” in your Father’s arms, there’s no worries, no fretting, only peace.

Of all the ways we can trust God, this may be the one that God desires most from us.  For when we’re quiet before Him, the evils of this world have no hold on us. And when the evils of this world no longer have a hold on you, you do not fret.  For now, in the Father’s arms, the Creator of your heart guards your heart and gives you peace.

But along with this “quieting yourself” before the Lord, we are also commanded to “wait patiently for Him.”In other words, mere stillness is not enough.  What is needed is a settled patience, knowing that God will work on our behalf. This is the essence of trust.  Having this settled patience that God will take care of us, even though evil is swirling around us.

And yet, in our quick fix, instant gratification culture, this may be the hardest thing for you to do.  But it may be one of the best things you’ll ever do.  For if you can be still and wait on God to work; you will show the world a contentment they’re not finding. You will show the world a joy that eludes them.  And you might just show the world the hope you have in Jesus.

This may be hard for us.  But when we stop fretting and wait patiently for Him, we allow Him to work to remove evil.  And sometimes, I think, this precisely what God is waiting on in our relationship with Him.  He wants to work to help us.  But we’ve got to cultivate the kind of patience that will allow Him to work in His timing.

And then, as you quietly wait on the Lord to work, you’ll be able to fulfill this final command. You’ll be able to Keep Your Cool  David concludes this portion of his psalm by coming back to the original command and writes: Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. Psalm 34:8-9

You see there is a strong call today to take matters into our own hands and fight the evil that’ so prevalent today.  And yes, there’s a place for that.  But in these verses, God’s Word has shown us that what matters more to Him, is that we would not fret, we would not get angry – for when we go down that road, we’re going down the road of evil ourselves.

So, rather than stew over the evil that’s happening today, God has shown us another way.  In the face of evil, God call us to refrain from anger and turn from wrath. For anger leads to nothing good.

Instead, God would have you…

Keep your perspective – and remember evil will soon fade away

Keep trusting in the Lord

   By doing good to those who don’t deserve it

   By cultivating faithfulness in all your relationships

   By taking delight in God who gives you the desires of your heart

   By letting God carry your burdens

   And by quietly waiting for Him to deliver you.

And when you do these things:

God will guard your heart,

protect your joy and

help you overcome evil with good.

Let’s pray.