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by Ami Samuels

Sometimes when studying Scripture, something really stands out. I would like to share some of what I learned when recently studying Psalm 37.

It starts out saying “Do not fret.” We see this phrase repeated 3 times in the first 8 verses of Psalm 37.

Verse 1 says, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong.”

Verse 7 says, “Do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when the carry out their wicked schemes.”

Verse 8 says, “Do not fret it only leads to evil.”

I looked up the definition of the word fret. It means to cause to suffer emotional strain or to become worried. So, it is saying, “Do not suffer emotional strain, become worried, or envious when you see others getting ahead in their wrong doing or unfair ways, because this leads to evil.”

Verse 9 goes on to say, “For evil men will be cut off but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.”

It is clear what we aren’t supposed to do (do not fret), but what does Psalm 37 say we are supposed to do?

Let’s go back to verses 3-5: “Trust in the Lord and do good. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord trust in him and he will make your righteousness shine like the dawn.”

Verses 7-8 encourage us to “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him… Refrain from anger & turn from wrath.”

Let’s break it down like this:
Do not fret because of evil men.
Trust in the Lord.
Delight yourself in the Lord.
Commit your ways to the Lord.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.
Do not fret when men succeed in their own ways.
Refrain from anger.
Do not fret because it only leads to evil.

We live in a broken world where we see people who lie, cheat, and manipulate to get ahead all the time. This can be discouraging and frustrating, but together let’s take Psalm 37 and apply it to our lives and continue to do good, trusting in the Lord, waiting patiently for Him and do not fret!

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