ON A PERSONAL NOTE
Psalm 37 has played a tremendous role in the life of our family. One role to note is the day Carrie and I were closing on our current home on 5th Avenue. Just before we were leaving to sign the dotted line, I had a rush of panic! Questions began racing through my mind: Were we making a mistake? Was this going to end up being a disaster? To keep from spreading my panic to Carrie, I stepped outside onto my parents’ deck and began to ask the Lord to make His plan known to me in an undeniable way. In my desperation, I opened my Bible and was prompted by the Holy Spirit to turn to Psalm 37; a Psalm that was familiar to me, but that I had not read recently. I desperately began to read it from the beginning and, immediately, I was flooded with a peace that can solely come from the presence of our Lord when I read this verse:
“Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.”
In that moment, God’s Word overcame my fear! I was flooded with peace because the passage was showing me that our plans for buying a home in North Highland were aligned with His purposes. I left with Carrie to sign the closing documents that day with an unshakable confidence in the Lord. Now, 14 years later, this passage still serves as our family’s personal mission statement. As Carrie and I have taken the time during this season of “shelter in place” to reflect back over this Psalm, and reflect on our years in North Highland, we have rejoiced in seeing how the Lord has prodcued fruit through our lives, the life of Highland and Truth Spring consistent with the promises of Psalm 37.
FAMILY DEVOTION: PSALM 37
When David, a man described as “a man after God’s own heart”, writes about life’s happenings and God’s promises, one would be wise to pay attention and read carefully. Highland-tribe, please take your time as you read and dwell upon the power of God’s enduring Word throughout this devotion.
The devotion I have put together for Psalm 37 is sectioned into the parts of how it was originally written. There are a total of 7 sections; we will cover four sections today.
Have someone read the given section of the Psalm. After each section, there will be a discussion topic or question ( This is part one of a two-part devotion).
Source: Seeds Family Worship
PSALM 37, SECTION ONE
“Do not fret because of evildoers,
Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
For they will wither quickly like the grass
And fade like the green herb.
Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.”
DISCUSS SECTION ONE
Section one centers on the fruit that comes from our lives when we confidently trust the Lord and commit our way to Him.
Does my way (or the way of our family) reflect that I (we) delight and trust in God? Give an example of what that has looked like for you or your family.
PSALM 37, SECTION TWO
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;
And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
But the humble will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.”
DISCUSS SECTION TWO
Section two compares people who live by their immediate passions to those who live by a steady patience. In Spurgeon’s “Treasury of David”, he refers to a statement that an author made about patience and passion. He says: “Passion has his good things first, then they are soon over; patience has his good things last and they last forever.”
What does resting in the Lord look like in your life or in the life of your family?
Do we see the value in patience and choosing to wait on the Lord?
PSALM 37, SECTION THREE
“The wicked plots against the righteous
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees his day is coming.
The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow
To cast down the afflicted and the needy,
To slay those who are upright in conduct.
Their sword will enter their own heart,
And their bows will be broken.”
DISCUSS SECTION THREE
In Section Three, David is pointing out that people who are evil, intentionally seek to oppress and mistreat people who are needy and *afflicted. As the Lord radically defends the most vulnerable, David points out that the Lord even laughs at those who think real power is to be gained from preying on the needy and afflicted.
Why is it that the Lord considers caring for the needy and afflicted important?
Do you or you and your family share in the Lord’s desire to defend and care for the needy and afflicted? Give an example.
*The word afflicted means grievously troubled, suffering, overthrown, having a sense of being defeated.
Psalm 37, SECTION FOUR
“Better is the little of the righteous
Than the abundance of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked will be broken,
But the Lord sustains the righteous.
The Lord knows the days of the blameless,
And their inheritance will be forever.
They will not be ashamed in the time of evil,
And in the days of famine they will have abundance.
But the wicked will perish;
And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures,
They vanish—like smoke they vanish away.
The wicked borrows and does not pay back,
But the righteous is gracious and gives.
For those blessed by Him will inherit the land,
But those cursed by Him will be cut off.”
DISCUSS SECTION FOUR
As David wrote by the power of the Holy Spirit many generations before, those who submit to the Lordship of Jesus, “will not be ashamed.” Highland, let us rejoice over the Lord, who forgives sin, covering us with His righteousness.
In our closing section for today, David compares the course of the life of both the righteous and the wicked. In 1 Corinthians 5, we read that Jesus became our “sin offering” and, through Him, we become the “righteousness of God.” WOW! Take the time to take that statement in. Highland, let us all pray, rejoicing over the righteousness that is ours, in Christ Jesus. Let us rejoice over the promise of God that says, ‘even in the midst of famine and adversity, the righteous will have an abundance!’ May we use that abundance, in this season of uncertainty, to care for the needy and afflicted.
We love you,
Rob & Carrie