Prayer:  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

At 5pm on Thursday when I was wanting to pack up, go home and begin to relax to enjoy my day off on Friday – I began to fret a little as I had not yet begun writing this sermon!  I had enjoyed the public holiday on Monday, but then with various other things on in the week it meant I was behind in my preferred schedule of at least being part way through my sermon writing before leaving here on a Thursday night!  45 minutes later I had re-read my notes, opened a word document, and put the heading in – but I hadn’t really begun!  Ah well, no point in fretting too much over that I thought, it just meant extra work and a little more stress for Saturday!

What do you fret over? Or worry or panic or get in a sweat or a fluster or agitated or angry about?

Do you worry about your finances – will you have enough to live comfortably for the rest of your days?  For some this is a serious worry – do they have enough to pay the next mortgage or rent payment, or buy food?

Do you worry about your health?  Do you begin to fret as you wait for results from tests the Dr has requested?

Do you sweat the small things – running late for an appointment?

Do you worry about your reputation?  Do you fret about what others might think of you?

Do you get agitated over personal injustice – when you’ve done the right thing, but it seems that those who cheat and don’t care about others seem to have it all?

Do you worry about the affairs of the world – of disasters – natural and man-made – of threats of wars?

The writer of psalm 37, King David in his old age (according to verse 25 “I was young, but now I am old”) knew what it was like to live in times of conflict with enemies, he experienced personal injustices – just think of those times when he was chased down by King Saul for no reason other than jealousy.  David had opportunities to kill Saul himself, and yet he chose not to give in to anger, he chose to love his enemy and do good for him.  He trusted in God and left justice in his hands.

In this psalm David tells his readers, not to worry, not to get angry, not to fret!

For those interested in styles of literature, you may be interested to know that this psalm is an acrostic.  You’ve possibly heard of acrostic poems.  Approximately every other verse in this psalm begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (doesn’t really translate with the English alphabet!).  This would have made it easier to memorize.

But even without us being able to see the acrostic nature of this psalm, David has used repetition to make sure his message is heard loud and clear!

Three times in the first 8 verses he repeats the refrain DO NOT FRET!

David knows that when we are middle of fret and worry and anger we may not be hearing well – so he tells us several times.

He adds in verse 8, refrain from anger and turn from wrath, as fretting can also be defined in those terms as well as worry.

Why should we refrain from these things?  Because it leads only to evil David says.  When we are angry, we may lash out and do or say something we regret later, something that hurts other people.  When we worry too much it may cause us to suffer from anxiety, sleeplessness, and ill health.

I always know when I am particularly anxious because even if I’m not aware of it my body will let me know.  Such as feeling a little short of breath, or not being able to get to sleep.

Fortunately, in this psalm David doesn’t just tell us what not to do…he very clearly advises what we should do in place of fretting.

Have you ever had anyone tell you to stop worrying, or stop being angry about a particular situation, but they don’t give any suggestion on what to do instead?  This can be frustrating; we often know we shouldn’t worry but find it very hard to stop.

David is very clear about what we should do instead and of what the outcome is when we do this.

He says, from verse 3: Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.  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 do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.  Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.

He repeats himself again with the important message for us to hear and take hold of…twice he says we should trust in the Lord.

What does it mean to trust?  The dictionary puts it like this:

1a: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something

b: one in which confidence is placed

2a: dependence on something future or contingent : HOPE

The Lord himself is the one in whom we trust, he is reliable, strong, truthful, in whom we can have confidence.  He is the one we can depend on both now and in the future.  Especially in the future – for sometimes we don’t see evidence of the desires of our hearts or the fruits of justice we would like to see.  But we put our hope and trust in the one who will eventually bring these things about.

It may look like the wicked are winning, but we hold on to hope spoken in verse 11; A little while and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them they will not be found.  But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.

Instead of fretting or taking justice and judgement into our own hands, we need to trust and do good, David repeats the message to do good in verse 27.  How do we ‘do good’?  The words of Jesus, that we heard from Luke 6 today help define this; Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you…do not judge…do not condemn. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give and it will be given to you.

We can do this as we delight ourselves in the Lord, as we meditate on his word – we talked about that from psalm 1 last week.  As we trust and look to God, focus on Jesus, rather than ourselves and our worries then we will dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 

What thoughts or images conjure up for you as you think about safe pasture?

……??

My thoughts were taken to that well-known psalm 23;

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

Now that’s a good psalm to meditate on as an antidote to worry!  The Lord gives us safe pasture and he is the good shepherd in whom we can trust.

And he will lead us when we trust and commit our way to him, when we follow him and place our all our hope in him, not in ourselves or others.

David also tells us in psalm 37 to Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.

This is perhaps where we come undone, and our fretting takes over.

Sometimes we are not good at being still or being patient!

So, we need to stop and ask ourselves do we really trust in God and his promises?

Are we prepared to be meek, humble ourselves before him, choose to delight and focus on him instead of the problem that may not be solved immediately?

The last couple of weeks I have shared some of the amazing story of medical missionary Dr Helen Roseveare in the Congo from the 50’s to the early 1970’s.  I finished the second book this week and I really appreciate her honesty – times when she admits to pride, trying to solve problems in her own strength and then being reminded again and again to stop and trust in God.  Sometimes it was lack of finances, but when she stopped and prayed and trusted then the money would always be enough.  Later it was issues of conflict and tension post-independence, and issues of personal injustice where she had to put herself aside and love others.  She had to be very patient and wait and trust in the Lord.

We too must do this.  Fortunately, the Lord is very patient with us, and waits for us to return to trusting in him time and time again.  But we could save a lot of pain and energy that takes hold of us when we fret, worry, and get angry.

So, let’s remember this acrostic psalm of David’s next time we begin to fret over something large or small.  Firstly, remember his repeated exhortation DO NOT FRET!  And then remember his antidote to fretting – trust and wait and delight I n the Lord and do good.  It is the Lord himself who will help us, who will lead us in safe pasture, who will vindicate us and give us his peace to enjoy.

Psalm 37 finishes on this encouraging note that the Lord will do this!

The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

Let’s be still before the Lord, psalm 46 also tells us to be still – to know that God is God – our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.

Sing…

Be still and know that I am God…

I am the Lord that health thee…

In thee O Lord I put my trust….