Do not fret because of the
wicked;
do not be envious of wrongdoers,
for they will soon fade like the
grass,
and wither like the green herb.
Trust in the LORD, and do good;
so you will live in the land, and
enjoy security.
Take delight 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 act.
He will make your vindication
shine like the light,
and the justice of your cause
like the noonday.
Be still before the LORD, and
wait patiently for him;
do not fret over those who
prosper in their way,
over those who carry out evil
devices.
Refrain from anger, and forsake
wrath.
Do not fret — it leads only to evil (Psalm 37:1-8).
This psalm used
to be running joke between my friend, James, and I. We were both Christian musicians who used
guitars as our primary instruments (heaven forbid!) and received a lot of
criticism for it. We deduced that our
ministry was founded on Psalm 150:4, “Praise the Lord with tambourine and
dance; praise the Lord with strings and pipe!” while our nay-sayers
obviously took the phrase “Do not fret!” literally. Get it?
Musician humour: seldom funny, but always ‘pun’-y. Anyway...
When
I read this psalm again last week I was taken aback by what verse 8 actually does say, “Do not fret — it
leads only to evil.” Woah
there! I’m used to hearing (and giving)
the platitude, ‘Don’t worry so much,” but I’ve never connected it to the idea
of evil before. What is the psalmist
getting at here? How can fretting or
worrying actually lead to evil, let alone only
lead to evil?
As is
my normal practice when exploring meanings, I started by researching the roots
of the words ‘fret’ and ‘worry.’ Both words have their origins in Old English,
but do not refer to emotions in any way.
To ‘worry’ has its roots in the words ‘to strangle, bite or harass,’
while ‘fret’ similarly finds its roots in ‘to eat up or consume.’ So, simply put, to worry or fret involves
something being strangled, or harassed, or consumed!! Let me tell you, it’s not the issues or
problems in question that are strangled or consumed by worry. I would challenge anyone to deny this. Show me how any problem, real or imagined,
has been affected by the power of worry.
On the other hand, I can easily offer a list of people (myself included)
whose lives have been emptied, worn away, or consumed through worry.
There
is a Newfoundland
saying that applies here. When someone
receives a piece of unexpected bad news that person might say that “the news
took the good right out of them.” This is
the ultimate effect of worry: it wears us down – consumes us - until we become
hopeless, and a hopeless person is open to all options, even evil.
The
psalmist also suggests that worrying implies a lack of faith in God. If we believe in a God who is good and who
loves us, what is there to worry about, ever?
There
is an old Irish saying that I am very fond of.
It goes like this:
Why
worry?
Things
will go one of two ways:
they
will either get better or worse.
If
they get better, great!
If
they get worse...
Things
will go one of two ways:
you
will either live or die.
If
you live, great!
If
you die...
Things
will go one of two ways:
you
will either go to heaven or you will go to hell.
If
you go to heaven, great!
If
you go to hell, worrying won’t change a thing.
Why
worry?
It
sounds a bit glib, I know, but it also points clearly to the futility of
worry. Not only does it wear you down,
it has no effect on the outcome of things.
The Psalmist
goes on to write a prescription for how we are to live, if we take the advice
not to worry or fret. Here it is, taken
line by line, with comments by yours truly.
“Trust
in the LORD” – This command is repeated two times because it is
the crux of the psalmist’s argument. If
we are a people who truly, honestly and completely trust in God, we should
never have reason to worry, even when things look at their worst. Yet, we know that this is the ideal and not
the practical way we must live our lives.
If I see a truck barrelling down the highway towards me on the wrong
side of the road…I’m going to worry about it.
I am NOT going to say…. “Eh…God is in control!” The reality is that this command to trust the LORD is global in
perspective. Though you should worry
about the truck about to hit you or the icy front steps or that rash that won’t
go away, in the grand scheme of things, we are a people of faith who believe
that in some way our God hold us in the palm of God’s hand and will make good
out of this world. Hard stuff to live
by, but the psalmist does go on to give us even more practical ways to live out
this trust, versus worrying ourselves away.
“Do
good”
– Find a way to change whatever you are worrying about into an opportunity to
do good. Worried about finances? Ask what good thing you can do about your
finances. Worried about a fight you had
with a friend? Ask what good you can do
to mend that relationship…and so on.
“Take
delight in the LORD” – Focus on God’s goodness in the midst
of your worries. You might not be able
to change the situation which is the source of your worry, but God can. Worried about the diagnosis that is coming
over the next few weeks? Focus on God’s
blessings, here and now. What delights
are being ignored because of the worry that is consuming you?
“Commit
your way to the LORD” – This sounds like a repeat of trust,
but it has a twist. If something is
worrying you, pray about what God wants you to do about it (even if that means
doing nothing but waiting) and commit to that.
God DOES give us direction, usually through the prayerful advice of our
Christian community. Seek it out!
“Be
still before the LORD” – Stop your restless pacing and come
before God. Give the issue, problem and
worry to God. Let God deal with the
issue, especially if it something you can do nothing about.
“Wait
patiently for him” – Patience….patience…patience. Lord, grant me patience…but HURRY! (This is one of my mother’s favourite
sayings.) Patience is a virtue. The hardest thing in the world is often the
waiting, but it happens so often you think we would start to build a resistance
to it. Each of us needs to learn how to let
time pass and let the unknown be revealed when the time is right.
“Refrain from anger and forsake wrath” –
The
easiest thing we can do when worried by an issue is become overwhelmed by anger
and frustration. Eventually, when we
allow ourselves to be consumed by our worries, anger will become our response
to everything and everyone in our lives.
This is the heart of the reason why the psalmist is adamant that we stop
living a life of worry. In the end it
leads us into temptation.
I
know. Right away most of you are saying,
but it’s not that easy. You can’t tell
me not to worry and that be it. You are
right. Not worrying is difficult, absolutely,
but who said that living out our faith was going to be easy? My suggestion? (Because I know you’re all dying
to hear it!) If we put our energy into
the psalmist’s prescriptions and not worry about worrying (see what I did
there?) we will foster good habits and disciplines of faithfulness, and not
encourage the growth of anger, frustration, anxiety and wrath in our
lives. Isn’t that worth the effort?
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