Fret Not!
I recently spent a week meeting with the Lord in the comforting words of Psalm 37. If you’ve never read or studied this Psalm, I highly encourage you to do so. The theme of the entire Psalm is that the righteous will win in the end and those that do evil will lose. Read carefully the words of the first four verses:
Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
The Psalm continues in that same truth for forty verses! The phrase “fret not” is repeated three times in the first eight verses.
I must confess that I was (unexpectedly) convicted upon studying this Psalm – actually, within studying the very first verse. I often fret because of evildoers. I fret about the evil being done in this country. I fret about evil being done to the church at large, as well as to our church. I fret about evil being done to my husband or to my children. But I must admit that I fret most often about evil being done to me. I am so inclined to give in to the urge of my flesh to get my eyes off the Lord and onto people. And people are oh, so sinful! Their sin affects me. So how do I respond? I fret.
The second phrase of the first verse goes on to say, “be not envious of wrongdoers!” Conviction upon conviction. I realized not only that I fret because of evildoers, but I am also often envious of wrongdoers. The realization of that truth crashed into my consciousness like a lightning rod. Not only do I fret, then I envy those that do wrong.
Jesus said that “in this world we would have trouble.” Trouble is a fact and often trouble is due to evildoers. We live in a sin-fallen world with sin-fallen people and we will encounter evildoers, often on a daily basis. We must remember that every single person is either surrendering to the Lordship of Christ, or pursuing the lust of their own flesh, which is evil. There are only two paths. Therefore, when those of us that are surrendering to Christ encounter those that are not, we are encountering those that do evil and often that evil is directed to us.
Tom and I are movie people. We love many different kinds of movies and Tom is constantly quoting lines from movies to me. One of his favorites is, “Good will overcome. Trust in that.” That is an accurate analysis of Psalm 37.
So, the next time you encounter an evildoer, what will be your response? What should be your response? Fret not!
