Waiting for God – Psalm 37

Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40

¹ Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers,
² for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.

³ Trust in the Lord and do good; live in the land and enjoy security.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
⁶ He will make your vindication shine like the light and the justice of your cause like the noonday.

⁷ 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.

⁸ Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret—it leads only to evil.
⁹ For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

¹⁰ Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there.
¹¹ But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

³⁹ The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their refuge in the time of trouble.
⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and rescues them; he rescues them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him.

A reflection:

Our gospel text this week asks us to love our enemies and go beyond usual expectations and be generous with people who have done wrong to us. The story of Jacob tells of a man who repaid evil with good and behaved generously with his captors and his family. Both texts depend on our ability to be patient, so it shouldn’t surprise us that our psalm for this week is about patience, about waiting for the Lord, no matter what nonsense is going on around us. The wicked are prospering, but we are not to imitate them. Instead, we are to wait upon the Lord, who will give us the desires of our heart. God will make sure the wicked get their comeuppance.

This may seem like a fanciful psalm. How many times DON’T we see the wicked get their comeuppance? Plenty of times. But God wants us to live by faith. God wants us to have a strong relationship with God, not with those with earthly power. And this psalm says that God will be faithful. We just have to wait for it.

Difficult instructions, once again. Waiting is hard to do. Believing that “the wicked will be no more” doesn’t always make sense. But our God loves to surprise us, and our God brings about justice. If the story of Joseph teaches us anything, it is that Joseph remained faithful, and Joseph was blessed mightily by God while the wicked brothers had to come begging for food. So maybe patience and faith do bring us to God’s justice. So, trust in the Lord. This is not easy to do alone, so this is why we love living in Christian community, to help us be patient and wait for the Lord. Together. Encouraging one another. I encourage you, and you encourage me. Let us endeavor to keep that up.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for your promise to save us, to give us the earth, and to make the wicked vanish. Help us to remain faithful and to be patient as we wait for your salvation. Help us to help one another. Amen.