Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Ps. 37:3 ESV

It’s hard to know how to respond when the world around us rejects God and declares its way the only acceptable way to live. Even more difficult to accept is that calling evil good and good evil seems to have no consequence. Evil prospers while Good struggles and is declared out of touch with reality.

In Psalm 37 David responds to the insecurity and concern of God’s people regarding what it means to live in such a world. His commitment to God had been attacked, and he felt the pressure even though he was a king. No doubt this helped prepare him to write this psalm and point the way that others might understand God’s way forward.

He begins by telling them the futility of getting angry. “Don’t fret,” he says. Today “fret,” is used mostly about an irritated or anxious child. Honestly, I’ve wondered if he was saying, “Stop acting like a child!” But the heart of what he says is found in verses 3 and 5.

There David calls upon them to meet the world’s challenge by trusting God and doing good. He emphasizes this in verse 5, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in Him, and He will do it.”

Regardless of what the world may do as it trusts its own opinions and worships its own ideas, believers are called to live in this world, cultivate faithfulness to God, and do good. We know that if we commit all to him, trust him, and rest in him, it will be just as David says in closing this psalm:

The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

Ps. 37:40 ESV

Who do you trust and what are you cultivating?