Praying the Psalms: Psalm 37

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Psalm 37 is an acrostic poem. Each stanza starts with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Some may argue that this merely proves that acrostics are an awesome form of poetry and appropriate for most any occasion (try writing one for Australia Day!). But I think there might be something more interesting here. In Revelation 1:8, God says that He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. But David uses the whole alphabet here to praise God – He’s not just the first and the last, He’s the whole thing. And if every letter of the alphabet is used to praise God, then in a sense, every letter is made holy. There’s no part of our speech that isn’t implicated in God’s praise. It’s a little like James’ thoughts about the taming of the tongue. James 3:9-10 says, ‘With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be!’

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In Psalm 37, David tells us a lot about what The Wicked are like, and also what The Godly are like.  Graham Johnston was my pastor at Subi Church of Christ for 10 years, and one of the things I appreciated most about his preaching was the interesting people he referred to. He often quoted Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn, a Russian author, who wrote,

‘If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?’

When David tells us that ‘The wicked have drawn the sword and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to slay those who are of upright conduct,’ it’s worth checking our own hearts because we might just be the sword-drawers. In fact, without the Holy Spirit changing us from within, there’s every likelihood that we are the sword-drawers. Praise God that He makes us new.

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Among other things, Psalm 37 is about money. And stuff. Prosperity, to use a loaded term. If you wanted to believe that Christianity was about living large, you’d probably embroider v4 on a pillow. But what to do with v19? Can we assume that it means that no-one who truly loves God has ever died in a famine? If kids are going hungry, does v25 prove that their parents are ungodly?

That’s part of the reason it’s worth dealing with the whole of the Bible. At the Dunjey DT last week, we were looking at Luke 9 with Jesus giving some pretty strong challenges; to follow Him is apparently to follow a leader who has no place to lay His head, much less a fortress or a palace, or even a Kirribilli.  Paul says in Philippians 4 that he has learned the secret of contentment in every situation – ‘whether living in plenty or in want’ – and that secret is the strength given him by Jesus. I just don’t think we can assume that a life of following hard after Jesus will necessarily be characterised by visible, physical wealth. Actually, v4 probably is ripe for transfer onto a cross-stitch grid: if you’re delighting yourself in the Lord, then He’s going to do for you what He did for Paul – remake you from the inside, realign your desires with His desires, and then give you the stuff that’s really good for you.

– Karyn Lochore