Psalm 37 (Part 01) – Psa 37:1a – Fret Not Because of Evildoers

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Psalm 37

1. Psalm 37 is a beautiful Psalm of comfort for God’s children. It speaks of many things, including:
2. Exhorting the righteous to not fret because of the wicked.
3. Trusting in God and committing our lives to Him.
4. Waiting on the LORD.
5. The fate of the wicked.
6. Characteristics of a good man.
7. The provision of God for the righteous.

Psalm 37 verse by verse

Psa 37:1 – “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.”

1. There are two states of mind that need to be avoided when living among wicked people.
2. The first is being worried and distressed about them.
3. Fret 1 – 8. trans. To chafe, irritate. Chiefly with regard to the mind: To annoy, distress, vex, worry. Also, to fret oneself; and to bring into or to (a specified condition) by worrying. Cf. fret v.4 1.
4. The wicked men that are under consideration are evidently successful and powerful men, else there would be no reason to worry about them.
5. The children of this world are usually wiser than the children of God (Luk 16:8).
6. They end up becoming rich (Psa 73:12) and then proceed to oppress the righteousness (Jam 2:6).
7. They often end up in high positions in government in order to oppress people on a large scale (Ecc 5:8).
8. The LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted (Psa 140:12).

iii.    We must not worry about them or fear them (Isa 51:7; Psa 56:3-4,11; Psa 118:6 c/w Rom 8:31; Heb 13:6).

1. Don’t even fear if the government sends the military against us (Psa 27:3).
2. Remember that the powers that be can only do to us what God permits them to.
3. God will reprove kings for our sakes (Psa 105:4-15).
4. We can overcome them because the Spirit of God in us is greater than the devil that is in them (1Jo 4:4).
5. The LORD has not given us the spirit of fear (2Ti 1:7).
6. If we trust God and obey Him, He will deliver us from those we fear (Jer 38:19-20).

vii.  If we fear the wicked, we will be trapped in the prison of our own imaginations (Pro 29:25).

viii.The Lord gives the reasons for not fretting because of evildoers in the rest of Psalm 37.