The Righteous & Wicked Contrasted

It is a common temptation; so if you haven't experienced it yet, you probably will sometime. If you aren't prone to envy the rich, worldly man for coveting what he has for yourself, still this temptation can creep in on you on entirely different grounds - because of the seeming injustice of his having them.

What David did about it amounts to meditation - thinking, but not just from the dredges of his own imagination, but renewing his mind with the Word of God. He makes his mind face the many good reasons God can tell us about to not envy the wicked, regardless of how they prosper & succeed in this life. We've covered those reasons & have reached some new thought starting at v 29. These final verses do re-iterate some of the themes of the Psalm again, about God preserving the righteous & judging the wicked, about how they plot against us but God makes it come to nothing, how the wicked man's prosperity is deceptively short & temporary, followed by disaster.

But the focus of these closing verses is chiefly that the Lord does observe a stark, huge contrast between the righteous & the wicked, & knowing it, how He orders events with that before His eyes. Let me show you what I mean. First, v 29 - there is another assurance that however the wicked may abuse the righteous, they cannot undermine our safety despite that. Do what they may, "the righteous will inherit the land." They can't change the outcome.

The principle shows once again that ultimate success is not guaranteed to the strong, conquest not to the mighty or rich - success goes to the one God chooses to bless. Not only will the righteous inherit the land but they will dwell in it forever; it will be theirs in a lasting inheritance which cannot be taken away. Now, you say, "I don't want more land - what's that got to do with anything?" It's a Hebrew way of speaking of safety & prosperity, to speak of assuredly having the inheritance which God had promised to their father Abraham. It contains the same thought as Jesus meant by "the meek shall inherit the earth". Who wants the earth, right? I can hardly keep one small house in order. But it's not referring to massive responsibilities, but to a vast inheritance which shall not fade away.

But it's for "the righteous". And as preaching from 1 John has shown, the Word of God consistently presses upon us the message that God does not merely save a people from the punishment of their sins, but saves us from the practice of our sins. The people he saves, He makes a new people; He changes them from sinners to the righteous. And while we are not yet what we should be, we are not at all what we once were either - we are changed.

So verse 30 starts a description of the righteous by starting with our tongues "The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom & his tongue speaks justice." Wisdom & justice are the two items named which come forth from our lips. Does that sound like you? It should be. Wisdom; justice. Now, you know & I know that not all of your words or mine are wise, or just. Sometimes you & I show with our words that we are thinking of ourselves; that we have personal lusts raging in us. That we would yet be foolish persons without the Lord. But if one is among the righteous, they will often show that their hearts are changed because what comes forth from the lips is changed.

"Wisdom" & "justice" are just ordinary, basic Hebrew words for those concepts. The first, "wisdom", means the actual practice of righteousness, not just claims of knowing it, but doing it. You see, wisdom is not just knowing the application; it is applying. "The wise" is one of the Old Testament's major descriptions of the godly man; and "the fool" is its opposite. It fits that person who is matured & improved by instruction, not left just the same as he was despite it, not listening to it & using it. The wise listens.

Mark this down if you are one of those persons who always interrupts the person who has something to say to you or to teach you with "I know" before they get done what they're saying, you are a fool & you do not have wisdom. Get out of that youthful habit. Among youthful lusts, one of the wickedest is the desire to not be lectured or instructed; the longing to not be taught. As the song from "The Lion King" (the movie) goes "A whole new world! No one to tell us NO, or where to go!" Ah, yes, to most sinners, that would be a perfectly delightful world! But the righteous have learned enough about their own sinfulness to realize that a world like that would be chaos of random desires conflicting between self-centered sinners. The righteous speak wisdom.

The righteous also speak "justice", they judge rightly & decide matters with equity. It refers to a combination of sound thinking joined to a willingness to declare a matter as it is, not how I would prefer for it to turn out for my advantage. Unsound thinking is a large part of people's inability to judge justly nowadays. Listen to how people debate a point & notice how rarely the reasons which are given support the conclusions which are drawn. More often than not, the reasons people cite for why they believe something have nothing to do with the conclusions they have arrived at! Unsound thinking. And it's not just that they can't think well; it's the permeating effect of corruption, the thinking is infected by a heart that does not wish to do right.

But verse 31 tells of the godly man's heart, & this is why his mouth speaks wisdom & justice - & it's not that he has some inner knowledge of what is right & just. It's because "the law of God is in his heart"; that's what prevents our steps from slipping (which, by the way, "steps slipping" in this Psalm means being kept from falling into the sin of becoming preoccupied with envy over the prosperity of the wicked).

You know that if your thinking is sound & your words are sound, this is why - it's the Word of God in your heart. In fact I could go so far as to say, that when you speak anything just or wise, the mind of God is where you got it. Remember Rom 3's all-encompassing statements of how all sinners show the absence of God's law in their minds by their speech? There are none righteous, & their tongues are like an open grave. Death, filth, corruption comes forth.

Is the law of God in your heart & does it have an effect on your speech?  It is one of the major ways to recognize whether you know the Lord or not. Are you putting God's Word in your heart? Taking time to meditate upon it so that it will be? It is the major way to impart justice & wisdom to your speech. 

In verse 32, when the Psalm reverts to describing the wicked, let me show you something vital to getting the point of this Psalm and, in fact, many Psalms. What I want you to notice is, how the Psalms rarely describe the wicked for very long without immediately bringing in how God controls what the wicked are doing, for His Own purposes. They devise what they will; but God sees to it that their efforts to harm His people are not successful.

Verse 32 - they spy on us, seeking harm, in some cases, even the death of the righteous. But "The Lord will not leave him (the righteous) in his hand (the hand of the wicked), or let him (the righteous) be condemned when he is judged." As you have noticed, even though the righteous have wisdom & justice, yet the courts often are in the hands of those without it! Unjust men are increasingly the ones making decisions about what is just in our land, don't they? Our Supreme Court has for years now been at least ½ occupied by persons not even willing to interpret the words of the law according to the plain & literal meaning of words, dishonestly using creative interpretation so that they will not have to face what the Constitution means, because in this way they may refrain from judging many behaviors as wicked which are, as well as judging some behaviors worthy of control or judgment which do not need it.

So what's the outcome if you or I are "judged" by such men? Not much, often. Because even if men of unjust judgment render decisions, yet God is not absent from that. He is working within & despite that, protecting His Own, so that we are not condemned even when we are judged. He prevents it from resulting in the normal outcome of judgment, our suffering the consequences against us. I have known & so have you, of believers doing what is forbidden by their government, & not being found out. Illegal or forbidden religious meetings, but continuing unhindered; even if found out & threatened, opposed, yet permitted & not penalized. This is more common than outright persecution, really. The cowardice of the wicked to enforce their own statutes against the meetings of Christians often shows the judgment of God at work in their own consciences, as Paul puts it in Phil 1:28.

So, what's the point in relation to envy? It's this - remember this when you're tempted by the original problem of this Psalm - v 1. What often seems to be certain to go against you does not turn out that way; when it appeared as if your rights & property & so on were going to be taken away, you were through, you were ruined, they were going to take your shirt, & what happened? Not much. Rather little of the tragedy you anticipated.

Was that just good luck? You know better. All things live & move & have their being in Christ. He upholds all things by the word of His power. So that anyone who possesses any authority has that power by the appointment of God, & that's as true when there's a Clinton in the White House as when there's a godly man. When God appoints a wicked man judge, He does so while using Him to punish who He wills punished, & also renders that very man's decisions & mandates ineffective everywhere He so wills, to accomplish by them what He wills.

You want a reason to not envy the wicked? Here it is v 34 - the wicked will never witness you being ruined, but the fact is, you will see their ruin - "When the wicked are cut off, you will see it." When that day comes when he is entirely ruined; permanently forgotten, you will see that. You say "I don't look forward to that; I get no pleasure from it." No, it's not a pleasant thing to view someone else's destruction, not even when they deserved it & had it coming & you have to admit that it is just. But I don't think he meant we'll see it because we'll enjoy it so much as we will see that it was futile to resist God & that all doubts about God's dealings with the unjust will be gone. For there is encouragement in seeing the God of justice act against evil, & not permit injustice forever. Well, whether you have much stomach for it or not, it says we will behold it.

Your part, until then, is to "Wait for the Lord & keep His way." That means to walk in righteousness with an active, praying patience. To "wait on the Lord" is one of the OT's most common exhortations to the righteous. The fruit of so doing is strength & hope & courage. Ps 27:14; Ps 130:5; Isa 40:31. Could there be a more hopeless situation than that which Jeremiah faced in the destruction of Jerusalem? Yet he wrote Lam 3:24-31. Hope, strength, all there for the one who waits on God. Again, v 34b, we "inherit the land", the real inheritance is ours.

David now testifies to the certainty of this, in v 35 "I have seen a violent, wicked man, spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil." Talk about "bloom where you're planted!" David had seen the wicked bloom where he was planted, situated well, every privilege, safeguarded by all means, other evil men in positions of power ready to back them up, whether they were in the right or in the wrong. That didn't matter, just so long as they got their way, & all they needed to see to that was in place! His estate grew & his holdings expanded, his properties & possessions multiplied. Like a Ted Turner, so stunningly rich, & with vast land holdings in Florida, Texas, Montana, California, & New York, jokingly referring to himself as doing like a puzzle - "filling in". David had seen such men.

But then David had also seen such a man "pass away", so that "Lo! He was no more! I sought for him, but he could not be found." It's a marvel!  Where did all that go? How could such a kingdom disappear so rapidly?

It seems so often that it no longer matters what one is known for, so long as one is known. People known for nothing more than illicit sex are paraded on news shows as celebrities. What used to make people ashamed, since it draws attention to them, now makes them famous. Kids, do not let yourself become part of a despicable cultural tendency to honor celebrity more than commitment. Fame is worth nothing on its own. A well-known name rather than honorable deeds.

Here was a person who once appeared to have it all, but now he could not be found anywhere with anything. In what way does David mean? We don't know but it doesn't matter. It may mean he was dead & even his accomplishments seemed to have no remaining connection to his name. It may mean his celebrity had gone bad; it may mean his achievements were lost in bad deals; we don't know what it means but it's a result that is certain, for some sooner, for others later. Those unwilling to wait on the Lord & keep His way because of jealousy of how long it may take, will join them, become unethical with them, & will receive the same reward. Those who are willing to patiently wait on the Lord & keep His way will see it in the end.

If you have noticed this sort of outcome, as David did, about the wicked, be sure to notice the outcome for the righteous, too - v 37 "Mark the blameless & behold the upright; for the man of peace will have a posterity." He will have it. Another point of character to note in the righteous is, they have a peacemaking nature. They are not warlike. They do not gain at others' expense & prosper while devouring whoever they can. If they succeed, it is by the hand of the Lord. If they prosper, it will be as a result of God's blessing on their giving & on their honest labor.

But the posterity of the wicked, there it is again, will be utterly destroyed. Altogether destroyed. Even  "the posterity of the wicked will be cut off!" Does that mean their children? Why should the children have to suffer? It really mostly means, those who are trained in the same wicked practices & who follow in those ungodly footsteps, even as wisdom's "children" are not necessarily blood relatives & descendants according to the flesh, but those who learn & keep the ways of wisdom.

Verse 39 speaks of how God is our "strength" in time of trouble. His help is for those, as v 40 says, who "take refuge in Him." This is greater safety than any other can assure us of. There are no foes who can harm us in the final analysis.

The End of This Series - Psalm 37 - Dennis Gunderson

Start again at Part 1