Wednesday, December 14, 2016

The Last Laugh (RP1)


            Not to state the obvious but true and faithful Christians aren’t really liked very much these days. It seems like daily there is an assault of one kind or another on Christians. In some countries Christians are still being brutally assaulted and killed every day. In other countries, Christians aren’t physically abused but they are assaulted nonetheless when their long-held biblical beliefs and principals are disparaged, rebuked and repudiated almost daily. Some insist that Christians in America are not persecuted when compared to Christians in other countries who are imprisoned, tortured and murdered. However, that’s as foolish as saying that a spouse or child can only officially be considered “abused” if they are physically abused. Yet it is a fact that abuse can take many forms—physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, psychological, etc. Christians can be similarly persecuted in many forms. In short, any exterior force that attempts to discourage faith and nurture doubt specifically in the Christian community can be seen as persecution. Old Testament prophets regularly lamented the destruction of the people of Israel; not because they were being physically destroyed (even though at times they were) but even worse, they were being morally and spiritually destroyed when surrounding or invading nations either enticed them away from being faithful or swamped the culture with so much moral filth that it became increasingly difficult to avoid compromising their long-held, God-given values without being criticized or ostracized. Is it really that different for Christians today? If Christians aren’t being seduced away from being faithful by the appeal of money, sex and power, they are swamped by a culture with so much moral filth that it becomes difficult to navigate the path of faithfulness and holiness. It can make even the most faithful Christian begin to question the things they were previously so certain about or the most committed Christian wonder if it’s worth putting up a fight. It can be very troubling, frustrating and discouraging.
            I don’t know about you but during times like this I turn to the Psalms for comfort and reassurance. One of the many things I love about the Psalms is they remind me that nothing surprises God. I can read the Psalms and I have to smile because they are so perfectly relevant to our lives and culture today even though they are thousands of years old. It is also a comfort to know that they have been used in the past by many weary travelers in the same way and for the same reasons. In the Psalms, we see a picture of God who is in perfect control of all things. He recognizes those who struggle to be faithful and is unfazed by the evil plans of those seeking to undermine the faithful. I want to share a portion of one of those Psalms with you as you seek to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ, as you stand fast against those who hate you because of your faith and as you make your way through the moral landmines that litter our cultural landscape like so much garbage. I hope you will see in the end that God will have The Last Laugh.
Subject Text
Psalm 37:1-13
            1Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; 2for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 3Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. 7Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 8Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. 9For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. 10A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. 11But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. 12The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; 13but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.
Context
            Unfortunately, the English translation of this Psalm doesn’t do justice to the original Hebrew text. Psalm 37 is an acrostic poem where each stanza begins with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is a lyrical poem intended to be set to music. Its authorship is usually attributed to King David written when he was an old man (Ps. 37:25). Psalm 37 was written around 1000 B. C. and clearly falls under the genre of Wisdom Psalms. It is a reflection of David’s own life experiences though it was clearly relevant to his original audience as they struggled with the same question so many have struggled with throughout history all the way up to today: Why do evil people seem to prosper while the righteous so often struggle? On one level, David is making a plea for justice like any of us would. However, there is another level; a deeper level where David, and by extension the rest of us, just wants to know with certainty that God knows his struggles and cares. Like David, we want to know God isn’t in heaven wringing His hands wondering what to do next. Psalm 37 can give us this assurance.
Text Analysis
            Before we get into the finer details of our lesson, there are six imperatives contained in our Subject Text that form the building blocks for the way God expects us to relate to him and one another especially during times of trouble. See if you don’t agree:
  1. Do not fret because of evil men.
  2. Trust in the Lord and do good.
  3. Delight yourself in the Lord.
  4. Commit your way to the Lord.
  5. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.
  6. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath.
Before you go on in the lesson, I want you to write these six instructions down right now on a piece of paper that you can slip in your pocket and keep with you during your day and I want you to take it out throughout the day and read the list. I want to challenge you to do this every day until you have them perfectly memorized. If you remember nothing else of this lesson, I hope that you will memorize these six imperatives given to us directly from God. At the end, I’ll add a few more items to memorize that will provide the final elements to complete God’s message of love and care to faithful followers.
      1Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;
We find the first imperative of our Subject Text in v. 1 where we are told not to fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong. First, I think we need to deal with what it means to “fret.” The word is used three times (v. 1; 7; 8) in our Subject Text and one of the things I’ve learned is that odd words used multiple times in close proximity to one another usually have an important meaning. In fact, the word only occurs one other time in this form in the entire Old Testament. All three uses in our Subject Text include the nuance of envy. “This didactic poem as a whole, and these verses especially, admonish not to fret over the success of the wicked. Such anxiety is tantamount to a mistrust of Yahweh’s care and may imply anger at Yahweh himself.”[1] Typically, we refer to someone who frets as someone who worries or is concerned and while that is one definition of the word, it is not the primary definition in English or in the Hebrew. Instead, the intended usage in this case is one of being emotionally heated with a gnawing or biting irritation and annoyance.
2for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
Springtime in Colorado is probably my favorite time of year when the long, gray winter gives way to new life and new growth. By late spring, after the spring rains, the rolling hills surrounding my house are like an ocean of green with waves of long grass swaying in the gentle spring breeze. Depending on how long the rains last, it can stay this way for a few months until late May. Once the rains end and the summer months begin, the beautiful green grasses wither and dry up in a matter of a few weeks. However, in years when the summer heat becomes immediately intense and prolonged, the grass can dry up in just a week. I thought of this when I read v. 2. The illustration of withering grass is common in both the Old and New Testaments. “The psalmist offers a striking image taken from the local agricultural experience of shepherds roaming the countryside in search of grass for their animals. With the onset of the early spring rains, the arid hills spring quickly into a lush green covering of grass. Almost as quickly, however, the heat of late spring and summer parch this fodder into a brittle brown…The image of withering grass recurs frequently in the psalms—most often as an indication of the tenuous, transient nature of human life in contrast to the eternal constancy that is Yahweh.”[2] The illustration is easy enough to understand but what’s the point? It’s not enough to just say that evil will eventually be destroyed. What I can tell you and what the Old Testament shepherds could tell you is that the green grass that flourished during the cool, wet spring days will, with absolute certainty, wither and die under the blazing summer sun. This is what I want you to take away from v. 2; not what God has in store for the wicked but that God’s judgment and punishment of the wicked is just as quick and as certain as the grass withering every summer the same way it has for millennia.
3Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
            The second imperative of our Subject Text in v. 3 is the positive command in parallel to the negative command of v. 1. The “don’t fret” that signals a distrust of God is starkly contrasted with the command to “Trust God” in v. 3. There is a companion command to trusting God—to “do good.” And the result would be that they would dwell safely in the land. It is important to understand that the reference to “land” doesn’t mean just any land, it means the land that was given to them by God; it means home. Think about it—trusting God is the most important thing any of us could ever do. In fact, trust will be the highlight when we get to the New Testament and are confronted with the choice to trust in Jesus and be saved or not. Trusting in God is the same as putting our faith in God. “Trust is faith. It is the proper starting point for all right relationships with God. Yet as always, faith is not merely passive but active too, and not merely God-related but related to others. This is why the verse ads the words ‘and do good.’ It means that the person who is quietly trusting God will experience the life and power of God in his or her life and that this new life will express itself by doing good to others.”[3]
4Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
            Our third imperative in v. 4a instructs us to delight in the Lord. While most believers don’t really have a problem with this command, many are fearful of the idea and still others consider it to be irreverent, thinking that God can only be feared and revered. The problem with the idea that God can only be approached in an attitude fear and reverence is that it is not rooted in relational depth, it is rooted in rituals and personal desires to be blessed without the hard work of relationship. “People are being urged to delight in Yhwh [Yahweh] now, not later when they have experienced Yhwh’s blessing. Delight in Yhwh is a more affective version of trust…It is also a positive affective equivalent to being vexed and fretting. The remedy to negative feelings that come from looking at others is to look at Yhwh and let appropriate feelings arise.”[4] Verse 4 is a conditional clause: If_____ then_____. It is often used ridiculously out of context by those propagating the “health-and wealth gospel” saying: If we will delight in God then He will give us what we want. But that is not the spirit of this text. To a certain degree, God does bless us occasionally with the desires of our heart but not because we have somehow performed our side of a contractual obligation (the “if” part of the conditional clause) but because we are in a relationship with Him. Remember that the context of our Subject Text is the deep desire for justice against the wicked. Supplementing this desire is the desire to live safely in the land. Consequently, when the text promises in v. 4b that God will give them the desires of their hearts, it should be specifically understood in this context even though the principal holds true at times in a more broader context. “The path to true self-fulfillment does not lie in a preoccupation with self but in a selfless preoccupation with God. When the psalmist sets his heart on God, God reciprocates by making him truly fulfilled.”[5]
5Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
            The fourth imperative in v. 5 is also a conditional clause when combined with v. 6. We are commanded to commit our ways to God. With this command, God is saying that our actions, in all things, should reflect the character of a righteous, holy, just and loving God. In doing so, our actions will, by extension, be put on display by God as righteous and just. I’m guessing some of you are weary of committing your lives to God when it doesn’t seem like it makes any difference. But let me illustrate what God is saying by asking you to imagine a lamp fully illuminated in the bright sunlight. The intensity of the lamp can only be distinguished in relation to the ambient lighting. The brighter the ambient light, the less effect the lamp intensity will have. However, as the ambient lighting begins to diminish, the effect of the lamp grows if the lamp intensity remains constant. Finally, when all ambient light is gone, the value of the lamp becomes paramount as the only remaining source of light. It is precisely when the world around us seems darkest that God will use lives committed to Him and who trust Him as beacons of light that will lead those lost in the dark to Him. “The acts of commitment and trust function like a trigger, releasing God’s capacity to act. But it is not always evident that God acts in response to faith, and consequently the ‘righteousness’ and ‘justice’ of the faithful may often be veiled. The conviction expressed in v. 6 is that setbacks are temporary, like clouds obscuring the sun, but that eventually God will move the clouds away to let the true light appear.”[6]
7Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
            We find the fifth imperative in v. 7 where are we are commanded to be still and wait patiently for God to act. And again we are commanded not to “fret” when the wicked succeed in their evil ways. This can be the hardest imperative of all because when we don’t see or sense that God is acting, we have a tendency to take matters into our own hands. However, being still and waiting patiently are a natural outcome of our obedience to the imperative to trust God (v. 3). “Being still implies a willingness to submit to Yhwh and not to take action to resolve matters that need resolving. Thus it implies waiting, as the parallel verb makes explicit.”[7]
8Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.
            Our sixth and final imperative in v. 8 commands us not to become angry and reiterates for the third and final time that we should not fret. The command to not become angry and not fret seem like natural companions. Considering the definition for “fret” as identified above, anger seems like the most logical next step in our attitude if remained unchecked. Therefore, “It is assumed that people will become angry in their daily experience; [yet] the clear admonition is against a quick response…In the Wisdom literature the motive clauses both promise and threaten in a variety of ways. On the one hand, control of one’s anger brings health (Prov 12:18), can end contention (Prov 15:18), is synonymous with greatness (Prov 16:32) and wisdom (Prov 29:11), etc. On the other hand, the hot-headed individual is a fool (Prov 12:16; Eccl 7:9), stirs up strife (Prov 15:18), and is laid wide open to failure and destruction in his life (Prov 25:28).”[8] It is the threat side of anger that is in view in v. 8 when God warns that fretting leads to evil; fretting, anger and evil are companions living in the same house.
9For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
            God is well within his right to give us the six imperatives without any further qualifications; without telling us what he plans to do about the wicked and their evil schemes. However, God doesn’t generally give us the “Because I said so!” explanation for why we should listen to and obey his commands. Instead, God comforts us by painting a picture of his justice and what he thinks of the wicked beginning in v. 9 when he says that the wicked will be cut off while those who put their hope (trust) in God will “inherit the land;” they will be welcome at home. What does it mean for the wicked to be cut off? In this context, to be “cut off” was probably understood to mean “That they lose their place on the land and thus their capacity to maintain their lives and/or lost their place of rest there.”[9] However, let me show you something that you have perhaps not considered. Let’s run ahead so we can look back and perhaps see our text more clearly. I want to use Jesus’ teaching from his Sermon on the Mount to shine a light on this part of our Subject Text. Let’s keep in mind the vision of withered grass from v. 2 above and the idea of being cut off from v. 9 above and read something Jesus once said:
Matthew 6:28-30
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
In the ancient near east, cooking and heating was done primarily with wood. However, during difficult times, dried grass would be carefully cut off and bundled to be used as fuel for the fire. Jesus is telling his hearers not to worry (a secondary definition of “fret”) because God was capable caring for all their needs whether the needs are clothing pursuant to Jesus’ teaching or prosecuting injustice in the case of our Subject Text. In Jesus’ sermon, the once beautiful grass would be cut off to become fuel for the fire and in our subject text the wicked would be cut off to be consumed by the fire of God’s anger. And this won’t be the last time we hear the future voice of Jesus in our Subject Text.
10A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
When I read v. 10a it made me think of all the times I travelled somewhere with my girls and heard that all too familiar question, “Are we there yet?” My answer was usually some variation of “In a little while” whether the final destination was days, hours or minutes away. It wasn’t really a matter of deceiving them, it was facing the reality that regardless of what I would tell them, they would simply ask the question again a short time later, and then again and again until we arrived at our destination. They weren’t interested in how long it would take to get to where we were going, they just wanted to be there. Time is a matter of perspective. If you have existed for all time, like God has, then everything must seem like “a little while.” A few verses from Psalm 90 will help us understand precisely what God is instructing here in v. 10a:
Psalm 90:4-6
            4For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. 5You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning—6though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.
            Like my kids, we don’t really want to know when God will act, we just want Him to act. Verse 10a promises that God will one day act and v. 10b makes it clear that once He acts to judge the wicked, He will thoroughly wipe out every hint of the wicked. His plan is not to do a little here and a little there. Judgment of the wicked will be final and absolute.
11But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.
            When we get to v. 11, we can once again hear Jesus calling to us from Sermon on the Mount when he proclaims, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matt 5:5). We often misunderstand the meaning of “meek” and believe it is synonymous with weak. But nothing could be farther from the truth. “Meek” in this sense means strength under control. An example would be Moses who in one instance knew when to remove his shoes and bow before God and in the next instance was “Able to stand before Pharaoh and demand that the powerful king of Egypt let the Jews go. Moses was not weak; he was strong, because he trusted God. This same is true of Jesus Christ. Meekness was one of the great characteristics of Jesus. Peter writes: ‘When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). Meekness will take off its shoes before the burning bush, but in the power of God it will also always be able to stand tall before the powerful of this world.”[10]
12The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;
            Verse 12 states a fact that has been true in all times; during the days of the psalmist and today as well. The wicked are regularly making new plans to attack the righteous. When the text says that they [the wicked] “gnash their teeth” “It refers to ungodly people’s aggression against the godly.”[11] I saw this play when a group of atheists in a small town in Florida placed their own monument alongside a monument commemorating the Ten Commandments. Their hatred for God and Christians was clear as some stood defiantly on top of the monument of the Ten Commandments while promoting their own monument to unbelief. While watching the news coverage of the event, I recognized disappointment and courage exhibited by Christians as they stood by without lashing out against those who opposed them. What I saw from the atheists wasn’t joy and relief as one might expect from the winning side. Instead, I saw defiant hatred for the good and holy things of God represented in part by the Ten Commandments. “The problem with the wicked was not merely that they prospered, but also that very often their prosperity seemed to emerge directly from the oppression of the faithful and innocent.”[12]
13but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.
            Let me ask you a question: If you comply with the second imperative to “Trust God” while clinging to the certainty of justice cited in v. 2, is it possible for us to respond to the plotting and scheming of the wicked the same way that God responds in v. 13? “While the wicked may plot against the righteous and even cause them trouble and pain, Yahweh remains unimpressed and unconcerned, even laughing at the pretense to power—in much the same way the enthroned God of Ps 2:4 emitted a deep mocking guffaw from the heavens at the rebellious imaginings of the kings of the earth. God knows, as the psalmist understands and declares to the hearer, that the days of the wicked are already numbered.”[13] Consider this: If we were able to laugh off the plotting schemes of the wicked, wouldn’t we be in a much better frame of mind to comply with the imperatives enumerated in our Subject Text? Perhaps it would be good for us all to remember that ultimately God will have The Last Laugh.
Application
            If you haven’t done so already, please go back to the beginning of this lesson and write down the imperatives I listed so you can keep them with you to read and memorize. I think one of the things we too often forget is that we are destined for a life filled with opposition and trials. We “fret” because we think our lives should be smooth sailing; we want all people to like us; we don’t want to be thought of as odd or strange; we want to fit in; we want a prosperous, worry-free, stress-free, comfortable life. The problem is that that isn’t the life we were told to expect. I’d like you to add a few more things to the list you’ve already begun.
  1. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me [Jesus] first.” (Jn 15:18)
  2. “In this world you will have trouble.” (Jn 16:33a)
  3. “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal bodies.” (2 Cor 4:11)
  4. “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.” (Matt 5:10a)
  5. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me [Jesus].” (Matt 5:11)
So why am I asking you to keep these things with you so you can read and memorize them? Because we can better prepare our hearts and minds when we know what to expect. Also, to remind you that the darker it gets around you, the brighter will your righteousness shine and the more God will use you to light the path that leads to Him so that those lost in the dark might have the opportunity to find Him. In the end, we know that there is a prize that awaits us regardless of the struggles we face in this life. When we put our faith in Christ, our eternal inheritance is certain and all the opposition and persecution we face in this life won’t matter. I have absolutely no doubt that the plotting and scheming of the wicked does not go unnoticed and it only takes a cursory reading of the Book of Revelation to realize that in the end, God will have The Last Laugh.



[1] Willem A. VanGemeren, gen. ed., Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, Vol. 2, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), p. 267.
[2] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms—The NIV Application Commentary, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), p. 604.
[3] James Montgomery Boice, Psalms—An Expositional Commentary, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1994), p. 316.
[4] John Goldingay, Psalms—Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), p. 520.
[5] VanGemeren, DOTTE, Vol. 3, p. 444.
[6] Peter C. Craigie and Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 1-50—Word Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2004), p. 297.
[7] Goldingay, Psalms, Vol. 1, p. 521.
[8] VanGemeren, DOTTE, Vol. 4, pp. 377-378.
[9] Goldingay, Psalms, Vol. 1, p. 522.
[10] Boice, Psalms, Vol. 1, p. 319
[11] VanGemeren, DOTTE, Vol. 2, p. 288.
[12] Craigie & Tate, Psalms—WBC, p. 298.
[13] Wilson, Psalms—NIV, Vol. 1, p. 605.








(Audio version; Music: "Thy Will" by: Hillary Scott & The Scott Family and "Touch The Sky" by: Hillsong United)


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