Psalms · psalm 37 of 150
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Psalm 37 is a wisdom poem of David that comforts those who see the wicked prosper. It teaches us not to fret, to trust the Lord, to delight in him and to wait calmly, because the wicked will vanish and the meek will inherit the land. David, now old, says he has never seen the righteous forsaken.
The title ascribes it to David, and the poem is an acrostic: its verses follow the Hebrew alphabet, generally two by two. It is not a prayer but a teaching from a spiritual father to someone troubled by injustice, which is why it resembles the book of Proverbs. Jesus took up its verse 11 in the Beatitudes, in Matthew 5:5.
David starts with repeated advice: do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like grass. Instead, trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness; delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will bring your righteousness forth as the light.
Then he urges us to be still before the Lord and wait for him, and to let go of anger. In a little while the wicked will be no more, but the meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant peace. The wicked plot against the righteous, but their swords will pierce their own hearts. Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked, for the Lord upholds the righteous and knows the days of the blameless.
In the next part David teaches that the righteous gives generously, while the wicked borrows and does not repay. A man's steps are established by the Lord; though he fall, he will not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. David says he was young and now is old and has never seen the righteous forsaken. Turn from evil and do good; the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his saints. He ends with his own experience: he saw the wicked in great power like a green tree, but he passed away and was no more. Mark the blameless: the man of peace has a future, and the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord, their stronghold in the time of trouble.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
To delight in the Lord is to find in him our greatest joy, and then he grants the desires of the heart. The psalm does not promise to fulfill any whim but to give the one who loves God what his transformed heart longs for.
To commit your way to the Lord is to place it in his hands and trust that he will act. David promises that God will make the righteousness of the one who trusts shine like the morning light.
The meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant peace. Jesus used this promise in Matthew 5:5 to call the meek blessed.
The Lord establishes a man's steps and delights in his way; though he fall, he will not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. The promise is not that he will never fall but that he will not be abandoned.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Trust in the Lord, do good and dwell in the land, befriending faithfulness. — Psalm 37:1-3
Answer: He will give him the desires of his heart. — Psalm 37:4
Answer: To be still before the Lord and wait for him, not fretting over the one who prospers by evil. — Psalm 37:7
Answer: The meek. — Psalm 37:11
Answer: He is not cast headlong, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. — Psalm 37:24
Answer: The righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. — Psalm 37:25
Psalm 37 is a remedy for envy and anxiety. It asks us to look at the lives of the wicked with the perspective of time: their success seems strong but lasts a short while. In a class or small group you can share examples of people who prospered unjustly and how faith helped others wait without bitterness.
The invitation to delight, commit and wait is a program for life. The verbs of the psalm are concrete: trust, do good, delight, commit, be still, wait, turn from evil. A good exercise is to choose one of them this week and practice it in a real situation.
Psalm 37 ends with the assurance that the Lord helps and delivers those who take refuge in him. Psalm 38 changes the perspective: it is no longer the advice of an old man but the prayer of someone suffering the consequences of his own sin.
Not automatically. The verse joins two things: delighting in the Lord and receiving the desires of the heart. Whoever finds joy in God learns to want what he wants, and his longings are aligned with God's will. It is a promise of communion, not a blank check.
In its original setting it is the land promised to Israel, which the righteous will enjoy without being driven out by the wicked. Jesus takes it up in Matthew 5:5, and the New Testament widens the hope to the new creation, where the righteous will live with God.
David speaks from his experience and from God's faithfulness to his covenant. The rest of the Bible shows that the righteous also suffer, even to death, yet God never abandons them. The promise is fulfilled fully in the coming Kingdom, and Christ is its guarantee.