Today, we are on psalm 37 and it covers a lot of ground. Throughout the entirety of the psalm, the wicked and the righteous are being compared to one another. The wicked are those who reject God’s will for their lives and the righteous are those who walk in it. Referring to the wicked, David says, “for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.” Referring to the righteous, he says, “He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.” 

Lest we get the wrong idea, being “righteous” simply means having right-standing with God. The New Testament is clear that the only way to achieve that position is through the unmerited favor of God displayed and expressed by what he did on the cross through Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9 says,” For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.” The person who has been saved has been transformed from the inside out. The authenticity of their salvation is then expressed through a life that progressively reflects the love and power of God’s Son. 

I read this psalm as a guide when it comes to investment. We all have a finite amount of time, energy and resources to expend before our time on this earth is done. We all have to decide, one day at a time, how we will spend those resources. This psalm makes it abundantly clear where those who are wise exert their energy. They give their lives towards serving and pleasing God partially because they recognize the foolishness of wickedness. Choosing to live apart from God’s will always has some temporary benefit to it because if it didn’t, people wouldn’t do it. Wisdom gives us the ability to see beyond the temporal and into the eternal.

Getting out of the marriage or being dishonest may provide a temporary sense of relief, but it will not prove wise in the end. Throughout the psalm, David is admonishing his listeners to follow God and to not be deceived by the alluring nature of disobedience. It looks great in the moment, but a life spent resisting God will vanish like a vapor. Only those who spend their days surrendered to God and to his purposes will experience the promised eternal blessings that David points to. This is a decision that all of us have the opportunity to make every single day.

It’s a matter of kingdoms. Whether you realize it or not, there is a throne in your heart with someone sitting on it. As C.S. Lewis said, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” Which category do you fall in? If you’re not pleased with the answer to that question, now is as good of a time as any to change it.