The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him. 33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. 34 Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. 35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a native green tree. 36 Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; indeed I sought him, but he could not be found. 37 Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace. 38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off. 39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. 40And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him. —Psalm 37:32-40
What a blessing it is to realize that our future doesn’t include the wickedness that we see all around us today and about which David was writing in these 94 verses. Just knowing that a city awaits us whose Builder and Maker is God gives us good cause to press on in Christ!
David writes that he has seen the wicked in places of power, spreading their influence like a shade tree over the land, but they died and eventually the evidence of their existence was nowhere to be found. He tells us that when wicked men rule, we need to pay attention to the blameless and upright ones and follow after them, because the future of the righteous man is peace.
The apostle John wrote: “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1 John 5:18-21).
David says much the same thing as John in the closing lines of this psalm. He reminds us that God is our strength in the time of trouble. He is our Help and our Deliverer. He saves us, David adds, because we trust in Him. How amazing to consider that we have the omniscient and omnipotent God on our side! The devil is no match for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is a defeated enemy already. His evil plot against the Messiah failed miserably, because even death couldn’t harm our Savior!
Sin had no power over Him, but He had power over sin! Do you remember the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18? They cried out to their god for hours and cut themselves as they conducted all of their religious rituals in the hope of drawing a response from him. (If you haven’t read, or don’t remember, this passage be sure to go back and check it out!) What was the result of all this drama? Nothing! Why?
“All the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and gladness are in His place” (1 Chronicles 16:26- 27). Friends, Islam will not prevail because there is no such god as Allah. Even though the wickedness brought by that religion seems to be winning in our day, remember that it’s really the devil who is behind every idol. As for us, we came to Jesus in weakness and human frailty, but when His Spirit came into us, we were transformed into the strong and the mighty over whom the kingdom of darkness can never prevail!
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