Psalm 36

Do Not Fret

Dr. Larry Thorson
August 24, 2008

Psalm 37:1-11 (A Psalm of David)

1 Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

4 Take delight in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. 9 For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. 10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.

11 But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.

Do not fret. That’s what King David tells us today. Do not fret. Now I know that most of you enjoy your fretting season. I know I do. The word fret is found only seven times in the Bible but three of those references are in this chapter (vs 1,7,8) and it’s never good.

To fret means to eat away at something; to wear away by gnawing; to irritate, vex, or worry. In Leviticus 13:51-52 we read about a “fretting leprosy” that would eat away at a garment or in a house (Leviticus 14:44). It was kind of like termites.

To fret is to worry over something in a way that eats away at you inwardly. I suspect that very few of you mark your calendar for a particular day and call it “Fretting Day”. You didn’t wake up this morning and decide that today I’m going to fret. Fretting just happens because life just happens.

That’s where Psalm 37 comes in. A lot of the Psalms are prayers to God. This one is not. This Psalm is advice on what to do when you get emotionally hurt by another person. David gives us some clear steps to take to deal with that hurt.

To begin with specifically David says not to fret because of those who are evil. Now that’s clearly easier said than done. When Enron collapsed in 2001 hundreds and maybe thousands of people lost their retirement nest eggs. They lost it because of the greedy evil of the Enron leadership. Now to tell a 67 year old man with back problems not to fret that he was going to have to work an additional ten years of hard labor to make us his lost retirement fund because of someone’s greed may not sit that well with him.

David goes on in verse one: “for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.” That’s an appropriate description for August in Hemet. No matter how beautiful my backyard lawn looks in the spring, it always withers in the summer. So was true of Kenneth Lay, CEO of Enron who died before his trial. So was true of Jeffrey Skilling, his next in command at Enron who is now serving a 24 year prison sentence in Minnesota and won’t get out until he’s 74. Know this that those who have hurt you will have their day. God will see to it. The same is true if you’ve hurt someone else.

But saying “don’t fret” and actually not fretting are two different things. That’s why in verses 3-11 David lays out five pro-active things to do instead of fretting.

In verse 3 David says “Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.” Trust in the Lord that in the end God will get the revenge. There’s no need to plan a revenge. God will take care of them. Think Enron.

The second thing to do instead of fretting is to do good. That is an act of faith because you know how hard it is to do good when you’re hurt emotionally. You don’t feel like doing good. You may feel more like breaking something than doing good. But the act of doing good deeds will actually restores your health faster than any other method.

In June of 2007 Universal Studios came out with the film Evan the Almighty, a modern day spoof of Noah building his ark in Virginia. Out of that film Christian leaders from Willow Creek and other places developed a program called “ARK” which stands for “Acts of Random Kindness.” Churches across the country signed up for a program where people in need could be matched with people wanting to do acts of random kindness. The film wasn’t a big hit but the program was because when a church wants to help heal the emotional hurts of their members nothing is quicker and more consistent than having them do random acts of kindness like cleaning up someone’s yard or running an errand for someone who can’t do it. Look around you and ask yourself “what one good thing can I do for someone today?” Try it. See how it helps your fretting.

The third thing to do instead of fretting is to dwell in the land. Dwell means to go on with your life. Don’t let the evil someone does to you cause you to barricade your doors and windows and stop you from experiencing life as God would have you experience it. It’s sad to see people stop doing the things they enjoy doing because they’re so angry with the person or organization who hurt them.

At one point in my pastoral career I was badly hurt emotionally by immorality on a staff of a church that I served. I was hurt by the pastor. I was hurt by the elders who supported the immorality. I was hurt by the presbytery executive who backed the staff in its immorality. It was a full all out fretting season for me. I even left the pastorate. I stopped dwelling in the land I loved, serving the Lord. I thought it would get better in time. I didn’t take this Psalm seriously. Fleeing or barricading or fretting doesn’t help us get better with time. Don’t let the evil shape your life. Dwell in the land God has for you.

The fourth thing to do instead of fretting is to enjoy safe pasture; the result of dwelling in the land God has for you. A safe pasture is a place where the sheep were protected from predators. In Scotland there are sheep everywhere and I mean everywhere. If there’s farmland there’s sheep. If there’s sheep there are fences, usually stone fences built long ago and wire fences built not so long ago. These are safe pastures where the farmers don’t have to worry about their sheep getting lost or getting hurt.

Think of your mind as a pastureland of thoughts. When we’re fretting we’re letting in predator thoughts that will eat away at our minds. Have you ever tried to go to sleep at night and a fretful thought entered your mind? Your body tenses up over these thoughts and sleep is delayed.

Where is the safe pasture in your mind that God has prepared for you? It’s that place where you know that you’re exactly where God wants you. Everyone has a safe pasture that God has prepared just for them. It’s not hard to find. It’s not found in retreating or barricading yourself from the one who hurt you. It’s found when you occupy the land or the place God has prepared for you. Hemet, despite the heat in the summer is that place for me. Every place and every task that God has prepared for you will have something about it that you won’t like. But you know you’re where God wants you to be.

The fifth thing to do instead of fretting is to take delight in the Lord as David says in verse 4. “Take delight in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” What does it mean to delight in someone or something? I think of chocolate. When everything else is going wrong chocolate has a way of lifting the spirits.

My wife and I got to spend a concentrated month together in Scotland. That was rare for us. We delighted in one another. We spent time talking, taking walks and sitting by the North Sea watching for whales. I delight in long runs out in the country with cool air and majestic vistas to look at. Those are things that I delight in.

“Take delight in the Lord” would mean to spend time together enjoying the things of God. Sometimes I find myself saying “I can’t wait until this day is over” as if the next one will have less worries. Instead of looking for cooler air of fall to delight in or whatever it is that you find pleasure in, you can enjoy God’s pleasure right here, right now regardless of your circumstances.

In order to take delight in the Lord, you have to learn to appreciate the good God has done for you. That means giving up the illusion that you alone are responsible for your achievements. It's all a gift from God. Just as every stroke of Picasso's brush has his signature on it, everything in this world has God's signature on it. We have to learn to appreciate it.

If you make the effort to appreciate the gifts God has bestowed upon you, then you'll have such a keen awareness of God's presence that everything you do is accompanied by a sense of God’s love and guidance. You'll be overwhelmed above and beyond any other pleasure possible. In fact, this is the ultimate goal for which humans were created. We were put on earth in order to overcome the illusions and use our free will to build a relationship with God. He could have made robots, but God doesn't want that. He wants a real relationship -- which means we have to choose it.

Why is gratitude such a difficult awareness to sustain? A human being's ego always craves recognition and independence. We balk at the concept of indebtedness. We prefer to believe we've done it ourselves!

These are five things to do instead of fretting. There are actually three more things David says to do: “commit your way to the Lord”, “Be still before the Lord”, and “Refrain from evil” but they’re summed up in the first five things.

Lest you think David wrote this Psalm in a nice, cozy ivy covered academic tower, it was written after being betrayed by his mentor Saul, his son Absalom, and a number of his men (2 Samuel 15-17). David did some bad things in his life but one thing he didn’t do was give in to fretting over those who hurt him.

Where did he get that power to not give in to fretting? He got it from God who was betrayed by everyone who ever existed and everyone he ever trusted. God even sent his only son to be our sacrifice and we killed him. If anyone had reason to fret it was God and his Son. But praise be to God that he didn’t fret, retreat or barricade himself from his hurt but sent us his Holy Spirit so that we could experience his forgiveness in Jesus Christ and live forever. That same God will give you the power today to stop fretting and start living if that’s what you want.

Jesus died on the cross so that we could live now and forever. If you’ve opened your heart and asked Jesus Christ into your life to be your Savior, you have the power from God to stop fretting and start living. Instead of fretting start praising. Instead of fretting do something good. Instead of fretting, open the doors wide and experience all that God has for you.