Do Not Fret…Trust In God

**New Content Added 3-9-2022**

Psalm 37 has been a game-changer during tough times in my business and in life. It starts with these 3 words “Do not fret”, and ends with these 3 words “trust in God!” and in between are 18 specific practical things you can do to make sure of both of those.

I delivered this message as a 4-week series of sermons at Mountain View Bible Church in LaVerkin, UT.

There are 150 Psalms (which in Greek means “plucking of strings”) and are organized into 5 “books”. The main theme of each Psalm is we live in a horizontal or temporal reality we see around us, which can affect us, but we need to focus more on the vertical or transcendent reality that God is in charge. We have no reason to let the horizontal things effect us negatively such as worry, fear, anxieties, nor have those cause us frustration which is called “fretting”. That’s because of the vertical reality we so often forget.

The other more simpler theme of Psalms is “Life is hard, but God is good.”

Psalm 37 tells us in the first 3 verses

“Don’t get hot & bothered, or jealously sucked in by unrighteous people or events that are deteriorating around you. God will soon handle those people or events, you are to confidently trust Him.”

Here is a link to this first, foundational sermon on Psalms 37:

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Next, we start with the first three of the 18 practical things you can do to not fret and trust in God All of these are from Psalm 37:3:

• Trust in the LORD
  Trust is an action word, and a choice, you have to make an effort to do it. You decide to intentionally place yourself, your confidence & security in the sovereign, powerful hands of God. In Matthew 7:7-11 Jesus is telling you to trust God.
  Trust is given, not earned. You do not tell God you will trust Him when He has earned your trust, that places you above God. Also, if you do that, what criteria to you use to keep score, and at what point do you say “OK, that’s enough, you have earned my trust”? God doesn’t like that arrangement.
• Trust is another word for faith. Hebrews 1:1 gives us a great definision of faith and Hebrews 11:6 tells us it is impossible to please God without faith. I’m sure you want to please God, especially since the latter part of that verse promeses God will reward your faith!
  I have learned that I will never know all about God or why He does or allows some things, but I gave Him my trust over 50 years ago when I really didn’t know much…but I said “God, what I do know…I’m going with that…” And He has rewarded me with so many blessings it blows my mind!
• And do good. See 1 Timothy 6:17-19 Doing good is putting blue jeans on your faith and going to work, or doing life. Good works is “righteous behavior” and is simply living like Jesus would, and good works just seems to come out. Doing good is not “works” we have to do to be saved, or be in good standing with God, but a saved life demonstrated by the character traits of Jesus others see in us.
  Live an inspiring life to the fullest, devoid of the weight of religious legalism, living fervently in spirit, zealous for doing good, not because you have to, but because you want to, with fullness and confidence from the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and His promises. 
• Dwell where God has you. Psalm16:5 says God gives you your portion in your cup, and maintains your lot. What you have and where you are is because God thinks it’s best for you.
  The grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence, it’s greenest where you fertilize and water it. Learning to be content where God has you and finding ways to glorify Him there is your cup.
• Feed on His faithfulness. Feed means to draw nourishment from, gain strength from, and have stamina with the basic needs to operate. The original Hebrew word is patured where a Shepherd would lead the sheep to get food safely, and do you know who the Good Shepherd is???Jesus!. The word “faithfulness” is the same word as “verily” or “truthfully” and you will recall when Jesus wanted to make sure people understood something, He would always say “Verily, Verily I say to you”. or “Truly, truly…” To Feed on His Faithfulness is actually 2 words in the original Hebrew that say “Truly Pastured”. Oh, in Revelation 19:11, Jesus is called “Faithful and True”!
  Keep track of how God has answered your prayers in the past, or helped you through a tough time in the past, and put that in your pantry…then when similar harships come, you can take that out of the pantry and “feed on His faithfulness” because you know God is the same yesterday as He is today as He will be tomorrow. You can gain strength and nourishment from that.
  
  Who or what are you being fed from?

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Next on this fun day of 2-22-22 and it’s Twosday! We add several more practical things you can do to not fret and trust God:

• Delight yourself in the LORD. He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 Delight and love are connected. The Hebrew word for “delight” is “awnag” and it means delightfully soft and delicate, and that goes well with Merriam Webster’s Dictionary meaning of “delight” as “A high degree of gratification or pleasure”
  You have to give some effort to being happy, peaceful, and content in the LORD, when stuff around you is pushing you to the opposite. YOU have to step up to the plate and say to your self “I will delight in pleasing God and find my jjoy in HIM only, and not let those things around me dictate my happiness.
  This one is right after “Feed on His faithfulness” which is where we can see God is faithful and trustworthy and we can count on Him, not our circumstances.
• Commit your way to the LORD, trust Him, He will bring it to pass. Psalm 37:5 The word “Commit” means to roll with it and go. I like to think it means in football terms “pick up the ball and run toward the endzone, God will block for you.”
  “Your Way” is really cool, because it literally means “what you want to do”. When you delight yourself in the LORD, your desires will line up with God’s desires, and then He promises to make them happen!
  That is further proven by the word “it” in verse 5 where you are to trust Him and He will bring “it” to pass. What is “it”? You decide! Your way is it! What desires did He place on your heart?! That is probably “it”!
  By the way, there is one Hebrew word for the phrase “He shall bring it to pass”, the word “awsaw” and means “a Worker who performs or makes happen, a legislator.” Wow, God says He will be that for you and your desires or your way!
• Rest in the LORD & wait patiently for Him. Psalm 37:7 These two take self-discipline. They take a conscious effort to do them, but guess what…they are a command to do so, much like one of the 10 commandments to rest one day a week. This one is saying do all you can do, in the alotted time (such as your 40 hour work week) and trust God for the rest.
  This also is saying God’s timing is probably different (longer) than your timing. So wait on God’t timing and don’t fret when your timing is sooner than His. Waiting is what you do between God’s promises and His fulfillment of them.
  God’s timing is usually not our timing, don’t be controlled by your timing. Trust God, and don’t fret about that.
• Don’t fret because others prosper or don’t get caught. Psalm 37:7b Don’t be concerned about others, you deal with you and God. Especially if illeagal or immoral acts don’t seem to get punished. God is the God of Justice (making sure bad people get caught and justice is served.) You’re not that God, so don’t concern yourself beyond what you can do about it.  Let God do His job.
  Also, don’t fret because God’s timing of vengeance and justice isn’t as quick as you think it should be. Tell God about what you saw, heard, or though, and ask Him to handle it. Then let it go, don’t fret about it anymore.
  Fretting only causes harm it says in the end of verse 8. It is a waste of time, takes you away from serving God, and it harms your Christian walk, reputation, relationships, and your health.

• Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Don’t get angry, don’t get mad, and forget about (forsake) getting revenge, don’t resort to wrath which means vengeful outrage.
  If you do those, they are kind of the opposite of “turn the other cheek” as Jesus asked of us in Matthew 5:39 doesn’t it.
  So we’re not to “get even” when offended, and refrain from forcing Justice. “Vengeance is mine” says the Lord in Romans 12:19, He is allowed to have wrath, we’re not. 
  Oh, notice in Psalm 37:10 it says when you trust God to handle those bad things or people, you forget the issue or the people causing the issue.  So much so, that there will come a time and you will go “Hey, I wonder whatever happened to…  and you will try to find out, and it’s all gone, done, “It shall be no more” the end of verse 10 says.
  

• Don’t worry, God will handle it. Psalm 37: 9-10The command to not worry, is the most given command in the Bible (over 50 times) and in Matthew 6 Jesus said to stop worrying 4 times in one paragraph. He knows we tend to worry, but tells us to stop it!
• Be meek (humble) and delight in the abundance of peace. Psalm 37:11 Meek does not mean weak, it means humility. Delighting in the abundance of peace is what we are all aiming for. We can have it, through the Prince of Peace, Jesus. He said “Peace I give you, not as the world gives, mine is better!”
• Be content and satisfied with what you have. Do you believe you can be content and satisfied right now? Is true happiness (Joy) and peace found in the next better thing? (maybe a little bit, but it’s not lasting, nor very deep).  Is there stress in being dissatisfied with what you have? (Yep) Do you believe what you have is by God’s loving design? (You should)
  In Philippians 4:11 Paul, who was in prison for 4 years, said he didn’t have any needs, and he LEARNED to be content. Wow! How much material stuff did he have then?
  Psalm 16:5 and Proverbs 16:33 say God gives you your portion, and fills your cup, and deals out your lot. Yes, God is in charge of what you have, and the cards of life you are dealt.
  It’s OK to work hard for something, or for more, and to ask God for more our better, but it is NOT okay for that to consume you, not disappoint you, or make you fret.

Contentment is the mature Christian word for fully trusting in God.

• God upholds you and your days are known by Him. Psalm 37: 17-18 This reminds me of someone giving a helping hand to someone else. And God does that too, He gives you a helping hand, and holds you up.
  That word “upholds” is the same word as “helper” to mean a board to prop up a branch on a tree that is getting weak or heavy with fruit. Also, and this is really cool: When Jesus left us to go to Heaven, He said He would send a “Helper” to guide us to His truth and to help us. (The Holy Spirit).
  
  “Your days are known by God” means he knows what you are doing and going through, when you are tired, old, needing some help, and He helps you.  He intimately knows you and your situation. He feels your tiredness and pain, and wants to be part of it with you, holding your hand, propping you up as you work or go through difficulties. Fretting is reduced then when you trust Him and His helping hand.

• Show mercy to others, be generous to them. Psalm 37:21 Showing mercy means give grace to people. Don’t be an unsolicited critic.  You don’t need to point out their faults, or that you know better than they do. Mercy means also to show compassion, sympathy, or empathy.  That reduces fretting.  That also goes hand in hand with being generous.
  Giving of your time and resources, as 1 John 3:16-19 tells us Christ’s love is giving to others what they need. Fretting is reduced when we are generous and donate.
• Follow God’s purpose for you. Psalm 37:23 God delights in your steps and your way. Did you notice that?! God is delighted when you do what you want when it’s lined up with what He wants.

• Wait on the LORD and keep His way. Psalm 37:34 Waiting patiently for God is what we do between His promises and Him fulfilling those promises.
  What is “His way”? well, there are 18 of them in this blog post and sermon series.

• Live blameless and upright and enjoy peace. Psalm 37:37 That verse says “Mark a blameless and upright person, they will enjoy peace.” Mark means to take notice, it also means to put a hedge of protection around them. You are famous to God, and He will protect you as a security guard is for famous people. And what do you get?? PEACE!

• Be strong in the LORD and the power of His might. Psalm 37: 39-40 Is God powerful?   Then why fret?  Does God help you?  Then why fret? Is God your deliverer?  Then why fret?

The bookends of Do not fret and trust in God, and 18 nuggets of David’s hard-earned wisdom in between them tell us how. The key is our vertical focus more than the horizontal influence. 

Psalm 37 is here by God’s influence to help YOU And you get to know HIM.

It’s a proven strategy to follow and is the best way to get through this difficult life…
Help in the struggles and
Deliverance from the bad things.