Stephen spoke from Ps 37:1-7 tonight, a psalm which (like Ps 73) deals with the subject of the frustrations and anxiety we feel when we look around us and see the godless prospering. The psalmist repeatedly commands us not to fret (Ps 37:1, 7, 8), since it leads to evil, to an erosion of the path on which we walk. So often, we have a short-term perspective of prosperity, looking only at the material blessings; we need to understand that the godless and wicked will not prosper long-term (like the grass, they will wither away) and that God is able to give us our heart’s desires as we take delight in Him.
Jer 29:11 reminds us that God has good plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future. The antidote to fretting is to trust God and do good; to commit our ways to Him and trust that He will sort everything out for us in the long term. An essential part of Christian maturity is to learn to be still before the Lord and to wait patiently for Him. That is not easy for us, but if we are not careful, fretting leads to something akin to coastal erosion: our security and stability in God is gradually eaten away through anxiety, stress, envy and anger. Only as we trust in God and wait for HIs timing will we be able to take hold of the delights God has for each one of us.
