Posted on 04/08/2015 1:05:12 PM PDT by metmom
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN PSALM 37 admonishes us to beware of irritation in our religious lives:
"Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity."
The word "fret" comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon and carries with it such a variety of meanings as bring a rather pained smile to our faces. Notice how they expose us and locate us behind our disguises. The primary meaning of the word is to eat, and from there it has been extended with rare honesty to cover most of the manifestations of an irritable disposition. "To eat away; to gnaw; to chafe; to gall; to vex; to worry; to agitate; to wear away"; so says Webster, and all who have felt the exhausting, corrosive effects of fretfulness know how accurately the description fits the facts.
Now, the grace of God in the human heart works to calm the agitation that normally accompanies life in such a world as ours. The Holy Spirit acts as a lubricant to reduce the friction to a minimum and to stop the fretting and chafing in their grosser phases. But for most of us the problem is not as simple as that.
Fretfulness may be trimmed down to the ground and its roots remain alive deep within the soul, there growing and extending themselves all unsuspected, sending up their old poisonous shoots under other names and other appearances.
It was not to the unregenerate that the words "Fret not" were spoken, but to God-fearing persons capable of understanding spiritual things. We Christians need to watch and pray lest we fall into this temptation and spoil our Christian testimony by an irritable spirit under the stress and strain of life.
It requires great care and a true knowledge of ourselves to distinguish a spiritual burden from religious irritation. We cannot close our minds to everything that is happening around us. We dare not rest at ease in Zion when the church is so desperately in need of spiritually sensitive men and women who can see her faults and try to call her back to the path of righteousness. The prophets and apostles of Bible times carried in their hearts such crushing burdens for God's wayward people that they could say, "Tears have been my meat day and night," and "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain. of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain daughter of my people!" These men were heavy with a true burden. What they felt was not vexation but acute concern for the honor of God and the souls of men.
By nature some persons fret easily. They have difficulty separating their personal antipathies from the burden of the Spirit. When they are grieved they can hardly say whether it is a pure and charitable thing or merely irritation set up by other Christians having opinions different from their own.
Of one thing we may be sure, we can never escape the external stimuli that cause vexation. The world is full of them and though we were to retreat to a cave and live the remainder of our days alone we still could not lose them. The rough floor of our cave would chafe us, the weather would irritate us and the very silence would cause us to fret.
Deliverance from a fretting spirit may be by blood and fire, by humility, self-abnegation and a patient carrying of the cross. There will always be "evildoers" and "workers of iniquity," and for the most part they will appear to succeed while the forces of righteousness will seem to fail. The wicked will always have the money and the talent and the publicity and the numbers, while the righteous will be few and poor and unknown. The prayerless Christian will surely misread the signs and fret against the circumstances. That is what the Spirit warns us against.
Let us look out calmly upon the world; or better yet, let us look down upon it from above where Christ is seated and we are seated in Him. Though the wicked spread himself like "a green bay tree" it is only for a moment. Soon he passes away and is not. "But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble." This knowledge should cure the fretting spirit.
Tozer ping
Amen!
I noticed that the author left off discussing the second part of the quote - “neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.”
And I think I know why - because it’s hard to imagine why a Christian would “envy” people who do evil, i.e. “workers of iniquity.”
The answer, I believe, is as simply as it is inescapable - because people who do evil are rewarded in our world. Rewarded with money, status, jobs, positions, accolades, ease, adulations, fame - all of it. So it’s easy to envy that, especially when you’re getting punished for living the principles of your faith. It makes a person sore to be beaten, and to receive mocking by those doing evil, who have things so easy, and their sordid lives and moral crimes always covered up.
So this verse is reminding us to SNAP OUT OF IT. To remember that we’re here a short while, like boats at the separation point of a single river that diverges into two different rivers. One river is choppy and frothing and difficult, but it flows to the sea. The other is smooth and deep and calm, but leads to a waterfall and an abyss. So when you’re fighting to stay afloat in the choppy waters, and the jerks in the other boat smile and wave to you while sipping margaritas on their calm voyage... remember where your different boats are going.
And smile and wave back.
It comes with promises, and it's wonderful, always diametrically opposite from the ceaseless hustle and imbalance of the world.
Thanks again.
There are a few other Psalms I feel that way about myself.
There are Psalms 34, 91, 103, 139. I’ve never really dug into Psalm 37 but will have to now.
A good way to look at it.
Be still...
There are Psalms 34, 91, 103, 139. I’ve never really dug into Psalm 37 but will have to now.
And you can be sure that I'm going to take another deep sounding of 34, 91, 103 and 139. Though I have had, at times, a need to cling to 37, a lifetime in this world would be insufficient for me claim anything close to familiarity with these astounding pieces.
Thanks so much...
Those are really pretty easy to memorize, too.
It’s nice to have that when you can’t read for whatever reason (like driving).
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