When the Wicked Prosper Pt. 2
Psalm 37 and the Prosperous Evildoer: How Rest and Delight Win the Day over Evil
Psalm 37 is one of the most famous Psalms. While you may remember key phrases like “Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him” you may not have realized that Psalm 37 was written to address the problem of the prosperous evildoer, just like Psalm 73. The psalm is quoted by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the humble [meek], for they shall inherit the earth.”
Psalm 37 helps us navigate this problem of the prosperous evildoer by telling us what not to do, what to do, and what God will do in response to evil.
What Not to Do
Psalm 37:1 could not be more clear: “Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.” As in Psalm 73, the rationale for not stumbling over the wicked is the same, “for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.”
The word “fret” in English is derived from an older word meaning “to devour”. It speaks of things that are “eating” at our mind, “consuming” our thoughts. The Hebrew word “Harar” is related to the burning of a fire. “Fretting” speaks of consuming thoughts of worry, concern, or anger. And this is what we are NOT supposed to do in response to evildoers!
In verse 7, we are told again “do not fret [because of the prosperous wicked]…Cease from anger and forsake wrath, do not fret—it only causes harm.
In response to the wicked, we must not respond with Fretting, Envy, Anger, or Wrath.
Do you find yourself preoccupied with the success of evil doers? Are you envious of people thriving apart from God? Are you angry at a political party or social movement? Are you yelling at the TV or at people on the internet (or people walking down the street)? Are you full of wrath because of the lying media or corrupt corporations? Or are you worried because of personal attacks that threaten your reputation, family, and livelihood.
Psalm 37 would say to you: “Stop It!” They’re on their way out. They are a drop in the bucket to God. He laughs at them. They’re like the glory of the fields, here today, and gone tomorrow.
“It leads only to harm (v.8)” These responses are not just useless, they actually cause damage to you and those around you.
One is simply that your mood and countenance are diminished by things outside your control. If you fill your mind with how the wicked are succeeding, you’re unable to see things that God is doing all around you. As Paul teaches us, “whatever is true, honorable, pure, lovely…think on these things.” It should be noted that Paul wrote those words from prison—in other words, the prosperity of evildoers was impacting him personally!
Secondly, fretting, anger, and wrath can easily lead to unrighteous words or action. It can lead to envy, where you begin imitating the wicked as a way of achieving their success. “Well, I guess if everyone is prospering through wickedness, it’s okay for me to do it.” Now you have joined the ranks of evildoers and forsaken the righteous!
Or it might be seeking revenge, taking justice into your own hands, and giving the wicked what they deserve. When we take vengeance into our own hands (either in word or deed), we actually join the ranks of evildoers, preventing God from acting on our behalf, and putting ourself at risk of His judgment.
If this is you, you need to repent to God and to the people you’ve harmed, even if they are the ones who initiated the conflict. As we can see, fretting, envy, anger, and wrath at the wicked lead us into great harm. Rather than be preoccupied with their success and getting revenge on them, God has another, better way for us to overcome evildoers.
What to Do When the Wicked Prosper
Psalm 37:3-7 shows us a much better way to triumph over evildoers than taking matters into our own hands in anger and strife.
“Trust in the Lord, and do good. Dwell in the Land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your Heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass….Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him.”
Do you see evildoers prospering around you? Trust in the Lord and see what good deeds you can do.
Is the culture or nation going to hell in a handbasket? Dwell in the Land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Are lies and liars prospering in the public sphere? Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him.
Are evildoers attacking you personally? Delight yourself in the Lord.
Of course, these responses are often the exact opposite of how we want to respond to evildoers. However, these are the responses God is looking for from His people. Moreover, these are the responses that actually work to overcome evil. Worry, Fretting, Anxiety, Envy, Anger, and Wrath, can never overcome evil. Rather, we overcome evil with good!
God’s strategy to overcome evil is incredibly simple and a clear example of Christ’s “easy yoke”. Rest, Trust, Delight, Wait, and Enjoy. That’s God’s plan! That’s great news! And yet ironically, many of us wish the Lord would ask us to do something more difficult to overcome evil. We’d rather be striving and driving it out ourselves. And yet the Lord has promised to do it for us if we will dwell in the land [i.e. steward our areas of personal responsibility before God] and feed our hearts on His faithfulness [v.3).
I should say here that God’s strategy here speaks about situations not directly under our oversight or control. God is saying, “cultivate faithfulness in what I have given you authority over and leave the rest to me. Build a garden of glory in the midst of the wilderness and trust me to deal with the rest that is outside of your control.”
Often, we don’t like God’s way because of hidden unbelief in our hearts—we doubt that God will bring justice to evildoers. However, this works “in the real world” because it motivates God to act “in the real world.”
How God Responds:
Wicked people just don’t get God. They think because they get away with doing something one, two, or ten times, that God does not care or does not see their unjust acts. They think “God is just like them” or that He doesn’t exist. They misunderstand the kindness and patience of God to be license or indifference. In reality, it is His mercy and kindness leaving room for repentance (Rom. 2:4). The wicked fail to see that a time will come when they run out of second chances.
Clearly, God is not that worried about their idiocy. While the wicked are plotting against the just full of anger and gnashing their teeth, God is simply laughing at them (v. 12-13).
God’s Response: Laughter and Destruction
We know from the word that “God opposes the proud”. Psalm 37 gives us plenty of insight into what that opposition looks from God to the proud looks like.
· He Laughs—God responds to the evil plans of the wicked with laughter (v13)
· He curses them (v22)
· He causes their own plans to turn on them (v15)
· He destroys their strength (v17)
· They will die and totally disappear (v 20)
· They will not inherit the earth, but will be destroyed (v 22)
· He will cut them off and utterly destroy them (v9, v28, v38)
The problem of the prosperity of the wicked comes about as a consequence of God’s mercy and kindness. God allows the wicked time to grow and prosper, so that they will have an opportunity to repent. His rain (grace) falls on both the righteous and the wicked. We should be grateful for God’s strategy, as without it none of us would be saved! However, that mercy period eventually ends and all the debts come due. The wicked will receive judgment both in this life, and eternally in the age to come. And God promises to do it himself, while the righteous “delight themselves in Him.”
There’s a reason one of the most popular films right now is called “The Avengers”—the desire for justice is deeply rooted in the human heart as also in God’s heart. And yet, it is not something to be taken into our own hands. As the Lord says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” Vengeance is a beautiful thing—something in our hearts says “yes” when evildoers get what they deserve, and yet only one has been found worthy to dispense it perfectly (Rev. 5:5, John 5:22).
For our part, let’s forgive and pray for evildoers, that they will take advantage of God’s mercy period and repent. After all, we were once blind to God like them before God rescued us in love. Lord have mercy on us all!
God’s Response: Inherit the Earth!
If we will do the simple and pleasant things that God asks of us—Trust, Rest, Dwell, Delight—God promises to take up our cause. He will “bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday (v 6).” He will give you “the desires of your heart (v.4)” Even if you go through lack or external poverty, your limited resources will be more enjoyable to you than the riches of the wicked (v. 16) who seem to be prospering. God will sustain you in this life through trials and falls (v 24) and give you an eternal inheritance (v. 17). He will never forsake you but preserve you forever (v.28).
You are specially promised to flourish in bad times (v 19). You won’t be begging, but you’ll be lending when others are in need. Your descendents will prosper and multiply (v. 25-26). In evil days, they will endure and thrive!
As the Psalm says repeatedly, “The Righteous will inherit the Earth [the land].” This promise clearly speaks of the promised land of Israel, however, Psalm 37 clearly also speaks of this being an eternal, “forever” promise of abundant life [v. 29]. Jesus clearly draws on the eternal application in the age to come in Matthew 5: “The Humble [meek] will inherit the earth.” As the new song in Revelation 5:9-10 says, “You have made them to be Kings and Priests to our God and they will reign on the earth.” Ultimately, Psalm 37 speaks to the final judgment, when the “righteous will shine like the stars forever and ever” and the wicked will finally receive their due reward from God.
Resistance Training
God allows the prosperity of the wicked both to give them opportunity to repent, but also to test us as His people. This test is like a workout—it’s resistance training that expands our capacity in God. All of God’s favorites have suffered from evildoers prospering and felt like foreigners in the midst of this evil age. If we’ll respond rightly, the prosperity of the wicked is meant to refine us, strengthen us, purify us, make us more like Jesus—the man who endured great hostility from prosperous evil men, who crucified, killed, and humiliated him.
Perhaps the best place to end is Psalm 37:32-34, keeping in mind how Jesus our Messiah lived these verses out: “The wicked spies on the righteous and seeks to kill him. The LORD will not leave him in his hand, or let him be condemned when he is judged. Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land.” Amen, may we wait on the Lord when the wicked seem to prosper, and the Father will exalt us to inherit the land just as He exalted Jesus, and seated Him at His right hand [Phil. 2:9].
5/25/2021
Jonathan Friz