Psalm 37:34 - Hoping And Waiting On The Lord While Keeping His Way.
Psalm 37:34 - Hoping And Waiting On The Lord While Keeping His
Way.
Psalm 37:34 (NKJV) Wait on the Lord, And keep His way, And He
shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you
shall see it.
Psalm 37:34 (NCV) Wait for the Lord's help and follow him. He
will honor you and give you the land, and you will see the wicked
sent away.
Psalm 37:34 (NLT) Put your hope in the Lord. Travel steadily
along his path. He will honor you by giving you the land. You will see
the wicked destroyed.
Psalm 37:34 (TLB) Don't be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep
traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you
with every blessing, and you will see the wicked destroyed.
CONTEXT
In Praise of Trust (365 DDC)
The Reward Of The Righteous (CWK)
This psalm shares the wisdom of an old man who had walked with
the Lord (v. 25). He had battled with evil men and knew the
frustration of seeing the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. As he
reviewed the past, he gave some wise counsel to keep us from fretting
against the Lord when things are not going the way we want them to go.
"Trust in the LORD" (3). If you walk by sight and not by
faith, you will find it easy to fret. (See Ps. 73) The wicked seem to
be prospering, but they will not last (vv. 35-36). Believe what God
says in His Word because that is where you find reality.
"Delight in the LORD" (4). Find all your joy and pleasure in
His will. Make Him your delight, and your desires will be in His
will. Living to please the Lord sets you free from fretting about what
men are doing.
"Commit your way to the LORD" (5). When you trust Him and
delight in Him, how could you do anything other than commit your way to
Him? Let God guide your steps, choose your joys, protect your name,
and bless your work.
"Rest in the LORD" (7). Restlessness is an evidence of
unbelief. Faith rests in the Lord and enjoys "the peace of God, which
surpasses all understanding" (Phil. 4:7). God some* times waits in
answering prayer so that He might strengthen our patience (James 1:2-8).
"Wait on the LORD" (34). For what are you waiting? The
inheritance God has for you (vv. 11, 18, 22, 29, 34). The wicked have only
temporary pleasure on earth, but God's people have eternal treasure in
heaven. You will one day receive your inheritance, so be patient.
[Chapter by Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren Wiersbe]
THE JOYS OF TRUST
If you were to pick two psalms to memorize, the first would
probably be the 23rd. But the second surely would be this great psalm in
praise of trust.
No psalm has more comforting verses, more verses inviting
lengthy meditation. No psalm has more verses that speak so directly to
the human heart.
Because of this, it's almost sacrilege to analyze this psalm:
to break its thoughts apart, to look for similarities and themes.
And yet, how much this psalm tells us about the nature, and about
the benefits, of trust.
If we seek to probe the nature of trust, we find in this psalm
that trust is:
Looking to God and doing good (v. 3).
Delighting in the LORD (v. 4).
Committing our way to the LORD (v. 5).
Not fretting when the wicked succeed (v. 7).
Refraining from anger and wrath (v. 8).
Being satisfied with little (v. 16).
Giving generously to others (v. 21).
Turning from evil to do good (v. 27).
Planting God's Law in our hearts (v. 31).
Waiting for the LORD (v. 34).
Keeping His way (v. 34).
Taking refuge in the LORD (v. 40).
Trust is in fact a way of life, the way of life we choose when
we commit ourselves to the LORD.
This same psalm reveals the outcome of trust. One who actively
commits himself to the LORD can expect these benefits:
To enjoy safe pastures (v. 3).
To receive the desires of his heart (v. 4).
To be vindicated (vv. 5-6).
To inherit the land (vv. 9, 22, 34).
To enjoy great peace (v. 11).
To be upheld by God (v. 17).
To gain an enduring inheritance (v. 18).
To enjoy plenty in days of famine (v. 19).
To be upheld by the LORD (v. 24).
To always live securely (v. 27).
To never be forsaken by God (v. 28).
To not slip (v. 31).
To see the wicked cut off (v. 34).
To have a future (v. 37).
To be helped and delivered by the LORD (v. 40).
The beauty of this psalm aside, its teaching is vital to our
well-being. Only by an active trust in God, expressed in the choices made
each day of our lives, can we experience the many benefits of a
personal relationship with the LORD. [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary]
COMMENTARY APPLICATION With Emphasis On V. 34:
Wait on the Lord, and keep his way. This is the true mode of
waiting on God which the Scripture recommends; keeping God's way-- using
all his ordinances, and living in the spirit of obedience. (Adam
Clarke Commentary)
Waiting tests and strengthens trust and hope in God. [Jamieson,
Fausset, And Brown Commentary]
It is difficult to wait patiently for God to act when we want
change right away. But God promises that if we submit to his timing, he
will honor us. Peter said, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's
mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (1 Peter 5:6). Be
patient, steadily doing the work God has given you to do, and allow God
to choose the best time to change your circumstances. [Life
Application SB]
God's Schedule
Do you feel as if things are not going the way you planned? As
if God is on a completely different schedule than you are? Well, He
probably is.
Remember that God's master plan is to develop a loving,
personal relationship with you. Though life will often bring you pain,
suffering, and developments you would not choose, you can always be
confident that God finds a way to use everything for your good. God is
developing you into a mature believer--and that includes showing you how to
wait patiently for Him.
So why should you trust God's timing? Here are some excellent
reasons:
1. God's schedule is best for you because He is all-knowing.
God is aware of every detail of your life--past, present, or
future. He's also aware of what you will need for challenges ahead.
God's knowledge is complete. Therefore, since God is aware of things
that you have no way of knowing--and is providing for things you don't
even realize you need--you should trust His timing.
2. God's schedule is best for you because He is all-wise.
It is foolish to think that anyone knows the absolute best
thing to do in every situation because everyone makes mistakes. Of
course, you probably already realize that you make your decisions based
upon an imperfect perception of the future. God's wisdom, on the
other hand, is infinite and perfect. Though your heart can lie to you,
He never will. The Father will take His time teaching you all that
you need to know through His Holy Spirit who lives within you.
3. God's schedule is best for you because He is all-loving.
The most important reason to live by God's schedule is the
simple fact that He loves you and wants what's best for you. His
schedule is built around a wonderful future of godly maturity and
fellowship with Him. Time is simply one of the tools He uses to teach you,
train you, and mold you. His love reaches to the tiniest details of
your life, uses every experience for your best, and is absolutely
unconditional.
The rewards of learning to live by God's timing are infinite.
You have a new peace and assurance, because you no longer try to
make time serve your own end. You have renewed strength, so that you
can run and not be weary, and walk without fainting (see Is.
40:28-31). And you learn to trust Him more because you see God redeeming
your time and working through you powerfully.
Therefore, realize that you're not sufficient within
yourself--that you must live by God's timing because you know that yours won't
work. Trust God completely knowing you're in His care, and be patient
no matter what happens. And finally, have the courage and
self-discipline to wait upon God.
Isaiah 64:4 tells us, "Since the beginning of the world men
have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God
besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him." Are you living on
God's timetavle or your own? Always remember that the wisest thing you
can do is wait upon God. [Life Principles SB By Charles Stanley]
EXAMPLES & ILLUSTRATIONS
How To: Wait For Answers To Prayer
Is there in your life a cherished heart's desire taken to God
over and over again in prayer, yet still unfulfilled? If so, link
hands with the rest of us, and with all prayer-warriors across the
centuries! No wonder Jesus had so much to say about persistence in prayer,
along with His clear teaching that sometimes we will have to wait for
God to move.
It's the waiting that can be so hard. Where can we find the
needed patience? I think in the end it all comes down to trust. We
have to trust the Lord even when we wonder why He delays.
Recently my friend Marge shared an experience where the Lord
spoke directly to her about this question of patience. Marge and her
husband had been given the frightening news that he had Parkinson's
disease. It was the sort of dread disease that Marge had always
especially feared.
The entire family gathered, anointed their father and husband
with oil, asked the Lord for His healing, then made a deliberate act
of turning the situation over to Him.
Marge's heart questioned, "Until such time as our family sees
this prayer answered, how can I leave this problem in God's hands and
not snatch it back? How can I keep enough peace of mind not to let
worry and fear impede or stop my daily work?"
God answered her question directly in an experience Marge had
aboard a plane bound for Cleveland, waiting for takeoff....
As she settled into her seat, Marge noticed a strange
phenomenon. On one side of the airplane a sunset suffused the entire sky
with glorious color. But - out of the window next to her seat all
Marge could see was the sky dark and threatening.
The plane's engines began to roar, and a closed-in feeling
came over Marge. Long since, she had learned at such moments to be
still and listen within. Then the gentle Voice spoke, "You have
noticed the windows," He said, even in the roar and thrust of the
takeoff. "For a while now, your life will contain some happy, beautiful
times, but also some dark shadows.
"Here's a lesson I want to teach you to save you much
heartache and allow you to `abide in Me' with continual peace and joy.....
You see, it doesn't matter which window you look through, this
plane is still going to Cleveland.
"So it is in your life. You have a choice. You can dwell on
the gloomy picture. Or you can focus on the bright things in your
life and leave the dark, ominous situations to Me. I alone can
handle the dark ones anyway. And the final destination is not
influenced by what you see or feel along the way.
"Learn this, act on it, and you will be released, able to
experience the `peace that passes understanding,' even My joy."
Marge's sharing is helping me to handle my "meanwhiles." Not
one of us finds it easy to put our problem into His hands that
completely. But only in that way does our trust in Him grow. And you and I
will yet have our demonstration of the glory of God.
Lord, thank You for this beautiful assurance when the skies
are darkest. by Catherine Marshall
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT:
Grace Notes:
http://www.e-gracenotes.org/index.php
A Better Way to Live:
http://www.itiswritten.com/betterway/
Excellent Spiritual Resource Site:
http://www.christianlifemediacenter.com/
More Spiritual Resources:
http://www.aBible.com
