Commit your life to the Lord
Psalm 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40. February 21, 2023 - Tuesday, 7th Week
Psalm 37 offers practical advice for a living but this advice is different from the one we hear in the contemporary world. If you ask our gurus and experts how to live, you will get advice about building your willpower, strengthening your emotional intelligence, having a growth mindset, and so on. There is not a hint that would indicate that our success in life can depend on God and obedience to His commandments. The psalmist, on the other hand, roots a successful life in our relationship with God and in moral life. “Trust in the Lord” and “take delight in the Lord” indicate the importance of relying on God. “Turn from evil and do good” stress the importance of virtues in life.
One of Jesus’ beatitudes is “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt 5:5). The major theme in Psalm 37 is inheriting or abiding in the land forever and being fed in security. Peace, security, and prosperity are the gifts of the Lord to His faithful ones. God promised Abraham numerous descendants and a vast piece of land. The fulfilment of that promise is narrated from Genesis 12 till the book of Joshua.
The psalmist assures his listeners that God does not forsake his people and that those who trust in the Lord even “in days of famine” will have plenty. This teaching brings to mind the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. Despite being sold into slavery by his brothers, the Lord went to Egypt with him, made him the ruler of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh, and enabled him to save Egypt and his family from severe famine.
But, the verse that stands out in this psalm is verse 5: “Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act” (Ps 37:5). In some translations, the last part of this verse reads: “He [the Lord] will make all things well”. In this way, we are reminded of the optimistic message from Juliana of Norwich, an English mystic of the Middle Ages: “In the end, all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” Oscar Wilde is supposed to have added: “And if it isn’t well, then it’s still not the end.” This optimism is also evident in our psalm where the author assures us the Lord delivers and saves the just.
The promise related to God’s acting on behalf of those who trust in the Lord sounds naive in our world that stresses self-confidence and self-reliance. We are taught to trust in ourselves, not in the Lord. But trusting in ourselves often leads to stress, overworked, burnout, disappointment, illnesses, and even tragedies. On the other hand, there are many testimonies of people who decided to trust in the Lord and leave the outcome of their actions into his hand. It transformed their lives, and they were granted their heart’s requests (Ps 37:4).