Psalm 37

    ^{1 [a]} Do not fret because of evil men
or be envious of those who do wrong;

Let’s think about that for a moment:  What is fretting?  This is a mental thing we do….we replay over and over the wrong done to us.  

    ³ Trust in the LORD and do good;  

Did you see that?  DO Good.  When you are fretting over and over about what someone has done to you, stop yourself and think:  what GOOD can I DO?  Bake them a cake.  Send them a card.  Pray for them. Let’s continue.

      dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

   ⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Wow.  Did you read this?  He is going to give me the desires of my heart!  Whatever I want is MINE! 

No, that is not what this is saying.  What David meant when he wrote this is that if we really seek to delight in the Lord, then the desires of our heart will be the desires God wants them to be.  God will help me to desire good things; Godly things.

    ⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;

How do we do this?  We agree step by step, moment by moment to want to follow the ways the Lord has set before us as right.
       trust in him and he will do this:

    ⁶ He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

What a lovely word picture.  Who does not love to stop and look at a sunrise.  It is so sweet, so precious, so stunningly beautiful, that it makes you quiet, it makes you pause.  Who would not love to be so righteous that when people look at us, they must stop and catch their breath because of it?   (Pause, put a picture of a sunrise up?)

    ⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

If you are angry and cannot do any good, at a very minimum, do nothing at all.  Be still before the Lord.  Wait. 

       do not fret  Again:  We read: Do not fret.  Stop replaying your hurt over and over!  He repeats it here because we are such creatures of habit.  Now, let’s keep going:

when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

    ⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.

Anger:  Anger is defined as A strong feeling of displeasure or hostility.  I hear this time and time again:  I cannot help how I feel.  Clearly, the Lord would not tell us to refrain from anger if we had no way to control it. 

He tells us to:  stop fretting, to do good, delight in the Lord, commit your way to the Lord, be still before the Lord and patiently wait for him and refrain from anger and turn from wrath.

But how?  How do we stop those angry feelings we feel we simply cannot control?.  Now is when we go back to that first stone, the one I placed in your palm.  Read this aloud with me:

Romans 12:2

²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Renew your mind, friends.  Renew it with things NOT of this world.  Renew it with God’s word.  Every evil thought must be replaced.  For some hurts, this may be a massive undertaking.  Taking every thought captive means that we make it a point to stop it…dead in its tracks and replace it with a good thought. Here is one way to do this.   Let’s look at Ephesians 6:10

Ephesians 6:10

^…. be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

Ladies:  this is an active thing we are talking about here…you are to put these things on, they are not already attached to you when you get up in the morning. Put them ON. Now verse 12 tells us why:

¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Do you understand what this is saying?  You are in a battle for your mind, friends, and it is not a battle that is easily won.

For more about Overcoming Bitterness, See Overcoming Bitterness, Part 3.  We also have a workshop on this topic:

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