Walk of Trust

Psalm 37:1-3 A Psalm of David. Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Psalm 37 is a psalm written by David. In his life time he saw evil men seemingly prosper. He saw Saul continue as king when those around Saul could see that he was wrong. He saw the likes of Nabal, "the fool" prosper while he and his men went hungry. David saw the Philistines prosper yet they served false gods. Here in this psalm he begins with and an admonition to his listeners not to become angry when the see the wicked prosper. He had already experienced the anger and worry that comes when your focus is on people instead of God.
The first part of this Psalm has some specific instruction about “fretting” and what we can do to keep from it and we can also see what often the cause of it is. Trusting in God prevents needless fretting and frustration in our live.
Aristotle believed that we had a special emotion implanted in our nature which causes us to "fret" at undeserved prosperity. We would all have to agree that it is a common feeling and it is found even in the best of characters.
The Hebrew word for fret is khaw-raw is from a primary word that means to glow or grow warm. Figuratively it is used to mean to blaze up with anger, zeal, jealousy or displeasure. It is used here of being angry. We associate the word fret with worry or to stew over something but that is usually because there is some degree of anger involved. It is generally because our anger causes the pot of worry to boil. In this Psalm we are told not to fret in verses 1,7 and 8 and specifically not to fret because of evildoers. We are not to be envious of the workers of iniquity even when they succeed in the wicked ways and are able to carry out their wicked schemes, (vs.7) . When we focus on what others do and we see that it is wrong but they come out with what looks like success we get angry. It drives the person who is trying to walk with the Lord nuts when he sees someone who has no interest in God prosper when in fact he is in open rebellion to God.
But we are still told…NOT TO FRET. It only leads to evil (v.8). There is a temptation to follow in the path of the wicked because of their prosperity. If we do not keep this emotion in check and under the control of the spirit we become envious.(v.1) if we give in to the temptation we find ourselves guilty of the very things that make us angry with them.
Anger and worry (what fretting is) are two very destructive emotions. They reveal a lack of faith that God loves us and is in control. We should not worry; instead, we should trust in God, giving ourselves to him for his use and safekeeping. What worries you can also master you and when you add anger to the mix you find yourself deeply in bondage. But if you focus on God and his goodness, you trust that He is in control, then you will find peace. We have to ask ourselves, “Where do I focus my attention? When we trust God we are able to have a righteous anger concerning the sin and wrong doing of others but it also keep us from jealousy of their prosperity.
Trust results in confidence in God. The word here for trust is a primary root word that means to hurry to a place for refuge. Do you rush to the Lord for refuge or do you seek to take things in to your own hands. Figuratively it means to trust, to be confident, to be sure or bold, secure, without care. An example would be when my grandchildren trusted me to catch them as the jumped into the pool they jump with confidence because they know I will, every time. Sometimes, they go under water for a couple of seconds but they come up, gasp for air and then smile because they know I’ve got them. Trusting God means that we jump into His arms and He catches us. We may go under the water for a bit but if we focus on Him we know He’s got us. We have confidence that He won’t let us go. And He won’t. Ever.
The greatest reward in trusting God is that, They shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace,(vs.11) Those that trust God may not have a lot of physical wealth but they will have something that is even better.
They will have an abundance of peace, inward peace and tranquility of mind and peace with God,