Date Posted: 09:32:21 01/23/11 Sun
I received this this morning and it addresses the same thing I mentioned so I thought I'd post it here.Confident Living "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun." - Psalm 37:5-6 Psalm 37 is a wonderful example of the way in which each of the psalms served as instructions for living to the people of Israel. If there is any place in life where we need divine help to understand the nature of our world, and divine help to maintain the right perspective, it is in the matter of discerning good and evil. When others around us seem to be successful even though they are doing wrong, we may be tempted to conclude that serving God is of little value. Nothing could be further from the truth, and so David provided a powerful, fivefold strategy to follow in remaining true to God: "Trust in the Lord," "Delight yourself in the Lord," "Commit your way to the Lord," "Be still before the Lord," and "Refrain from anger." But even as we seek to obey God, we still must admit that at times we are puzzled by the apparent triumph of evil people. The writers of Scripture often asked God, "Why do the wicked seem to prosper in their plots?" Who among us has not also asked this same question? Certainly we do not understand all the mysteries of God's ways. People have the freedom to exercise their will, and this freedom sometimes entails wrong, and even evil, choices. God can still use these things to accomplish His will, and to serve as an unforgettable lesson of the consequences of failing to follow and obey Him. Although we may not find all of the answers we seek, the answer given in Psalm 37 is the one that ultimately must suffice and comfort us. David described the blessing of the person who chooses to remain trustful and still before God, even when pursuing wrong seems to pay better dividends. But this is not so, because from God's perspective the triumph of evil is extremely short-lived. Wicked people and their plans will quickly pass away, while those who trust God will stand. So the writer's conclusion is a solid one. The wisest thing we can do is take refuge in God and wait for His deliverance. And for those of us in The Fellowship who are committed to stand with and bless Israel, I point out the promise of verses 32-34, which states that the land God promised to Abraham and his descendants by an eternal covenant will be theirs both now and into the kingdom of Messiah. Being human, it is very easy for us to become unsettled by the injustices we see around us, particularly those that impact us directly. It is true that we are always to seek justice wherever injustice prevails, but Psalm 37 calls us to lay aside any personal desire for revenge against others. We can live in confident faith even in an unjust world because our hope is in the God who vindicates His people. With prayers for shalom, peace, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
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