by Dr. James H. Christian
DON’T BLOW YOUR TOP
I N P salm 3 7 :25 David testified, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous for saken, nor his seed begging bread.” David had lived a long and full life. He had experienced all kinds of cir cumstances. His view of life was different from what it was when he was young. He now looks at things from God’s point of view. In the first verse of this Psalm he rightly cautions, “Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of in iquity.” The word fret, according to Webster, means, “to eat away, to rob, to chafe, to agitate, to irritate, to disturb.” The Hebrew is even more descriptive for it says, “to heat thyself, to kindle thyself, to burn.” In today’s modern vernacular, it might be rendered “Don’t blow your top! Don’t lose your cool.” There had been a day in David’s life when he had chafed at the inequalities of God’s government. Perhaps he had a human right for this. He had been the slayer of Goliath. Even as an officer in the army of Saul, he was hunted as an animal. When he had on several occasions an opportunity to kill this wicked king, God inter vened, reminding him that in the end, the Lord would balance the scale. Mistreated by Nabal (I Sam. 25:21), he refrained from any per sonal action against him. Betrayed by Absolam, he by now had learned the sometimes difficult lesson of Psalm 37:1. It is easy to fret over the pros perity of the wicked. When godly people seem to suffer, and then pass away in extreme conditions of hard ship, we naturally question, “Why?” Then, there may come the question, 16
“Why has somebody else been ele vated to the position we ought to hold?” This is sometimes a bitter lesson to learn. Yet it is the only sound and satisfactory position to take. Looking at such a verse, we find little that needs explanation but much that needs practice. Several reasons are given why we shouldn’t envy the wicked. Verse 2 shows the negative position, while verse 3 con tains the positive assertion. While the wicked man may prosper, he is still a wicked man. The world has no wealth to compare with the bless ings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Kiches without God are not riches at all. The Christian is foolish to envy those who simply play a part, while their Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the wealth of the deepest mines. Christian knowledge does not per mit us to get “hot.” Becoming heat ed over what we consider the in equalities of life, questioning the goodness and wisdom of God, leads to spiritual defeat and cynicism. “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” Everything we have, are and hope to be is by the goodness of our God. Discontent implies dis satisfaction with God’s government, distrust of His justice, and doubt of His truth. Envy does not pay good dividends. Look what happened to Cain! So it is with all who are en vious, r a th e r than asking God, “What’s wrong with my life?” There is really no reason to be jealous of the prosperity of the wick ed- The justice of God should pre vent this. God brings a quick end to the unrighteous (v. 2). The higher the grass grows, the closer and soon
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