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Psalm 37 | Joy

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In part 2 of Summer in the Psalms, Rev. Dr. Michael Allen preaches from Psalm 37, offering a pastoral and theological reflection on how believers are to navigate life in a world that often seems dominated by the wicked. Dr. Allen helps us see how Psalm 37 calls God’s people to patience, trust, and steadfastness—not through naive optimism, but through deep confidence in God's justice and faithfulness.

Unpacking themes like fretting, envy, and the seeming prosperity of evildoers, he reminds us that the way of the righteous is marked by waiting on the Lord, delighting in Him, and committing our way to Him. In a culture driven by urgency and outrage, this psalm invites us to slow down, rest in God’s timing, and trust that He will act. Dr. Allen points us to Jesus, who embodies this quiet trust and secures our hope in the final vindication of the righteous.

Rev. Damein Schitter:

Hello everyone. This is Pastor Damian. You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, orlando. At New City, we believe all of us need all of Jesus for all of life. For more resources, visit our website at newcityorlandocom. Thanks for listening.

Evan Pederson:

Fret not yourself because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade. Thanks for listening. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil desires. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself.

Evan Pederson:

It tends only to evil, for the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more. Though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked draw their sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright. Their sword shall enter their own heart and their bows shall be broken. Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked, for the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. The Lord knows the days of the blameless and their heritage will remain forever. They are not put to shame in evil times. In the days of famine they have abundance, but the wicked will perish. The enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures they vanish like smoke. They vanish away. The wicked borrows but does not pay back. But the righteous is generous and gives, for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. The steps of a man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.

Evan Pederson:

I have been young and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously and his children become a blessing. Turn away from evil and do good, so you shall dwell forever, for the Lord loves justice. He will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever. But the children of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom and his tongue speaks justice. The law of his God is in his heart. His steps do not slip. The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death, but the Lord will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial. Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land. You will look on when the wicked are cut off.

Evan Pederson:

I have seen a wicked, ruthless man spreading himself like a green laurel tree, but he passed away. And behold, he was no more. Though I sought him, he could not be found. Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace, but transgressors shall be altogether destroyed. The future of the wicked shall be cut off. The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them. He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him. This is God's word.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

Thanks be to God. Well, hey, it's one thing to fix something up, it's a very different thing to fit it out. This is true in all sorts of areas of life. It's one thing to fix something up, it's another thing to fit it out. In philosophy, they study the problem of suffering, yes, why evil things happen, but they also consider the good life, where happiness lies. In modern psychology, it began and was dominated for almost a century of studying disorder after disorder until finally, in the 1990s, positive psychology began to consider what makes for the full and rich life.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

It's true in health and medicine as well. We go to the hospital and we take medicine to address problems that are ailing our body, but we also think about rest, about food and diet, about exercise, about what makes for fitness, for energy and for strength. Yesterday, early in the morning on a Saturday, I was driving down Colonial and I passed many places where one could take your car. You could get new rims here, you could get a new sound system there, ways to customize, ways to upgrade, ways to fit out or trick out your vehicle. I got to make the wonderful drive to have my windshield replaced, to fix up a problem that had been bothering me, and that's the reality, isn't it?

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

Sometimes we have to focus on fixing a problem so much that we don't have eyes for, or opportunity to or resources to pursue filling it out, fitting it out, pursuing wholeness and flourishing and the best there might be. Sometimes, even as we study our Bible, we are so struck by the need for our problems to be fixed, sin especially, we don't have eyes or hearts to catch the goodness, the richness, the joy and happiness that's being promised. Sometimes, as we think about the Bible, we are so rightly struck by how sin and corruption and death and guilt, they reduce our lives, our lives with each other and our lives especially before God. And that's appropriate. And even this Psalm has so much to say about how we need God's saving grace, his mercy in our lives. But the Bible isn't only talking, in describing God's grace, about how God longs to fix the situation, how God longs to address the corruption and the sin and to offer mercy for what has gone wrong. God also longs to bless, god also longs to give. God wants not merely to fix what's gone awry in your life and your walk before him, god wants to fit you out with fullness and richness.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

And today we're going to focus on verses here. In Psalm 37, particularly verses three through five, where we see the psalmist describing the struggle, yes, but the joy that's found in turning to God, not merely for survival and subsistence but for satisfaction that God would provide in every area of life, and that God would do so to the full. First, though, as we look at this psalm, we need to be honest, as the psalmist is right off the bat. Oftentimes we experience what we might call the fuzziness of joy. We know that we long to be happy, we long to be in a world where we are cared for and blessed, and sometimes it seems as though God's ways aren't what we observe flourishing and succeeding out there.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

Musicians they have sung of this for decades now. You can go back to the 70s. Credence Clearwater Revival sang Fortunate Son about those who didn't have to go, suffer and struggle in the war. Billy Joel sang of how only the good die young. In the 90s, rage Against the Machine, they sang Take the Power Back, calling out to those who apparently didn't have it and didn't have lives as happy and joyful as those who did. More recently, billie Eilish sings all the good girls go to hell. It seems often that those who live according to the Lord's ways, they don't get what Psalm 1 describes. And those who go selfishly, those who go ruthlessly. They seem too often to prosper.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

Yesterday I was at a youth basketball tournament, watching three games. And here's the thing the rules of basketball don't change. They're the same. But I watched three games where the rules were applied very differently. By the end I could tell not only were the players tired, the coaches frustrated, but the referees. At least one was plainly interested in just letting the clock run out, never blowing the whistle, so that we could all get home and he could cash that check. We know it's one thing for there to be rules on paper or in principle. It's one thing for there to be an order by which the world is meant to run. It's a very different thing to see that applied consistently.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

And oftentimes we look around and it seems like the refs aren't calling things appropriately. They're throwing it for the other team, aren't they? And if we're honest, we look around in areas of real consequence. It seems like some scoundrels we know are getting ahead even as we're stuck, and it seems like some of the most powerful and the most wealthy and the most consequential. They're getting there. They're getting ahead. They're getting ahead of us by going and living in ways that very much cut against the grain of God's design. Joy can seem really fuzzy. God's promises can seem not to match what we sense around us. I want to invite you today to consider what it is, whether it's in the success of the seeming scoundrels or in the struggle of the saints around you. What is it that makes it hard to believe the promises of God and his goodness? What is it that seems to throw cognitive dissonance in the way we see the world functioning? Where is it that the words we sang from Psalm 1 just don't seem to match my perception of the world and of the way things actually go Now?

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

Our psalm, just like Psalm 1 that we sang earlier, it speaks of how there are those who they triumph now, but they will face judgment later. There is wrath yet to come. There is a day of the Lord that not only the Psalms, but especially the prophets will speak of. And one thing that's crucial to catch from Psalm 37 is you haven't seen the end of the story. There will be a day of the Lord where Jesus stands in judgment. There will be a day of the Lord where the wicked will be undone.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

And we all know, don't we, that sometimes, like the prophet Joel said, the day of the Lord seems to come a little early. We know what it is to look at our device and to see the latest item in the news that speaks of some lofty person being brought low because it's discovered, it's found out, it's shown that they've broken the law, they've mistreated others, they've been found to be a wrongdoer and they are damaged forevermore, canceled in this life, condemned in that to come. That's one word that the psalm offers. As we observe cognitive dissonance, as we see that so often, it's the scoundrels that seem to get ahead and the saints that seem to struggle. But there's another word that verses three through five offer, and it's there that I want to draw your attention this morning as we take one more glance at Psalm 37 in our slow meditation on it throughout the course of this summer season.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

In verses three to five, we see two different ways in which we are led to consider the goodness of God. So, secondly, we see here the fullness of joy. We see this especially in verse three and verse five, the way in which the psalmist is going to address God's goodness as it pertains to every circumstance and area of life, the way in which God longs to be all and sufficient on our behalf. Consider the miracle of Israel. At this point David the psalmist speaks, and he's been a part of what's actually a rather small or meager kingdom. But think of their story. They were brought out miraculously from the greatest empire of the day and they have lived and survived and actually been provided for in remarkable fashion, being blessed with the land flowing with milk and honey. Where are the Edomites? Where are the others, the Jebusites and so forth, who marked the story so long before? Israel alone has been preserved and cared for.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

At this point we can easily take God's care, god's provision in different areas of life. We can first take it for granted. We can presume on what we have experienced, as though it were just the normal state of affairs, that things go on and they go well. We can also sometimes take it cynically. We can despair that this could continue. We could look at the future with all its uncertainty At least. I can sometimes be tempted to think how could this possibly work out? How could God's ways at all promise a hopeful future? I'm not alone, and I suspect you're not alone, in thinking that because Jeremiah addresses a people who were tempted to that in their own day.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

In Jeremiah 2, 11 to 13, we hear him challenging God's people with these words, challenging God's people with these words. My people, they've changed their glory for that which doesn't profit. Be appalled, oh heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord. My people have committed two evils They've forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and they have hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

In the face of that temptation, in the face of that persistent turning to other sources for provision, this Psalm reminds us of God's care, of God's generosity, even in every area of life. Notice a number of the verses that speak to this. In verse 11, we read the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. Notice the language of abundance that's being emphasized there. In verse 22, we're told that those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land. Register the presence of the word blessing or blessed there. In verse 29, we hear that the righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. Note the persistence and endurance of this provision. And finally, in verse 34, notice the promise that he will exalt you to inherit the land. We are given not merely the promise of endurance, but of nothing less than exaltation by God himself. Endurance, but of nothing less than exaltation by God himself.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

And this psalm, and all those many promises for every area of life, it fits and flows from what has been the consistent story In the very beginning. When God made Adam and Eve, he not only blessed them with life, but he put them in a garden atop a mountain, filled with goodness and provision trees, here, there and everywhere. When God called Abram out of Ur to begin what would be the chosen people born of his line, god promised not only that they would endure and that they would be many, but that they would be blessed and that the nations would be blessed by their blessing. When God provides for Israel to be brought out of slavery and death in Egypt, god is not satisfied until there has been a feast on God's own mountain where God's people dine with him. He's not content merely to remove them from struggle and slavery. He longs to provide a feast on the journey and a land flowing with milk and honey.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

And we look forward to the New Testament, of course. And when Matthew tells the story and the teachings of Jesus himself, god incarnate. What's the first thing we learn? But in the first verses of his first lengthy sermon, he pauses to talk at length about the happiness God longs to bring In beatitude after beatitude, speaking of God's desire to grant joy and goodness, happiness and fullness, blessing across every area of life for those who are his own disciples. Here we see again and again the emphasis of God's provision persistently in every area of life.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

And here, in verses three and five, note what we are called or summoned to do Trust in the Lord, do good, dwell in the land, befriend faithfulness Notice that phrase. Befriend faithfulness. Grow close to the one who's defined by his trustworthiness, his faithfulness, his proven character in following through on all that he's promised to be and to do for you. That's what's involved in trusting the Lord here, there and everywhere in your life. Verse five adds commit your way to the Lord, trust in him. He will act. I want to ask you this morning it's one thing to entrust judgment day to God. Are you entrusting this day to the Lord? Are you committing all the areas of your life to God's provision and promise? Or are there circumstances where you have not yet committed them to the Lord? Are there occasions and areas of your life where you've not yet befriended faithfulness.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

God, in this psalm, is inviting you to hear the promise of Jesus, who comes not only to be the bread of life but to ask us to pray for daily bread that he might act, that he might give, that he might fill us up in every which way. There's a third thing we see and need to register as we read our way through this psalm. Third, we see, the psalm also speaks of what we could call the finality of joy. God is interested not merely in your trust, but in leading you through your trust, but in leading you through your trust and his trustworthiness to your experience of delight. And this we see named in verse four. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

The great novelist John Steinbeck wrote of how he could imagine ruining a life. He said this a strange species we are. We can stand anything God and nature throw our way, save only plenty. If I wanted to destroy a nation, steinbeck said, I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees. Miserable, greedy, sick. Getting what you want, having your desires in every area and circumstance met is quite dangerous circumstance met is quite dangerous and, if we're honest, religion can oftentimes become a tool in that toolkit. It can become another way of pursuing our consumeristic desires.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

It was just 20 years ago that the sociologist Christian Smith wrote a book called Soul Searching, reflecting on the national study of youth and religion. The youth of 20 years ago are today's young parents and there are many of them in this room. And in that study of thousands of youth at the time across the country, by way of phone and an extended 300 lengthy interviews with persons, they came to provide a pastiche, a picture of the view of God held by the predominant majority of youth in America at that time. Smith gave it the term moral therapeutic deism. Smith gave it the term moral therapeutic deism the idea that God has an order to the universe, it's moral, good and bad, right and wrong, true and false, righteous and wicked.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

The idea that God is a God of deism. He's removed from your everyday life. You don't need to have any terribly intimate communion with him, but he's got a therapeutic bent, he's got a concern for your happiness and so long as you basically do good, you will find that God is there to satisfy your yearning for this, that and the other. What do we see there? We see, of course, the register that we long to be happy, we long to have so many needs and wants met, but here we've got this image of a distant God, god who's not close, a God who, like Santa, is there to provide in various ways. And as those youth have aged up and some of them now parent youth, I wonder how the image holds when infertility has been a part of the story for years, or when cancer has been battled, when marriages have fallen apart or proven not to provide the intimacy and love that you thought they might, when the promotion hasn't come and you've been passed over and, worse, somebody you don't respect has climbed up past you.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

I wonder what that image of God as a therapeutic, deistic deity, as a therapeutic, deistic deity, what it has become in our minds and hearts. Here we see, Psalm 37 calls us to something higher. Learning through the long journey of turning over elements in our lives, entrusting them to God, committing them to his care, we learn eventually that they matter less and he proves to be more. We learn through his faithfulness that he is the ultimate desire and his presence is the final satisfaction. We learn through the way in which he, like a good parent, has cared for us, has patiently journeyed with us, has instructed us, taught us, protected us, guided us, forgiven us.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

By the time we've grown and matured, we've learned, haven't we as adults, that far better than a little bit of money here or a wise saying there, far better. What we want truly is real time with the parent. What we cry over as aged parents are ready to go, is not that they didn't give us a little more money. It's not that they didn't, in some way, you know, provide this or that. It's not that they didn't, in some way, you know, provide this or that. It's that we don't get to be with them longer. And the value of them has been proven through the care they've provided, through circumstance upon circumstance, year after decade, season upon season of our lives.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

And so it is not merely with parents in this life, but with our heavenly father, with the way in which his faithfulness, that he invites us to befriend, his trustworthiness in every season and era. It reveals him to be unique, it shows him to be singular, it exalts him in our eyes and it's meant, brothers and sisters, to grow our desire for him in our hearts. And so it is remarkable as Eric read from the lips of Jesus himself. As Eric read from the lips of Jesus himself. We are told God cares for the lilies of the field, god cares for the birds of the air and God cares for you this day, in every circumstance. But what you'll find in his provision and his persistence, in his faithfulness through the years, in his generosity across the board, is that the ultimate good is not that your prayer of today would be answered, but that you would learn, with the psalmist, to ask for something still greater.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

This psalm follows several psalms after Psalm 27. And in Psalm 27, 4, david says one thing I've asked of the Lord and you're probably thinking what I think when a preacher goes long or, in this case, the psalmist goes you've asked a lot, man. We are 27 psalms deep One thing I've asked of the Lord. I've been reading for quite a while. The psalmist isn't saying that he hasn't asked God for protection for him and his nation. He's not suggesting somehow that he hasn't asked for food and provision for strength for the journey. He's not forgetting the fact that he's asked for forgiveness, reprieve from the guilt that he bears. No, he's asked for so many things and, having seen God prove good in this and that and the other context in every circumstance, he knows. Now there is but one thing that matters that I may dwell forever in the house of the Lord. That I may dwell forever in the house of the Lord. And so, friends, this day I want to invite you.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

Yes, name those ways in which seeing the success of the scoundrels and observing the suffering of the strengths it makes the promises of God at times seem like the rules of the game that a referee just isn't upholding. Seem like the rules of the game that a referee just isn't upholding. But register too these two ways in which Psalm 37 reminds us of what God is for us. God calls us to commit our ways to him, to trust it all to the Lord, to befriend his faithfulness. As you walk into that doctor's visit, as you take up that difficult conversation, as you face disappointment and frustration, a need to make budget and a desire for wisdom in parenting that child, commit it to the Lord, trust it to God, befriend his faithfulness in every circumstance this day, not just on judgment day.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

But third, note that we are led, we are meant to journey, not merely to see God provide the good things that we need, but the greatest thing that he longs to be for us.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

Things that we need, but the greatest thing that he longs to be for us.

Rev. Dr, Michael Allen:

Romans 8.32 tells us that God, who didn't spare his own son but delivered him over for our behalf, how will he not also, with him, give us all other things? And the psalmist adds to that the words delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Let's turn to him in prayer. Oh God, our Father, our King, our Lord, our Redeemer and our Friend, you know our struggles, our wants, our desires and our fears, and we commit them to you. You know too, in ways we don't, what we're made for, and we pray that you would lead us to long, to desire, to hope for that which is truly great, that we might, above all else, be led not only to pray for our daily needs and those of the community around us, but ultimately for nothing less than your goodness, your presence in our lives. May we find our true joy where it shall never be taken away and where it will not be surpassed, for we pray all this in Jesus' strong and risen name, amen.