THE HOLY SPIRIT IN Psalms 37 admonishes us to beware of irritation in our religious lives:"Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity."The word "fret" comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon and carries with it such a variety of meanings as bring a rather pained smile to our faces. Notice how they expose us and locate us behind our disguises. The primary meaning of the word is to eat, and from there it has been extended with rare honesty to cover most of the manifestations of an irritable disposition. "To eat away; to gnaw; to chafe; to gall; to vex; to worry; to agitate; to wear away"; so says Webster, and all who have felt the exhausting, corrosive effects of fretfulness know how accurately the description fits the facts.Now, the grace of God in the human heart works to calm the agitation that normally accompanies life in such a world as ours. The Holy Spirit acts as a lubricant to reduce the friction to a minimum and to stop the fretting and chafing in their grosser phases. But for most of us the problem is not as simple as that.Fretfulness may be trimmed down to the ground and its roots remain alive deep within the soul, there growing and extending themselves all unsuspected, sending up their old poisonous shoots under other names and other appearances.It was not to the unregenerate that the words "Fret not" were spoken, but to God-fearing persons capable of understanding spiritual things. We Christians need to watch and pray lest we fall into this temptation and spoil our Christian testimony by an irritable spirit under the stress and strain of life.It requires great care and a true knowledge of ourselves to distinguish a spiritual burden from religious irritation. We cannot close our minds to everything that is happening around us. We dare not rest at ease in Zion when the church is so desperately in need of spiritually sensitive men and women who can see her faults and try to call her back to the path of righteousness. The prophets and apostles of Bible times carried in their hearts such crushing burdens for God's wayward people that they could say, "Tears have been my meat day and night," and "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain. of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain daughter of my people!" These men were heavy with a true burden. What they felt was not vexation but acute concern for the honor of God and the souls of men.By nature some persons fret easily. They have difficulty separating their personal antipathies from the burden of the Spirit. When they are grieved they can hardly say whether it is a pure and charitable thing or merely irritation set up by other Christians having opinions different from their own.Of one thing we may be sure, we can never escape the external stimuli that cause vexation. The world is full of them and though we were to retreat to a cave and live the remainder of our days alone we still could not lose them. The rough floor of our cave would chafe us, the weather would irritate us and the very silence would cause us to fret.Deliverance from a fretting spirit may be by blood and fire, by humility, self-abnegation and a patient carrying of the cross. There will always be "evildoers" and "workers of iniquity," and for the most part they will appear to succeed while the forces of righteousness will seem to fail. The wicked will always have the money and the talent and the publicity and the numbers, while the righteous will be few and poor and unknown. The prayerless Christian will surely misread the signs and fret against the circumstances. That is what the Spirit warns us against.Let us look out calmly upon the world; or better yet, let us look down upon it from above where Christ is seated and we are seated in Him. Though the wicked spread himself like "a green bay tree" it is only for a moment. Soon he passes away and is not. "But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble." This knowledge should cure the fretting spirit.

A.W. Tozer's materials are a mainstay in Evangelical churches in our day and he is one of the most quoted authors. He was a prophet in his day and his writings are even more influential in our day. One of his books: The Pursuit of God, has had over 1 million copies sold world-wide.

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer

Man - The Dwelling Place of God - The Cure for a Fretful Spirit

For Reading and Meditation:      Job 21:11-16We come now to the heart of the issue with which the psalmist is struggling in Psalm 73: "Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning" (Psalm 73:13-14). Permit me to paraphrase what I think he is saying: "Here I am, living a godly life, keeping my heart and hands clean, avoiding sin, meditating on the things of God and devoting myself to a life pleasing to God, yet despite this I am facing all kinds of troubles. What's the advantage in serving God if He doesn't protect me?" The problem, then, is not so much the prosperity of the wicked as the fact that he himself is passing through a period of great trial while they are getting off scot-free. We begin now to see the roots of the envy to which the psalmist referred earlier: "For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (v. 3). Envy is born out of two things: ignorance and a wrong comparison. Take, first, a wrong comparison. "Almost all our problems," said Dr W.E. Sangster, "begin in a wrong comparison." How true this is. We compare our looks, our height, our income, our homes, our training and our abilities with those of others and soon we lose sight of our own individuality and specialness. To compare ourselves with Christ is a healthy spiritual discipline, but to indulge in comparison with those we think are more prosperous and fortunate than we are is the direct road to envy.O God, save me, I pray, from the habit of wrongly comparing myself with others. Help me to satisfy the impulse I have for making comparisons only in a way that will yield spiritual gain - by comparing myself only with You. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Psalm 37:1-40</li><li>Proverbs 3:31</li><li>Proverbs 14:30</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is envy?</li><li>What is the result of envy?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"Yet they say  'Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?'  But their prosperity is not in their own hands " (vv. 14-16) 

For Reading and Meditation:      Hebrews 12:1-13We ended yesterday by saying that some things in life, such as the desire to have money, can be legitimate concerns but they must be looked upon as desires and never become goals. Permit me to differentiate between the two. A goal is a purpose to which a person is unalterably committed and something for which he or she assumes unconditional responsibility. A desire is something wanted and which cannot be obtained without the co-operation of another human being. A desire must never become the motivating purpose behind our behaviour, for if it does, then it becomes a goal - and a goal that is likely to be blocked, causing negative emotions to arise. Remember the man we talked about yesterday? His goal, we said, was to make money. Once he changed his goal to pleasing the Lord and then saw his concern to make money as merely a desire, he found instant release. Keep in mind that what causes emotional problems to arise is invariably a blocked goal. Take another illustration that might help to mark the difference between goals and desires more clearly. Have you ever found yourself talking to another Christian who seems to have difficulty in applying what seems to you a simple biblical principle? You point out the need to do as God says, but your friend fails to see the truth that to you is as clear as daylight. If you get frustrated, the chances are that you are allowing a desire to become a goal. To want your friend to listen is a legitimate desire, but to get frustrated over it means you are determined to make him listen - and that becomes a goal.Gracious Father, I come to You again to help me sort out this important issue of desires versus goals. I see that if I can resolve this problem, then a new chapter in my life is about to be written. Help me, dear Lord. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Psalm 37:1-11</li><li>Psalm 21:2</li><li>Psalm 73:25</li><li>Proverbs 10:24</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What was the psalmist's desire?</li><li>What happens when we delight ourselves in the Lord?</li></ul></div></div>

"' who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame '" (v. 2) 

For Reading and Meditation:      Matthew 7:13-20Today we look at the special understanding the psalmist received when he came into the sanctuary of God: "Then I understood their final destiny" (Psalm 73:17). As soon as he considered the final destiny of the ungodly, everything dropped into focus for him. He had looked at the prosperity of the ungodly but he had not looked at their end - he had not taken in all the facts. What are the facts concerning the end of the ungodly? The passage we read today tells us: the broad road which the ungodly travel leads to destruction; the narrow road which the godly travel leads to life. It is as simple as that. Though this passage was not available to the psalmist, the truth underlying it was most certainly known to him. Listen to this from Psalm 37: "The transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off" (v. 38, NKJ). The writer of that psalm, King David, described the wicked spreading themselves like a green tree, but when the end came they vanished off the face of the earth and no one could find them. The trouble with us is that so often we dwell too much on the present and fail to consider the future. Do you look at the ungodly, many of whom seem to be having a marvellous time ignoring moral restrictions, and feel envious of them? Well consider their end. Give some thought to the ultimate outcome. The Bible describes it as "destruction". We ought never to forget that it is not how things are at present that is important; it's how they end that matters. Father, whenever I am next tempted to compare my life and its circumstances with that of others who do not know You, help me to remind myself of the fact that it is the end that matters, not the beginning. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Luke 12:15-21</li><li>Proverbs 12:15-16</li><li>Proverbs 28:6</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did Jesus call the man in his parable?</li><li>What word keeps occurring in the parable?</li></ul></div></div>

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction " (v. 13) 

"Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." Psalms 37:3 Trust and do are words which go well together, in the order in which the Holy Spirit has placed them. We should have faith, and that faith should work. Trust in God sets us upon holy doing: we trust God for good, and then we do good. We do not sit still because we trust, but we arouse ourselves and expect the LORD to work through us and by us. It is not ours to worry and do evil but to trust and do good. We neither trust without doing nor do without trusting. Adversaries would root us out if they could; but by trusting and doing we dwell in the land. We will not go into Egypt, but we will remain in Immanuel's land-the providence of God, the Canaan of covenant love. We are not so easily to be got rid of as the LORD's enemies suppose. They cannot thrust us out nor stamp us out: where God has given us a name and a place, there we abide. But what about the supply of our necessities? The LORD has put a "verily" into this promise. As sure as God is true, His people shall be fed. It is theirs to trust and to do, and it is the LORD's to do according to their trust. If not fed by ravens, or fed by an Obadiah, or fed by a widow, yet they shall be fed somehow. Away, ye fears!

Another classic from the pen of C.H. Spurgeon that will challenge and inspire you on your daily path to Heaven.

Charles Spurgeon's Faith's Checkbook

Trust and Do; Do and Trust

In many ways faith leads to beneficence. Faith discovers to us the infinite mercy shown by God in providing a ransom for us; and the contemplation of this sacrifice prompts us to engage in enterprises for the good of our fellow-men. It shows us God delighting in the reciprocal love of his creatures one to another, and seeking to make them mutually exponents of his love. It reveals to us the Lord Jesus who pleased not himself, and went about doing good; and teaches us, that we are his disciples only while we follow him. It keeps fresh in our memory the promises; such as, " he that giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord;" " inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." It shows us that we have nothing which we can properly call our own, since we are one and all stewards of God, and must here after give an account of our stewardship. And it enables us to rest in full assurance upon the declarations of God and of Christ, that we shall be fed, that no good thing shall be withheld from us, that we are of more account than many sparrows. We need faith in order to know how to do good. To be charitable, we have not merely to overcome our own reluctance to give, but we must learn from God how to relieve the wants of men. It is not enough to stretch forth the hand; it must be stretched forth in wisdom, wisdom obtained by faith. Again, if a man whose character is not what it should be, who does not honor God, or the word of God, if such an one engages from some motive or other in works of beneficence, there is reason to believe that he will indirectly do more evil than he will directly do good. For his kind acts will tend to propitiate men with his defective religion, and will go far to make them believe that the fear of God is not after all of very great importance.

A daily devotional written by a Baptist Missionary to India, Reverend George Bowen (1816-1888) over 150 years ago.

Bowen's Daily Meditations

" Trust in the Lord and do good; and verily shalt thou be fed." - Psalms 37:3. 

Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. § Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. § Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. As long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. § Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today … then you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.” Is not the Lord your God with you? And has He not given you rest?

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 The Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. 

3 <poetry>Trust in the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> and do good; <indent>dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. </indent> </poetry>

Trust in the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> and do good; <indent>dwell in the land<cr>1</cr> and enjoy safe pasture.<cr>2</cr> </indent>

Psalm 37:3

 3 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land   and enjoy safe pasture.   

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

<poetry>Trust in the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> and do good; <indent>dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. </indent> </poetry>

 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land   and enjoy safe pasture.   

Bible Verse of the Day

April 13, 1888

Psalm 37:3 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

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