Psalm 37: Don't Fret

I’ve been studying Psalm 37. I’m well educated and intelligent.  I have a reasonable vocabulary; I felt I had a clue, but I knew I needed to look up the word ‘fret’ because this passage says not to do it –several times. So I googled it and read the definition in many different resources.  The consensus seems to be that “fret” is a personal action.  It means to agitate yourself, to keep yourself worked up over an issue, to consciously continue to worry.  Another definition included picking at a sore until it is irritated or rubbing a surface with pressure until it is worn down. I’ve seen roots on the trail that have been fretted.  I’ve seen banisters in schools that have been fretted.  I’ve watched people –including myself pick and rub the weirdest things when in deep thought.

Suddenly I understood the term “fret not” in a whole new light.  Alarm, concern, are things that happen to us.  Fretting is something we do to ourselves. 

“Don't fret because of evil men.  They won’t last.”  Now it’s true that more evil, sometimes worse evil will surface but this will die off as well.  I did a lot of fretting in the past several years as I watched evil gain footholds in my nation, my state, my city and my own relations.  We’re supposed to care, right?   Yes.  But the next part says trust God with it, bring your focus and perspective back to him and live your life.  It says to delight in him and he’ll make our cause shine like the dawn. But frequently my concern, my caring turns into self inflicted agitation which glares like an ugly light; it doesn’t shine like dawn.  It wears on me and it doesn’t seat me closer to my Savior and God.

This whole chapter is a contrast of evil against trust.  Yes, good behavior is mentioned, but more as a sideline.  This passage contrasts evil people with people who trust and take their delight in God.  We are to trust in hard times and have understanding and then we are to turn to God and delight in him.  It’s not sticking our heads in the sand.  It’s knowing that some things are beyond us and keeping ourselves agitated over those things does no good.  As we change our focus to God’s goodness, there is much that can be affected and God promises to tackle the rest as we trust and stay close to him. It even addresses the fact that we will make mistakes – but assures us we will not fall if our trust and delight are in him.

So it is my determination that when I begin to fret –when my mind or heart grabs an issue or offense and begins to wear me down with it, I will turn to my God, express my need in trust, find joy and pleasure there and then just get busy at what he gives me to do with a rejuvenated perspective.  I want this to become my lifestyle.