Psalm 37:1-11 “Do not get upset because of evildoers, do not be envious of wrongdoers.
For they will wither quickly like the grass, and decay like the green plants.
Trust in the Lord and do good; live in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it.
He will bring out your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday.”

“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not get upset because of one who is successful in his way, because of the person who carries out wicked schemes.
Cease from anger and abandon wrath; do not get upset; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be eliminated, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
Yet a little while and the wicked person will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.“

We need not fret because of evil doers around us, those wicked ones who do wrong and carry out wicked schemes. Whether they be in business, politics, media, driving next to us on the freeway, or lurking on the streets or in the alleys, it is of no use to be fretful or envious of them, upset by them, or angry at them. They may impact our living negatively in the moment, yet they are under God’s observation and control. They will be brought to His justice, the only justice that really matters. They will pass away, withering and decaying as they pass. Sooner or later they will be eliminated and will be found no more.

It is our God Who is in control. He will bring to justice all the wicked, all who have not submitted to Him. All evil will be eliminated, and with it all who do evil. This is not some mistaken idea about how the world will gradually become a better place until we all “just get along.” The world will not culminate that way. I have read the book. Judgment, retribution for wickedness, and all that is foretold in the scriptures is coming. Until that time, the patience with which He waits for the wicked to repent is the same patience He exercises with us.

The issue for all of us is this: this fallen life in this fallen world is not the ultimate reality, nor is it the most important realm of existence available to us. We may think this mortal life we all live, with all the distractions, diversions, duties, and designs is somehow “the life.” That is not at all true, no matter how much we gain the world and feel successful.

The Life of God is the ultimate reality. His life in us and our living placed into Him is our connection to that reality. It is our invitation and pathway into the true life and all that is good, eternal, meaningful, and ultimately worthwhile and truly important. Only Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. All that is not of Christ is of death. If we are alive in Christ, living in union and communion with Him by His life in us, there is no other path of life that will ever again satisfy.

If we truly live in and by the life of Christ in us, we can follow the life path of which the psalmist writes here. “Trust in the Lord and do good; live in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him….”

Here is where we find all possible fullness in living. Our focus, our delight, our trust is not in anything in this life or this world. These are placed only in our God Himself. By surrendering all our living into Him so that it is His life lived in us, we cultivate His faithfulness in us. He becomes deepest desire of our heart . His life in us and our life in Him feeds our desire for Him above all, a desire He is pleased to fulfill in us.

So many who profess Christ as Savior have not reckoned with His life in place of their own, nor with their lives being joined in union with the Father and Son. They live by their natural desires, trying to find delight in them and in the things of the world. They may live a religious life, yet not know that one cannot find true life and highest delight and desire in the things of death.

The words of C.S. Lewis are appropriate here: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

We cannot experience this fullness if our delight is in anything other than our God. He is not to be one of many things we find delightful. He is God, and our lives are meant to be found in Him at the expense of all other things or experiences. He is not be one of our delights, but is to be our one delight above all. He is not to be one of the things we desire, but is to be the desire of our hearts. He is not to be one of our trust points, for He alone must be our trust.

It is not in us, in our flesh, to delight in our God in this way or to hold Him as our one true desire. We must turn to Him in full surrender of our living. We must lay aside all other delights and desires. When we do, by His grace, mercy, and His indwelling life in us He replaces lesser objects of delight and desire with Himself. He moves us out of our self-living, out of this world and all its systems. He places us into His life and moves His life into us in place of our own. Here we find “…the measure of the fullness of God,” as Paul prayed for the Ephesians.

Now that’s really living!

Image via author, Becker Lake, Beartooth Range, Wyoming