Living a Believing Life Works (...Ask Me How I Know) - Episode 108 - Psalm 37:34, 38-40

Jan is the  author of the new book “A 60-Day Prayer Journal for Parents” & the audio course "Psalm 91- Pray It & Believe"

 

Well, hey there! Welcome to this episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show - where the promises of God are what we focus - you know, knowing what God’s word says is one thing, and believing what God’s word says is another thing and I really love it when both of those things come together and we both know what the Bible says, because Biblical literacy is so incredibly important, and also believe what the Bible says. When we believe God's promises, and we begin to pray in accordance with those promises, amazing things take place. Both in us and around us.

 

You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show podcast, part of the Spark Network, now playing in the Edifi app. This is episode number 108.

 

Continuing our look at the promises God gives us in Psalm 37, today let’s read verse 34 and then skip down a bit to read verses 38, 39 and 40. I’ll be reading from the Amplified today and I am thinking I may share from my Spurgeon study Bible in the next episode, because between C. H. Spurgeon and E. M. Bounds, I learn so much. But the real benefit of learning something isn’t about the learner knowing that something, but about the learner sharing that something with others. (Which may be a good bit of encouragement to somebody today… what do you know a lot about that you could share with others? I mean, even if you think your subject matter is only interesting to a tiny, very niche group of people, well the beauty of living in this social media age is that through hashtags, you can share that good stuff with just the right people and bless them - so, that’s an aside but maybe it will bless somebody today).

Psalm 37, verse 34 Amplified - 

Wait for and expect the Lord and keep His way,

And He will exalt you to inherit the land;

[In the end] when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

 

Waiting isn’t my favorite. But the older I get, the more I embrace the wait. I can look at it as an annoyance, or as a time of expectation. And when I live expectantly, it yields really good things in my life. God’s blessings are always worth the wait. And His promises to us are worth the wait. Because God’s promises are for sure His promised blessings. So while waiting may not be my favorite, receiving the blessing of the Lord kind of is my favorite. 

 

Wait for and expect the Lord and keep His way. 

 

So while we are that waiting season, sitting there in the waiting room, He wants us to keep His way. 

What does that mean?

Well, simple version: it means to do what He says. That’s obedience, right? And as a mom, I can tell you that delayed obedience, angry door slamming having a fit obedience is not really obedience that parents want. Like, you might do what you were told to do but you also might end up in a whole new bunch of trouble from the slammed doors and the yelling and all that. Parents know what I mean. I’ve said this before, but it isn’t gonna hurt to say it again. Don’t be a bratty child of God. He loves you too much for that. Love Him back. Obey Him. What He says, that you do. 

 

And then, He will exalt you. Let that play out however He chooses. David became king of Israel, first the king of Judah and then of the entire kingdom, all of Israel. He was obedient. He waiting with expectation and he kept the Lord’s way. I’m not going to be a queen, but I will receive some level of inheritance from God. That’s the promise, and I really do believe this promise. 

Now this verse also says that when the wicked are cut off, you will see it. Again, I cannot say specifically what that will look like in your life, or in my life, but there’s a promise here. Jesus said that nothing hidden will fail to be brought out into the light. This is just something God brings about as part of His character, His nature, who our God simply and totally is. It will happen, and you’ll see it. But I do want to encourage you to be a forgiving person, to pray for those who have hurt you or wronged you. To put them securely in the Lord's hands and let Him do His will, and you be quick to forgive and not to let any root of bitterness begin to take hold. Any bitter pill to swallow, maybe we should just spit out and not swallow it, ya know? 

 

Let’s read verses 38 through 40 now, and I’m still reading from the Amplified. 

As for transgressors, they will be completely destroyed;

The future of the wicked will be cut off.

39 

 

But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

He is their refuge and stronghold in the time of trouble.

40 

 

The Lord helps them and rescues them;

He rescues them from the wicked and saves them,

Because they take refuge in Him.

 

Now these are the final three verses from this psalm, this is how David closes out this powerful portion of Scripture. 

He tells us, like not the only time David says this, that transgressors will be completely destroyed. I’m not in David’s head, so I can’t say for certain, but he had a heart for people, he wasn’t heartless, I mean he is known as a man after God’s own heart, but he wants the reader to understand this. Time doesn’t stretch on forever with no accountability. When it’s time to pay the piper, you gotta pay. (And if you don’t know that story, about the pied piper and the children and what the cost was for what the people in that community wanted… yeah, it’s interesting. Paying the piper is usually very unpleasant.) There will be a time when the transgressor, the one who is not going to honor the Lord with his or her life, who is going to go their own way and damn the torpedoes kind of thing… a time of the Lord’s dealing with them always comes. The future of the wicked will be cut off. Those two words, cut off, tell us everything we need to understand about the way God will deal with the wicked. He wants all men and all women to come to repentance, to know His son Jesus, and to step into eternity under the blood of the Lamb. That's God’s will, and it is made clear all over the New Testament and frankly all over the Old Testament too. God is patient and He is so loving, but He cannot just ignore wickedness and transgression. David is honest in stating this, but David is not unloving or cruel. Honesty is not always cruelty, no matter what current culture says. 

Now David contrasts this for the righteous, and as followers of Jesus, our righteousness is in Christ alone. Here’s what he says, and this is our promise, it is contrasted with what is coming for the wicked. The righteous will receive salvation from the Lord. He is their refuge and their stronghold in times of trouble.

 

Does that not bring you big time comfort? What a promise! You and I, we get to have God be our stronghold in our times of trouble. And our refuge. It does not get better than that when you’re facing something hard. This is real world, walking around doing your daily life, comfort and hope here. God’s promises are not for some floaty on a cloud kind of life, which who has that anyway? God’s promises are for the life we are actually living. He cares, and because He cares and is so attentive, He has made promises. Our job is to believe the promises. To believe Him. In my course on Psalm 91, this is something I talk about. The work of believing, and it is work, but it’s the work Jesus said the Father wants us to do. So, let’s do it. Let’s do the work of believing. 

 

Now, let’s look at verse 40. The Lord helps them and rescues them;

He rescues them from the wicked and saves them,

Because they take refuge in Him.

 

Do you need some rescuing in any part of your life right now? Then this is for you. He helps and rescues - both those words, both verbs, are in the present tense. It will happen in the moment that you need it. Not just in the past and not just for the future. For now. Right now.  

 

He rescues from the wicked and saves them. 

Don’t need to add a whole lot to that because it is as plain as day. The only way it wont’ be true for us is, honestly, if we refuse to believe. If we, by our lack of belief, basically imply that God is lying. He’s not - spoiler alert! He’s not. And He won’t, no not ever. 

 

And why does verse 40 say God rescues and saves us from the wicked? Because we take refuge in Him.

 

This ain’t automatic. AUTO matic it is not. We have to take that refuge. Claim it, take it, believe it. I am taking refuge in God in the midst of this hard situation. My heart failure diagnosis? Oh, yeah, I daily take refuge in God. I live, I dwell, in His presence. I decide to be much with Jesus, talk with Him in prayer throughout the day, I read the Bible daily and I have a journal I keep notes in and when I pray, I ask for the things that are there on the page of my Bible. I choose to believe what the Word of God says over and above anything else, anything the Cleveland Clinic team asyas, Gods’ Word is over that. The test at the electrophysiologist shows this - I gotta take refuge in my God and believe that His Word is the final Word. God’s say is the final say. So I’m not ever sitting around lecturing people on an issue that I don't really understand. I know what it means to live on God’s promises. I know what a medical sort of death sentence is, I’ve heard those words difficult and tricky to treat, best to try and manage quality of life over the next few years. Sobering words, right? But God’s Word needs to be the most sobering of all. His truth is the actual, eternal truth. You and I, we can live as if that’s our reality or not. I hope you choose to live in a state of refuge in your God, because then you get the promise of being rescued and saved and helped. This works, my friend. Living a believing life works. Ask me how I know. God doesn’t have some special blessing on me that makes this all work out for me. Nope. This is for all His children, and 1 John says that that is what you are, His dearly loved child. Take that refuge in your God and get these blessings because the blessing of the Lord changes everything. 

 

Thanks for spending this time with me today on The Burt (Not Ernie) Show. And if you’d like to check out the Psalm 91 audio course, the link is in the show notes and my prayer is that is doesn’t just encourage you, but that it changes you because the Bible, because Jesus, that’s life changing and why not your life? Why not?

 

I’ll be back here for episode 109 next time - thankful for you, see ya then. Bye bye.

 

Jan L. Burt is an author, speaker, podcaster, homeschooling veteran, mother to five, and has been happily married to Tony for thirty years. She served in youth ministry alongside her husband for twelve years & has led several Bible studies for women as well as hosting two online prayer retreats.

Jan is the  author of the new book “A 60-Day Prayer Journal for Parents” & “The Power of God’s Will – 40 Days of God’s Promises Devotional” (available on Amazon) & “The Once-A-Year Homeschool Planner” (a multi-grade, multi-subject planning system) – which can be found at JanLBurt.com. She has also been a regular contributor to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Find Jan  Instagram: @JanLBurt or at her website JanLBurt.com or at her YouTube channel, “God’s Promises for You with Jan L. Burt”.