“Fret not thyself because of evildoers” Psalm 37:1
Suggested Scripture reading – I Samuel 25
There it was! The evidence had come in the morning mail and Ron was furious! His partner had incurred a huge bill for their business while he had been away and had failed to tell him about it. Ron had known that his partner had been trying to discredit him for some time. Now there was a large debt that had gone unpaid for several months. It had been a calculated act to make Ron look incompetent as the head of the company. When confronted the partner simply shrugged it off as an oversight. Ron was very agitated because the actions of this evil-doer had placed him in a very embarrassing spot. He had impugned his reputation as a business man but had also called his Christian testimony into question as well.
Ron began to find peace again when he read God’s advice to him in Psalm 37:1-2. “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” There had been many instances in the life of David where he also had been placed in a difficult spot because of the spiteful acts of an evil person. A good example can be found in I Samuel 24. There we read about the insult David endured from the evil, drunkard Nabal. Nabal insulted David and refused to pay a debt. Nabal called David a runaway slave who had escaped from his master. Nabal’s own men testified to the good treatment that they had received from David. “They were a wall unto us . . . while we were with them keeping the sheep.” (I Samuel 25:16) Nabal was en evil-doer. He “was churlish and evil in his doings.” (vs. 13) Nabal’s own servants said of him that “he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.” (vs. 17b) David was furious. He instructed his men, “Gird ye on every man his sword.” (vs. 13) David was going to war with Nabal. Had it not been for Abigail, Nabal’s wife’s, intervention David and his men would have destroyed this wicked evil-doer. Abigail reminded David, in verse 31 to “Let God deal with Nabal.” David saw the wisdom of her words and relented of his plan for revenge. “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.” (vs. 32-33) The end of the story is in verse is in verse 38. “And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.”
As angry as Ron was, God’s advice to him was “neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” (Psalm 37:1-2) It took time but the character of his partner became known to everyone and he left the firm in disgrace. Child of God, we waste a lot of energy when we “fret” ourselves over those who do us wrong. We get angry, anxious, and fearful over the acts of evil-doers. We must remember, “They shall be soon cut off.” Therefore we should:
Fear not the workers of iniquity.
Psalm 37:9
“For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.”
