Salmos 37
Warren Wiersbe · Citado em PreceptAustin
Salmos 37
Wiersbe says that the "word translated “trust” (e.g., used in Pr 3:5+) means “to lie helpless, facedown.” It pictures a servant waiting for the master’s command in readiness to obey, or a defeated soldier yielding himself to the conquering general. (Be Skillful) Higgins agrees that the Hebrew word batach "means to stretch out or to lie face down. It is a picture of a man totally stretched out on his face before God. The message of his posture is his total helplessness and dependence upon God. It bespeaks that he is totally yielded to that will. Matthew reminds us of the Lord Jesus that He "fell on his face, and prayed ... not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Mt 26:39). (What the Bible Teaches - Proverbs)
Salmos 37
Wiersbe - David reminds us: "For they [the wicked] shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good" (Psalm 37:2,3). When you fix your eyes on the Lord and trust and obey Him, that fretful spirit quiets down, and peace comes to your heart. Whenever I stop trusting the Lord for my needs and for His help, my heart becomes heavy and burdened, and then I become fretful and worried. So "trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness" (Psalm 37:3). God takes care of His own. Learning To Trust Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. —Psalm 37:3 Today's Scripture: Isaiah 66:7-13 When I stuck my camera into the bush to take a picture of the baby robins, they opened their mouths without opening their eyes. They were so used to having mama robin feed them whenever the branches moved that they didn’t even look to see who (or what) was causing the disturbance. That is the kind of trust that loving mothers instill in their children. That is the kind of mom I am blessed to have. Growing up, I could eat whatever food she put on the table without fear that it would harm me. Although she made me eat things I didn’t like, I knew she did so because they were good for me. If she cared only about what was easy for her, she would have let me eat junk food. No matter what Mom told me to do, or not to do, I knew she had my best interest in mind. She wasn’t trying to keep me from having fun; she was trying to protect me from being hurt. Reflect & Pray Lord, we’re thankful for this example of motherhood. But even more, we’re grateful for Your faithful “mothering” of us displayed in Your compassion day by day. Help us to find rest in You. Amen. God’s care surrounds us. Timing Is Everything All things work together for good to those . . . who are the called according to His purpose. —Romans 8:28 Today's Scripture: Psalm 37:3-11 It was quite a few months before I realized that what I thought was a coincidental meeting had been good timing on my future husband’s part. From the balcony of the church, he had seen me, deduced which exit I might be using, raced down two flights of stairs, and arrived seconds before I did. As he casually held the door and struck up a conversation, I was oblivious to the fact that his “impromptu” dinner invitation had been premeditated. It was perfect timing. Perfect timing is rare—at least where humans are concerned. But God has specific purposes and plans for us, and His timing is always perfect. We see that timing in the life of these Bible characters: Abraham’s servant prayed for a wife for Isaac. God answered his prayer by bringing the young woman to him (Gen. 24). Joseph was sold as a slave, falsely accused, and thrown into prison. But eventually God used him to preserve many people’s lives during a famine (45:5-8; 50:20). And we marvel at Esther’s courage as Mordecai reminded her, “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Est. 4:14). Reflect & Pray Have faith in God, the sun will shine Though dark the clouds may be today; His heart has planned your path and mine, Have faith in God, have faith alway. —Agnew God’s timing is perfect—every time! The Need For Nourishment Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. —Psalm 37:3 Today's Scripture: Psalm 37:1-11 Our grandson Cameron was born 6 weeks prematurely. Undersized and in danger, he became a resident of the hospital’s neonatal unit for about 2 weeks until he gained enough weight to go home. His biggest challenge was that, in the physical exercise of eating, he burned more calories than he was taking in. This obviously hindered his development. It seemed that the little guy took two steps backward for every step of progress he made. No medicine or treatment could solve the problem; he just needed the strength-giving fortification of nourishment. As followers of Christ, we are constantly finding our emotional and spiritual reserves drained by the challenges of life in a fallen world. In such times, we need nourishment to strengthen us. In Psalm 37, David encouraged us to strengthen our hearts by feeding our souls. He wrote, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness” (v.3). Reflect & Pray Feed on God’s faithfulness to find the strength you need. A Strategy Of Patience Read: Psalm 37:1-11 Trust in the Lord, and do good . . . . Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. —Psalm 37:3,7 Patience should characterize the life of every believer who is trying to do God’s will. This virtue is illustrated by John Wooden in his book They Call Me Coach. The author, who was head basketball coach at UCLA for many years, said, “In game play, it has always been my philosophy that patience will win out. By that, I mean patience to follow our game plan. If we do believe in it, we will wear the opposition down and will get to them. If we break away from our style, however, and play their style, we’re in trouble. And if we let our emotions command the game rather than our reason, we will not function effectively. I constantly caution our team, ‘Play your game. . . . Eventually, if you play your game, stick to your style, class will tell in the end! This does not mean that we will always outscore our opponent, but it does ensure that we will not beat ourselves.'” To know our work is not in vain, As partners of the Lord, Provides the patience that we need To wait for God's reward. —Sper You can't lose if you stay with God's game plan. Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. BGT Psalm 36:4 κατατρύφησον τοῦ κυρίου καὶ δώσει σοι τὰ αἰτήματα τῆς καρδίας σου NET Psalm 37:4 Then you will take delight in the LORD, and he will answer your prayers. LXE Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself in the Lord; and he shall grant thee the requests of thine heart. NLT Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires. KJV Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. ESV Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. NIV Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. ASV Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in Jehovah; And he will give thee the desires of thy heart. CSB Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart's desires. NKJ Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. NRS Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. YLT Psalm 37:4 And delight thyself on Jehovah, And He giveth to thee the petitions of thy heart. Delight: Ps 43:4 104:34 Job 27:10 34:9 Song 2:3 Isa 58:14 1Pe 1:8 and: Ps 21:1,2 145:19 Joh 15:7,16 1Jn 5:14,15 DELIGHT NOT DRUDGERY! The first use of delight in the NAS, ASV, NRS, CSB and ESV versions is found in Genesis 3:6 which reads "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight (Hebrew = taavah; Lxx = arestos = pleasing) to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." Although the Hebrew verb taavah is not the same verb (anag/anog) used by David here in Psalm 37:4, clearly the passage in Genesis is still very instructive! It should serve as a reminder that delight is a powerful force in our soul and it can be used for bad (even bringing catastrophic consequences as did Eve's delight which opened the floodgates of sin - cf Ro 5:12+) or it can be used for good as David explains in the present passage. In short, what we delight in can lead to either a curse or a blessing. And so this begs the important question that each of us must honestly answer "In what do we delight?" This is not a minor question, as Eve's delight in Genesis 3 illustrates! So let us take time to ponder David's wisdom in this passage, even memorizing it and then "chewing on it" (meditating on it), so that we might enjoy the blessings of meditation, even as promised in the book of Joshua “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that (PURPOSE OF MEDITATION) you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it (FIRST OBEDIENCE); for then (BLESSINGS) you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. (Joshua 1:8+) Webster's 1828 Dictionary says that "Delight is a more permanent pleasure than joy, and not dependent on sudden excitement." There may some truth in that statement, but in the NT clearly joy is a part of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22+), so it can certainly be long lasting, as long as we are daily choosing to be filled with the Spirit and walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16+). Webster also says that to delight is to "To affect with great pleasure; to please highly; to give or afford high satisfaction or joy; as, a beautiful landscape delights the eye; harmony delights the ear; the good conduct of children, and especially their piety, delights their parents." Delight yourself in the LORD - Notice the order - First the command to be obeyed, then the promise to be received. Delight (see more detail below on anag) is a command which charges us to find our enjoyment in Jehovah. Another Hebrew word for delight (chephets) means to bend toward or incline toward, a very fitting description of what our attitude should be toward our Almighty God! Paul gives us a New Testament parallel in Php 4:4+ which is also a command to continually "Rejoice in the Lord." To delight in the LORD is to find our highest degree of gratification in Him, to experience our greatest pleasure in Him, to find that He is the One who supremely satisfies our soul. He is the source of our joy. He is the one who pleases our soul. Or stated another way "When our delight is in the love of God, our desires will be in the will of God. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, we will want the things that delight Him." (Wiersbe) If we attempt to DELIGHT in God out of a sense of duty, it will not be a delight but a drudgery! But God never gives a commandment without also providing the enablement. So how do we arouse a desire to delight and rejoice in the Lord? Simply put, we can't but God can! Paul commands us to "work out (present imperative) your salvation in fear and trembling (IN CONTEXT OF PS 37:4 OBEY THE COMMAND TO DELIGHT) (Phil 2:12+), explaining that this is only possible because "God is working (Gk = energeo ~ present tense = continually energizing) in us, giving us the DESIRE and the POWER to do what pleases Him." (Phil 2:13NLT+) Note that we are both responsible (WORK OUT) and dependent (SPIRIT IN US)! To state it another way, we are to work out what God's Spirit works in! We must daily make the choice to renounce reliance on self efforts to muster up the affection to delight out of a sense of duty, and instead rely on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ alone can stir in our hearts this DESIRE and give us the supernatural POWER to DELIGHT in Jehovah. As A W Tozer said "We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit (and) when the Holy Spirit shows us God as He is we admire Him to the point of wonder and DELIGHT." James Smith explains that "Sin has taken our attention off of God - and fixed it upon ourselves, or the things around us. Grace calls our attention off of everything else - to fix it upon God. It directs us to DELIGHT in the Lord." Puritan Stephen Charnock says that "This DELIGHT (in Ps 37:4) springs from the Spirit of God. Not a spark of fire on your own hearth is able to kindle this spiritual DELIGHT; it is the Holy Spirit Who breathes such a heavenly heat into our affections. The Spirit is the fire that kindles the soul, the spring that moves the watch, the wind that drives the ship. Just as prayer is the work of the Spirit in the heart, so DELIGHT in prayer owes itself to the same Author." As an unknown Puritan prayed "When I think upon and converse with Thee, ten thousand DELIGHTFUL thoughts spring up, ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed, ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart, crowding into every moment of happiness." (Valley of Vision) PRAYER - Father by Your precious Holy Spirit stir our hearts to desire to delight in the LORD that we might "feast on the abundance of Your house and… drink from the river of Your DELIGHTS." (Ps 36:8, Jn 4:14, 7:38-39+). In Jesus' delightful Name. Amen "Dear fountain of DELIGHT unknown! No longer sink below the brim But overflow, and pour me down A living and life-giving stream!" Amen -- William Cowper
Salmos 37
Wiersbe says that "If we delight in the Lord, and seek to please Him in everything, then something is going to happen to our own desires. His desires become our desires. We start to say with our Lord, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work” (John 4:34). Our praying, then, is simply the reflection of God’s desires in our own heart… To cultivate a heart that desires what is good, a heart that delights in the Lord (Ps 37:4), is the first step toward the life that overflows with the blessing of the Lord." (Bible Exposition Commentary). Treasury of David on Delight yourself in the Lord. Make Jehovah the joy and rejoicing of thy spirit. Bad men delight in carnal objects; do not envy them if they are allowed to take their fill in such vain idols; look thou to thy better delight, and fill thyself to the full with thy more sublime portion. In a certain sense imitate the wicked; they delight in their portion—take care to delight in yours, and so far from envying you will pity them. There is no room for fretting if we remember that God is ours, but there is every incentive to sacred enjoyment of the most elevated and ecstatic kind. Every name, attribute, word, or deed of Jehovah, should be delightful to us, and in meditating thereon our soul should be as glad as is the epicure who feeds delicately with a profound relish for his dainties. Adam