"Trust in the Lord, and do good....
Turn away from evil and do good."
Psalm 37:3,27 ESV
Overcoming a fretful mindset requires that we seek the Lord's equipping to do good works in this fallen world. External situations should not determine our level of productivity in bearing the fruit of righteousness. Fretfulness doesn't bring glory to God but rather hinders us from responding as we should, namely by overcoming evil with good.
How can we live fret-free in a world full of turmoil and trouble, with a heart of love, while demonstrating true humility? Psalm 37 answers this question by coaching us to look ahead (which I covered in my previous blog), keep looking up, and stay productive.
When we look ahead, we see a day of true justice dawning just over the horizon of our present situations. With hearts and minds stayed on Christ, we anticipate the time of His glorious return and rejoice in His providential care until that day comes.
Part one of this Fret Not blog series, featuring messages based on Psalm 37 (ESV), concluded that Christians should refrain from unrighteous anger when the campaigns of the ungodly prosper. Part two showed how such fretting leads to general neglect in demonstrating love towards those who reject and oppose the righteous. The third part of the series reflected on how the Holy Spirit empowers those who exhibit Biblical meekness while, in the eyes of the world, such an attribute is considered weakness.
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
Matthew 5:5 ESV
Many mistake meekness for weakness, believing that the meek are subservient and ever yielding to the antagonist. This world esteems those who rise to fight back, crush injustice and avenge wrong. The cultural hero figure it readily embraces is the Steve Rogers type (the protagonist from the Captain America movies) who transforms into the ultimate superhero to defeat evil in the world.
"Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil."
Psalm 37:8 ESV
In my previous blog, we learned that the meaning of "fret not yourself" is "do not get heated." In the face of injustice and evil, we are to refrain from agitation, anger and irritation because these reactions produce bad fruit. The question then becomes, how can we respond in a fashion that yields good fruit? The Lord revealed to me the answer to this question in a foreign airport while returning from an overseas trip.
In Psalm 37, the phrase, "fret not yourself," appears three times. While encouraging God's people not to fret, this passage of Scripture also provides reasons why we are prone to do so:
Therefore, we should not give in to fret for "it tends only to evil"(v. 8).
