Thursday in my ministers meeting, we were studying Psm 37.  These first several verses really jumped out at me as we also discussed the Lewinski interview from the night before.  When you look at our world today, it seems impossible to be the Christian God wants us to be.

In many countries, people are killed simply for calling themselves Christian.  Even here in the U.S. we are under the gun as Christians.  Laws are passed under the gauze of the separation of church and State.  Our moral atmosphere is disgusting.  Watching the Lewinski interview I was amazed to hear this young woman talk like she didn’t do anything wrong by having an affair with a married man, and Barbara Walters was just as bad by asking her to describe her phone sex and the facts of how they satisfied each other without intercourse.  What business do these thing have being on TV?

Even stepping out of the political and entertainment worlds, you watch as evil people make money hand over fist while you fight to just pay the bills.  The question can seemed to be stopped from popping into the back of my mind.  Does God really care about those of us who are trying to do right?  How can we live in this world and not be corrupted by it?

Read all of this Psalm, and you will see there is hope for us.  In these first few verses, David gives some very practical advise for living in the World we have to live in.

PRAYER

I. Do Not Fret

A. v1 starts of with saying do not fret because of evil men.

1. Oh sure David, you were the man after God’s own heart, what do you know of evil Men?
2. Have you ever read of David’s life?
3. He lived in the shadow of evil men most of his life.

B. Or be envious

1. We are living in a period of time where is seems the bad are prospering.
2. Politicians are pitied for breaking the law.
3. Corrupt businessmen get a slap on the hand and go back to robbing people in the marketplace.
4. Sinful lifestyles are celebrated as being the “in” thing.
5. It’s is hard not to look at that and wonder why.

a) As a minister, we don’t make a lot of money.
b) It’s easy to get a little frustrated when you see some celebrity who lives about as sinfully as you can imagine making millions and people hanging on their every word.
c) Some of you have had to make decisions that cost you promotions because you didn’t want to break your Christian principles just to make more money.
d) So you watch someone else get that position, with more power and money who would sell their mother if it got them in better with the higher ups.

C. We have to remind ourselves that in the end, all will be justly taken care of.

1. I won’t be rich monetarily, but look at the lives I have touched in a way that won’t be forgotten shortly after I retire.
2. You may not get that promotion, but your soul still belongs to God not the company.
3. You may not have great power in your area, but you can live with your life with no regrets.

D. Listen to verse 2 - READ

A. David gives us a way to forget about the world’s enticements and unfairness.
B. Trust in the Lord

1. Have you ever gone wrong trusting God?

a) There have been times I have wondered, but in the end, I finally saw where he was leading me to a better life.

2. There may be times where your trust has to be blind faith, because God hasn’t revealed himself and his plans to you just yet.

a) Look at Heb 11.
b) Remember what vs 39-40 says?  READ
c) They NEVER saw that trust pay off in the way God intended, but they never quit trusting.
d) Did God forget them?
e) No, his promises to them were fulfilled in ways too wonderful for them to even fully understand in life.
f) If you noticed vs 40, those promises are to us as well.

C. Do Good

1. Want you get away from your problems?  Help someone else.
2. You would be amazed at how good you feel.
3. Youth groups never forget those mission trips where they did something good for someone else.
4. Several years ago an article appeared in Time magazine about a doctor who lived through the terrible bombing of Hiroshima. When the blast occurred, Dr. Fumio Shigeto was waiting for a streetcar only a mile away, but he was sheltered by the corner of a concrete building.  Within seconds after the explosion, his ears were filled with the screams of victims all around him.  Not knowing what had happened, he stood there for a moment bewildered--one doctor wondering how he could ever handle this "mountain" of patients. Then, still somewhat stunned, Dr. Shigeto knelt, opened his black bag, and began treating the person lying at his feet.
5. Living in this world can sometimes feel overwhelming and bewildering to a Christian trying to follow God.

a) Trust God and start doing good.
b) who knows, you might make your world a little better.

A. So often we only look at our sins.

1. We see our sins and failings so plainly.
2. We look out at everyone else and that is all we see in them too.

B. David says, Delight yourself in the Lord.

1. Did David Sin?  You bet.
2. Did he have failings?  He had failings that most of us hope we never have.
3. What made him the Godly man he was, was the realization that he had to delight himself in the Lord.

a) He didn’t dwell on his wrongs, but on God’s grace.
b) He enjoyed being with God and that limited his desire to do wrong.

C. We need to be joyful as Christians, not gloomy.

1. We need to look at the good side of life not the bad.
2. We need to be basically happy not mad.

A. How are you living?

1. Is your life one that is committed to being like the world?
2. Is your life one that is committed to the way of the Lord?

B.  One of the best ways to survive living in the world is to make sure you are living in the Lord first.

1. Every person has a choice every day of their lives.
2. Am I going to live like the world or like Christ.
3. I would love to be able to make that decision for everyone, but I can’t.

a) It is a decision that has to come from your heart.
b) Only you can decide how you are going to live.

C. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn.

1. If you are living as a Christian, people notice.
2. When we lived in Britain, no one mistook dad for British.

a) His accent gave him away as an American.
b) He was an American living in Great Britain.
c) Britain wasn’t his home, Britain wasn’t his identity.  Britain was where he was living.  American was who he was.

3. Can you see the correlation?

a) The world isn’t our home.  The world isn’t our identity.
b) We are living in the world, but Christian is who we are.

A. I love this verse 7 and hate it at the same time.

1. I love it because I know that God will bring justice in his time.
2. I love it because I know God will never forsake me.
3. I love it because I know the Lord is on my side.

B. But I hate it for one simple reason.  I am not patient.

1. I want God to deal with those unfairness right now.
2. I want God to vindicate me to the world right now.
3. I want God to shout to the World Jim is my faithful servant.
4. But he says be still and wait patiently.

a) I hate it but that is what that is what I will seek to do.

C. Some of my greatest spiritual moments have been when I have followed David’s advise.

1. When I have just sat quietly with my Bible to read and pray has brought peace that I cannot explain.
2. To spend some time just talking to God quietly and meditating has helped me look at an unfair world and see that he can use me to make a difference to some in it.