Be Still, Stop Worrying

Psalms 37:7-8 ESV
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.”

David shares an important principle that He learned early on in life. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for God.” David was anointed King of Israel as a teenager, but he did not become King until fifteen years later.

During those fifteen years, he went back to the shepherd’s field to watch sheep for years,. He suffered ridicule from His brother, he killed Goliath but only gained notoriety for a time. He played the harp for King Saul to calm Him down in fits of rage, then Saul tried to kill him. David then stayed on the run from King Saul and lived in the wilderness because Saul wanted to kill him.

Yes, David learned to wait on God. He also learned to not fret. Fretting means something is being ignited or heated. In English, a common expression for being angered is to “get hot under the collar.” Getting hot under the collar and then staying there in anger only hurts ourselves. Most of the people that we get angry with move on, they forget how angry they made us. So, who does fret, and anger hurt? Ourselves!

David goes one step further and says that this kind of anger and bitterness tends to make us do the wrong things. So, David’s remedy to fret and anger is to be still before God and if I can add one thing, listen to Him while we are being still.

The last thing David says to do in verse seven is to wait patiently. We hate waiting on anything or anyone, but this is good advice. Wait for God to have His way, His way is worth waiting for because we will find great reward in doing so.

Prayer:
Lord, we turn all fret and anger and malice over to You. Teach us to be still and wait on Your perfect will, because that is all that matters in this life, that is what will make us successful. In Your name we ask, Amen!