Psalm 37:5
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it.
Sermons
Commit Thy WayW. M. Statham.Psalm 37:5
Confidence in GodA. Littleton, D. D.Psalm 37:5
Quiet TrustDean Farrar.Psalm 37:5
The Believer's Present and FutureR. J. Rowton, M. A.Psalm 37:5
Doubts Raised by the Divine Providence, and How to Meet ThemC. Short Psalm 37:1-6
DiscontentJ. Parker, D. D.Psalm 37:1-12
Fret NotT. Spurgeon.Psalm 37:1-12
Fretful EnvyHomilistPsalm 37:1-12
FrettingJohn Cox.Psalm 37:1-12
FrettingJ. Scilley.Psalm 37:1-12
The Cure for CareJ. H. Jowett, M. A.Psalm 37:1-12
The Good Man's DirectoryC. Clemance Psalm 37:1-40
Two PicturesW. Forsyth Psalm 37:1-40
A Sacred Duty and a Gracious RewardT. Yockney.Psalm 37:3-8
A Simple GospelJohn Hunter, D. D.Psalm 37:3-8
A Sure Method of Obtaining Our DesiresSketches of Four Hundred SermonsPsalm 37:3-8
Christian WaitingH. Ward Beecher.Psalm 37:3-8
Delight in GodJ. Marriott, M. A.Psalm 37:3-8
Delight in GodH. Allon, D. D.Psalm 37:3-8
Delight in God the Origin and Perfection of Human PleasurJ. Seed, M. A.Psalm 37:3-8
Delight in PrayerS. Charnock.Psalm 37:3-8
Delight in the LordH. Reynolds, D. D.Psalm 37:3-8
Delight in the LordJ. Monro Gibson, D. D.Psalm 37:3-8
Delighting in GodW. Dickson.Psalm 37:3-8
Delighting in the LordJ. Baker Norton.Psalm 37:3-8
Delighting in the LordC. Voysey, B. A.Psalm 37:3-8
Desires AnsweredHomiletic ReviewPsalm 37:3-8
Genuine Piety the Antidote to EnvyHomilistPsalm 37:3-8
On Trust in GodS. Partridge, M. A.Psalm 37:3-8
Our Heart's DesireR. J. Campbell, M. A.Psalm 37:3-8
Rest to the Aching HeartS. Baring Gould, M. A.Psalm 37:3-8
Sunshine in the HeartPsalm 37:3-8
Temporal ProsperityEvangelical Advocate.Psalm 37:3-8
The Desires of the HeartPsalm 37:3-8
The Remedy for Hard TimesH. Ward Beecher.Psalm 37:3-8
The Secret of TranquillityA. Maclaren, D. D.Psalm 37:3-8
The Strongest and Sweetest Songs Yet Remain to be SungA. E. Hooper.Psalm 37:3-8
Trust in the Lord and Do GoodJ. Baldwin Brown, B. A.Psalm 37:3-8
Work and WagesJohn W. Norton.Psalm 37:3-8
Sweet Picture of a Noble LifeW. Forsyth Psalm 37:4-6














Psalm 37:4-6
Psalm 37:4-6. Here we have a

Sweet picture of a noble life.

I. QUIET HEART. The eye, the ear, the imagination, continually bring before us objects that appeal to our desires. We are in danger of being distracted and harassed, and of even yielding to envy and discontent. The cure is from God. When we come to know him as he is, to believe in him as he has revealed himself in Christ Jesus, we are able to rest in him with confidence, leaving everything to his righteous and loving rule.

II. RIGHTLY ORDERED LIFE. There may be life without any rule, or there may be life wrongly directed, or there may be life regulated in a right way, in accordance with God's will and not our own. This last is the true "way." It is when we "commit our way to God "in humble prayer, and holy submission to his will, that light will arise to us, and strength be ministered to us, and real prosperity secured to us. This is not only the best way for ourselves, but also for others. It is in doing God's will that we reach the highest honour and usefulness, and accomplish our true destiny.

III. BLISSFUL FUTURE. There is a screen as of night between us and to-morrow. We know not what a day may bring forth. There may come loss of health, of property, of friends. There may come diverse trials and troubles. Or it may be otherwise. Let us be thankful that God has been pleased to conceal from us what it would have been ill for us to know. But God knows all, and we are as sure, as that God lives, that it shall be well with the righteous. - W.F.

Commit thy way unto the Lord.
What more appropriate motto can we select for a new year? Counsel such as this is in itself a kind of revelation. It reveals us to ourselves! Is our way such that we can commit it to the Lord? Now, such committing of our way to God means —

I. MEDITATION BEFORE PRAYER. "Meditation," says St. , "is the eye wherewith we see God, and prayer is the wing wherewith we flee to Him." Prayer is not an accidental expression that comes suddenly to the mind; it is the soul's recognition of its need. And to pray aright we must have been alone with ourselves before we are alone with God. Bunyan said, "In prayer it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart."

II. CONSCIOUSNESS OF IGNORANCE. We say to God, "Thou and Thou only knowest the true path of life." Our ignorance is at times very humbling to us. We want to know all, and in reality we know so little. How terrible it would be if we could not commit our way unto God. How glad, then, should we be that God invites us at all times to come to Him. As Quarles says, "Heaven's never deaf but when man's heart is dark."

III. CONSCIOUS OBEDIENCE AND CHEERFUL ACQUIESCENCE IN HIS WILL. Dependence must end in obedience. Owen says, "He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays." Can there be a more miserable man on earth than he who knows the hypocrisy of his prayers, who is inwardly conscious of his wrong state, who knows that he is living without God, and yet feels tremulous and sad about it all? He has not really returned to God. He has not realized again the value of the Saviour's friendship; he cannot forsake the indulgence of some secret sin; he cannot quite quit fellowships that are risking his immortal weal. The reverences of religion still touch him with awe, the piety of the early child-home is still a memory in his manhood; he despises men who have no religion. But his will is not obedient: it cannot be said of him that he is a follower of the Lamb. Let us not slight this aspect of the subject — committing our way means conscious obedience unto God. And not merely endurance, nor passive submission, but cheerful acquiescence. This lights the smile on the sufferer's face; this gives sunlight to the gloomy Catacombs. When the soul comes away from communion with God in this spirit, the ravens of anxiety and care forsake the heart. The world may know how to provoke mirth; it may amuse with sallies of wit; it may excite with sensuous joys; but all through the ages cheerfulness has been the child of faith, and has seldom forsaken the sufferer even in life's last hours.

IV. COMMITTING THE END TO GOD. When and where belong to Him. Life has been quite other than most of us thought it, and so probably will death be. It would be a mean thing to wish to commit the end to God and not all that leads to it,-to rely on some mere death-bed repentance. So to live as to feel sure that when the evening comes we shall have nothing to do but to die, this is the Christian's heritage. And then let the curtains be rent suddenly, or taken down gently; let the light go out in a sharp gust, or burn down in the socket slowly; this surely is what we all wish to be able to say, "Father, not as I will, but as Thou wilt."

(W. M. Statham.)

I. THE CASE SUPPOSED. This psalm represents the case, to wit, the flourishing condition of the wicked to the great prejudice and hazard of God's people. He persuades us, in such instances, to confidence in God and patience in well-doing; and discovers the estate of pious and ungodly men to be as different, not only in the world to come, but through God's just judgment many times even in this life, as their principles and practices have been.

II. THE DIRECTION, OR COUNSEL.

1. Committing our way unto the Lord, though it may be taken to signify the same as casting our burden upon Him (Psalm 55:22), and casting our care upon Him (1 Peter 5:7), yet, as "way "doth in Scripture use denote the course of life, the method and order of our conversation, I take it to comprehend these three things.(1) An entire obedience to the Word of God, as the rule of our actions.(2) A meek submission to the will of God, which governs human affairs.(3) A regular walking in the duties of our particular calling; leaving the rest, as things which we are not immediately concerned in, to God Almighty's disposal.

2. Trusting in God imports —(1) A fiducial reliance upon His wisdom and goodness in the care and conduct of our persons, and of all our concerns.(2) A declaration of that our dependence upon Him in earnest and frequent prayer.(3) And withal honest endeavours of our own for our preservation, in the use of all lawful means; holding ourselves still in that station wherein God hath placed us, and leaving the event to Him.

(A. Littleton, D. D.)

I. THE BELIEVER'S PRESENT STATE. It is one of —

1. Acceptance in the Beloved (Psalm 89:33). He may distress, but He will not disown.

2. Imperfection. He is, indeed, under the Holy Spirit's transforming hand. While justification is complete, sanctification is progressive, and therefore at every stage but the last, imperfect.

3. Sorrow (Romans 7:21; Galatians 5:17). The time for unmingled joy is not yet. Besides this, the refinement of the feelings which the Gospel produces frequently prepares the heart to feel, more acutely than many others, the usual crosses, losses, trials or bereavements which are the common lot of all.

4. Obscurity. The same unbelief which rejected the Saviour, with all the evidence He produced of His divine mission, serves the disciples as it served their Lord. Besides, the Christian is a mixture of opposites, and therefore we wonder not that he should appear in a doubtful light even to himself and his fellow-believers.

5. Eager expectancy (Hebrews 9:28; 2 Peter 3:12; Luke 21:28; Philippians 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:2-4; Romans 8:28).

II. THE EXPECTATION OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. We live between the two advents of our Lord, and the Bible teaches us to look back to the first to know how salvation was wrought, and forward to the second to know what salvation is. The first gives the title to it, the second will give possession of it. Faith looks back to the one, hope looks forward to the other. The Church of Christ will appear in its —

1. Unity.

2. Holiness.

3. Resurrection glory.

(R. J. Rowton, M. A.)

After the fearful defeat of Jena in 1806, when Prussia went down before the cruel and reckless ambition of Napoleon, on no one did the throe of a nation's fall come with a more agonizing sense of ruin than on the young and beautiful Queen Louise. When she heard the news of the battle of Jena, and that she must leave her beloved home, she burst into uncontrollable weeping. How did she calm her anguish? It was the pious custom in Germany, when a pupil left school, to accompany the boy singing the thirty-seventh Psalm, of which the fifth verse is, "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers. Commit thy way unto the Lord, and He will bring it to pass." The young queen sat down to her piano and softly sang the psalm. When she rose her eye was clear, her spirit was tranquil. That same verse was also the comfort of David Livingstone during all his perils and fevers and lastings in scorching Africa and its desert wastes.

(Dean Farrar.)

People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Act, Bring, Commit, Faith, Hands, Pass, Rely, Roll, Trust, Worketh
Outline
1. David persuades to patience and confidence in God,
12. by the different estate of the godly and the wicked

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 37:1-7

     5945   self-pity

Psalm 37:3-5

     5914   optimism
     8023   faith, necessity
     8315   orthodoxy, in OT

Psalm 37:5-6

     4836   light, and people of God
     8463   priority, of faith, hope and love

Library
November 13. "Delight Thyself in the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii. 4).
"Delight thyself in the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii. 4). Daniel's heart was filled with God's love for His work and kingdom and his prayers were the mightiest forces of his time, through which God gave to him the restoration of Israel to their own land, and the acknowledgment by the rulers of the world of the God of whom he testified and for whom he lived. There is a beautiful promise in the thirty-seventh Psalm, "Delight thyself in the Lord, and He will give thee the desires of thine heart," which it is,
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

April 11. "Commit Thy Way unto the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii. 5).
"Commit thy way unto the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii. 5). Seldom have we heard a better definition of faith than was given once in one of our meetings by a dear old colored woman, as she answered the question of a young man how to take the Lord for needed help. In her characteristic way, pointing her finger toward him, she said with great emphasis: "You've just got to believe that He's done it, and it's done." The great danger with most of us is, that after we ask Him to do it, we do not believe that it's
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

April 19. "Rest in the Lord and Wait Patiently for Him" (Ps. xxxvii. 7).
"Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him" (Ps. xxxvii. 7). It is a very suggestive thought that it is in the Gospel of Mark, which is the Gospel of service, we hear the Master saying to His disciples, "Come ye apart into a desert place, and rest awhile." God wants rested workers. There is an energy that may be tireless and ceaseless, and yet still as the ocean's depth, with the peace of God, which passes all understanding. The two deepest secrets of rest are, first, to be in harmony with the
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

April 24. "Fret not Thyself in any Wise" (Ps. xxxvii. 8).
"Fret not thyself in any wise" (Ps. xxxvii. 8). A life was lost in Israel because a pair of human hands were laid unbidden upon the ark of God. They were placed upon it with the best intent to steady it when trembling and shaking as the oxen drew it along the rough way, but they touched God's work presumptuously, and they fell paralyzed and lifeless. Much of the life of faith consists in letting things alone. If we wholly trust an interest to God we can keep our hands off it, and He will guard it
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February 5. "Rest in the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii. ).
"Rest in the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii.). In the old creation the week began with work and ended with Sabbath rest. The resurrection week begins with the first day--first rest, then labor. So we must first cease from our own works as God did from His, and enter into His rest, and then we will work, with rested hearts, His works with effectual power. But why "labor to enter into rest"? See that ship--how restfully she sails over the waters, her sails swelling with the gale; and borne without an effort! And
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Secret of Tranquillity
'Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord.... 7. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.'--PSALM xxxvii. 4, 5, 7. 'I have been young, and now am old,' says the writer of this psalm. Its whole tone speaks the ripened wisdom and autumnal calm of age. The dim eyes have seen and survived so much, that it seems scarcely worth while to be agitated by what ceases so soon. He has known so many bad men blasted in all their leafy
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Heart's Desire Given to Help Mission Work in China.
"Sept. 30 [1869].--From Yorkshire L50.--Received also One Thousand Pounds to-day for the Lord's work in China. About this donation it is especially to be noticed, that for months it had been my earnest desire to do more than ever for Mission Work in China, and I had already taken steps to carry out this desire, when this donation of One Thousand Pounds came to hand. This precious answer to prayer for means should be a particular encouragement to all who are engaged in the Lord's work, and who may
George Müller—Answers to Prayer

Of the Zealous Amendment of Our Whole Life
Be thou watchful and diligent in God's service, and bethink thee often why thou hast renounced the world. Was it not that thou mightest live to God and become a spiritual man? Be zealous, therefore, for thy spiritual profit, for thou shalt receive shortly the reward of thy labours, and neither fear nor sorrow shall come any more into thy borders. Now shalt thou labour a little, and thou shalt find great rest, yea everlasting joy. If thou shalt remain faithful and zealous in labour, doubt not
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Of the Inward Growth of Patience, and of the Struggle against Evil Desires
O Lord God, I see that patience is very necessary unto me; for many things in this life fall out contrary. For howsoever I may have contrived for my peace, my life cannot go on without strife and trouble. 2. "Thou speakest truly, My Son. For I will not that thou seek such a peace as is without trials, and knoweth no adversities; but rather that thou shouldest judge thyself to have found peace, when thou art tried with manifold tribulations, and proved by many adversities. If thou shalt say that
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Columban.
THE wild districts of Ireland were occupied with convents, after the example of Patrick, and cultivated by the hard labour of the monks. The Irish convents were distinguished by their strict Christian discipline, their diligence and their zeal in the study of the Scriptures, and of science in general, as far as they had the means of acquiring it. Irish monks brought learning from Britain and Gaul, they treasured up this learning and elaborated it in the solitude of the convent, and they are said
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

The Fourth Continental Journey.
1842-3. In the journey which now lay before them, John and Martha Yeardley were about to explore a part of Europe hitherto untried,--the province of Languedoc, conspicuous in past ages for its superior enlightenment, but now, owing to the temporary mastery of error, wrapt in ignorance and gloom. In this mission, the opportunities which they found for reviving and gathering together the scattered embers of truth, were nearly confined to social intercourse; in seeking occasions for which, they availed
John Yeardley—Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel

Christian Devotion to God's Will.
I into God's own heart and mind My heart and mind deliver, What evil seems, a gain I find, E'en death is life for ever. I am His son, Who spread the throne Of heaven high above me. Tho' I bend low Beneath His blow, Yet still His heart doth love me. He ne'er can prove untrue to me, My Father aye must love me, And tho' He cast me in the sea, He only thus would prove me; In what He good Doth count, He would My heart establish ever. And if I stand, His mighty hand Will raise me, and deliver. Vain had
Paul Gerhardt—Paul GerhardtÆs Spiritual Songs

Biographical Sketch.
Paul Gerhardt was born in Graefenhainichen in Electoral Saxony, where his father, Christian Gerhardt, was Burgomaster. There is some doubt as to the precise year of his birth, owing to the destruction of the church books when the place was burnt by the Swedes on the 16th of April, 1637. According to some, the event took place in the year 1606; according to others, in 1607. The probability is in favour of the former date, for General Superintendent Goltlob Stolze, of Luebben,[1] says that he died,
Paul Gerhardt—Paul GerhardtÆs Spiritual Songs

The Exile.
David's first years at the court of Saul in Gibeah do not appear to have produced any psalms which still survive. "The sweetest songs are those Which tell of saddest thought." It was natural, then, that a period full of novelty and of prosperous activity, very unlike the quiet days at Bethlehem, should rather accumulate materials for future use than be fruitful in actual production. The old life shut to behind him for ever, like some enchanted door in a hill-side, and an unexplored land lay beckoning
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David

A Condensed Guide for Life
'My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. 16. Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things. 17. Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. 18. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off. 19. Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. 20. Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: 21. For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Fret not Thyself
To fret means to chafe, to be irritated, to be uneasy, to be troubled and bothered. It is just the opposite of peaceful, trustful rest. Jesus has promised us rest to our souls, and we may have this rest. We can not have it, however, if we give place to worrying and fretting. God's purpose for us is that we shall have calmness and soul-quietness, even in the midst of tribulation. He has said, "My peace I give unto you." He followed this by saying, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
Charles Wesley Naylor—Heart Talks

Grace and Holiness.
"Now God Himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints."--1 THESS. iii. 11-13. There are few more precious subjects for meditation and imitation than the prayers and intercessions of the great Apostle.
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

The Perfect Heart.
For the eyes of the Lord ran to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him--2 CHRON. xvi. 9. This passage occurs in the history of Asa, one of the most godly and devoted kings that ever sat upon the throne of Judah. We are told in the fourteenth chapter that he commenced his reign by setting himself to destroy the idolatry into which the whole nation had been betrayed by its former ruler, and to restore the worship and service
Catherine Booth—Godliness

Exegetic.
(i) As of the De Spiritu Sancto, so of the Hexæmeron, no further account need be given here. It may, however, be noted that the Ninth Homily ends abruptly, and the latter, and apparently more important, portion of the subject is treated of at less length than the former. Jerome [472] and Cassiodorus [473] speak of nine homilies only on the creation. Socrates [474] says the Hexæmeron was completed by Gregory of Nyssa. Three orations are published among Basil's works, two on the creation
Basil—Basil: Letters and Select Works

Love
The rule of obedience being the moral law, comprehended in the Ten Commandments, the next question is: What is the sum of the Ten Commandments? The sum of the Ten Commandments is, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind, and our neighbour as ourselves. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.' Deut 6: 5. The duty called for is love, yea, the strength of love, with all
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

"Nunc Dimittis"
We shall note, this morning, first, that every believer may be assured of departing in peace; but that, secondly, some believers feel a special readiness to depart now: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace;" and, thirdly, that there are words of encouragement to produce in us the like readiness: "according to thy word." There are words of Holy Writ which afford richest consolation in prospect of departure. I. First, then, let us start with the great general principle, which is full of comfort;
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Another Wonderful Record of 25.
A Christian minister, living in Northern Indiana, was in want, and knelt in prayer again and again before his Father in heaven. His quarterly allowance had been withheld, and want stared him in the face. Constrained by urgent need, and shut up to God for help, he pleaded repeatedly for a supply of his temporal wants. Now see how extraordinary was the plan of the Lord to send relief. "In one of the lovely homes of Massachusetts, while the snow was falling and the winds were howling without, a lady
Various—The Wonders of Prayer

Introduction. These Two Books were Written against the Novatian Heresy...
These two books were written against the Novatian heresy, which took its name, and to a considerable extent its form, from Novatus, a priest of the Church of Carthage, and Novatian, schismatically consecrated bishop at Rome. It was the outcome of a struggle which had long existed in the Church upon the question of the restitution to Church privileges of those who had fallen into grievous sin, and the possibility of their repentance. The severest ground was taken by the Novatians, who were condemned
St. Ambrose—Works and Letters of St. Ambrose

Thou Shalt not Steal.
This Commandment also has a work, which embraces very many good works, and is opposed to many vices, and is called in German Mildigkeit, "benevolence;" which is a work ready to help and serve every one with one's goods. And it fights not only against theft and robbery, but against all stinting in temporal goods which men may practise toward one another: such as greed, usury, overcharging and plating wares that sell as solid, counterfeit wares, short measures and weights, and who could tell all the
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

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