The wicked person schemes against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him. The LORD laughs at him because he sees that his day is coming. Psalm 37:12-13 CSB
This Psalm refers to a wicked person who has come against a righteous person. I’m sure we have all experienced an attack of some sort by an evil, wicked person. David wrote this Psalm. David was called a man after God’s own heart. God had chosen him to replace Saul as king of Israel after Saul had repeatedly disobeyed God’s commands.
David did nothing wrong to Saul, but still, Saul tried to kill him. Saul tried twice to kill David in the palace while David was playing music for him to calm him down. David fled and Saul pursued him. David may have written this Psalm during the time he was being pursued by Saul.
David was a righteous man. Saul had become a wicked, evil man. He had become paranoid. God had sent an evil spirit to torment him (1 Samuel 16:14). This was all due to his disobedience. In Psalm 37, David speaks of how the wicked will perish and will be no more.
Saul eventually died and David became king. I encourage you to read this entire Psalm. When people perpetrate evil against us our first inclination is to become angry. We then plot revenge. But the Bible tells us if we are angry, we should not sin (Psalm 4:5, Ephesians 4:26). Romans 12:19 tells us not to avenge ourselves but leave room for God’s wrath.
My friend, if you are seeking the Lord and loving Him with all your heart, you are striving for righteousness. If you confess your sins and repent, God cleanses you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We can’t be righteous on our own, but with God’s help, we can be righteous.
Don’t forfeit your righteousness by avenging yourself. Leave vengeance to God. You don’t have to point out to others when your enemy does wrong, they will see it. You don’t have to attack them through words or deeds, God will take care of that for you. When we seek vengeance against someone who has wronged us, we are being disobedient to God. We are showing that we don’t trust Him to take care of it.
In my Bible, the title of Psalm 37 is Instruction in Wisdom. Wisdom comes from obeying God. Saul was foolish to disobey God and once he disobeyed God, God gave him over to his foolish desires. He even allowed this evil spirit to come in and torment him.
David had the perfect opportunity, not once but twice to kill Saul and put an end to his pursuit. David, however, had the God-given wisdom to spare Saul. He knew that because God had anointed him, king, God had to be the one to eliminate him and God did.
Throughout this Psalm, it speaks of how the wicked will be destroyed and the righteous will live securely. It begins in verse 1 by saying, “Do not be agitated by evildoers, do not envy those who do wrong. For they wither like grass and wilt like tender green plants.
The devil comes to steal your joy, kill your faith, and destroy your witness. When we seek vengeance be it verbally, physically, or through writing like social media, we allow the devil to do all three. Our joy is stolen as we recount the evil actions. Our faith is shaken when we take matters into our own hands even through slander. Our witness is destroyed when we can’t let our anger go and give it all over to God.
I don’t know about you, but I have wasted too many hours and days of my life fretting over evildoers. I now try to recall these verses and pray for their salvation. I leave the rest up to God. When I do this, I know this situation is in good hands and so am I.
When we take vengeance into our own hands, we are becoming like the evil one. We are stooping to their level. Be very careful because our Scripture passage tells us God laughs at the wicked one because God knows his day is coming. God’s got this. Leave it to Him and move on.
Have a great day!