The Biblical book of Psalms is very well known throughout the Christian and even the non-Christian world. Written mostly by David, the Psalms seem to be David’s Journal, and yet they were designed to be sung by the people in Jewish worship services, along with the 4,000 member orchestra of lyres, flutes, horns and cymbals (1 Chronicles 23:5).

Because the psalms are poems they use imagery, metaphors, similies, personification and hyperbole, and can sometimes seem confusing to readers. They are categorized into hymns, laments, praise, thanksgiving, celebration of God’s law and expressions of confidence in God. Some are historic and others are prophetic.

For our purpose in this set of Biblical verses accompanying The Route, we are going to look at Psalm 37, which counsels readers to not fret because of evil doers. It would be wise to look up the Psalm and read it in your own Bible.

The opening words, “Fret not”, instruct us in Hebrew to not “Blaze up with anger or jealousy, to not be incensed.” Actually, the root word means “to melt – to be hot!” Webster uses the words corroded, tormented, irritated, annoyed and vexed. “Evil doers” comes from the Hebrew term, “Rawah“, meaning those who are morally reprehensible, sinful, wicked and have impulses arising from a bad character that cause ruin, injury, pain or harm.

Following the introduction in this Psalm, are the instructions for dealing with evil doers. They are:

– TRUST – to hide for refuge, secure, careless and worrying about nothing. In addition, trust is reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, and surety of a person or thing. In this case, reliance on God.

– DELIGHT – The Hebrew word means soft, delicate, luxurious, producing a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment.

– COMMIT – Give completely your way to the Lord. Hand over to him the negative feelings that arise. Webster says it’s to entrust, perform, promise and carry through. So continuously carry through your cares to the Lord.

– BE STILL – in the ancient Hebrew it literally means to be quiet, to not speak, to be silent, resting and relaxing in God’s arms, whose strength is beyond adequate to handle all your cares.

– CEASE FROM ANGER – Take that giant deep breath and while doing so, lift your hands to God, giving Him your negative emotion and receiving His peace.

Now here is the great part, when you follow God’s instructions, numerous (at least 18) promises follow the counsel. And there were even promises in the midst of the instructions.

How wonderful is this news! If you are in the middle of The Journey, keep on keeping on, because acknowledging your history and the negative past experiences that have dogged your steps and impacted your every-day life, are part of the process of getting beyond the junk, so that it doesn’t keep coming up every day.

Read the promises, write out the steps and post them in a place you’ll see them every day, and remember, when evil doers show their negative stuff, cool down and commit your way to the Lord.