An old man’s wisdom psalm, acrostic in structure and built entirely around one repeated observation: the wicked look like they are winning, and it never lasts. David states this so many different ways across forty verses that the repetition itself becomes part of the argument.
A study in Psalm 37 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 16 min read
Fret Not Thyself Because Of Evildoers
“Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.”
Psalm 37:1-2
“Envious,” not merely troubled, names the real temptation this psalm addresses — not simply distress at injustice, but the quieter pull toward wishing for the wicked’s apparent advantages. Grass and green herbs wither fast, and the psalm insists the wicked’s advantage will too.
“These words of the psalmist were often brought forcibly to my mind: ‘Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.’”
Ellen G. White · Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 96
White records leaning on this exact verse during a genuinely hard season — her husband’s failing health, opposition from a hostile publication, and what she describes as real gloom, all met by returning to these ancient words rather than to any new argument of her own.
Commit Thy Way Unto The LORD
“Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”
Psalm 37:3-5
“Delight thyself” comes before “desires of thine heart” for a reason — the promise is not a blank check for whatever a person happens to want, but for the desires that actually grow out of genuine delight in God, which tend to look considerably different from unexamined wishes.
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way… Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.”
Psalm 37:7-8
The psalm names the actual danger of prolonged envy here — not just an unpleasant feeling, but a path that can lead all the way to doing evil oneself. Watching injustice go unpunished can, left unchecked, eventually corrupt the watcher too.
The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth
“For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be… But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”
Psalm 37:10-11
Jesus quotes this exact verse in the Beatitudes, nearly a thousand years after David wrote it — one of the clearest direct links between an Old Testament psalm and the Sermon on the Mount, carried forward almost unchanged.
“It was through the desire for self-exaltation that sin entered into the world, and our first parents lost the dominion over this fair earth, their kingdom. It is through self-abnegation that Christ redeems what was lost… Through humility and self-surrender we may become heirs with Him when ‘the meek shall inherit the earth.’”
Ellen G. White · Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 17
White traces the promise all the way back to Eden — the very earth lost through Adam and Eve’s reach for self-exaltation is the same earth this psalm and this beatitude promise back to those who choose the opposite path.
“The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.”
Psalm 37:12-13
God’s laughter here, the same response already seen in Psalm 2, is not cruelty — it is the calm of someone who can already see an ending the plotter cannot yet see for himself.
A Little That A Righteous Man Hath Is Better
“A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.”
Psalm 37:16-17
This is a direct challenge to ordinary assumptions about wealth — not that money is evil, but that the quantity of it is a poor measure of who is actually secure. A small, honestly held amount outweighs a fortune resting on nothing but its own strength.
“The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.”
Psalm 37:18-19
“Knoweth the days” suggests personal, ongoing attention across an entire lifetime, not a single intervention — the same kind of intimate knowledge Psalm 31 already described God having of a soul in its adversities.
The Steps Of A Good Man Are Ordered By The LORD
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”
Psalm 37:23-24
This verse does not promise a fall-free life — it promises something more useful: that a fall will not be final. “Utterly cast down” is specifically ruled out, not falling itself.
“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.”
Psalm 37:25-26
David appeals here to the weight of his own long life as evidence, not to abstract theology — a lifetime’s worth of observation offered as testimony that this pattern has actually held.
“God gives to us in trust, that we may feed the hungry. Of His goodness He has prepared for the poor.”
Ellen G. White · Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 111
White pairs David’s lifelong testimony with the Lord’s Prayer’s petition for daily bread — provision, in her reading, is never given only for the one who receives it, but held in trust to be passed along to others still in need.
Depart From Evil, And Do Good
“Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore. For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.”
Psalm 37:27-28
The psalm briefly turns from observation to direct instruction — a short, plain command sitting in the middle of forty verses otherwise devoted to describing patterns rather than issuing orders.
“The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.”
Psalm 37:30-31
Wise speech is traced here to its actual root — not clever training in rhetoric, but God’s law genuinely internalized, “in his heart” rather than merely known in the head.
Wait On The LORD, And Keep His Way
“The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land.”
Psalm 37:32-34
“Nor condemn him when he is judged” pictures a specific legal scene — the righteous person hauled before a court by enemies, and God intervening precisely at the moment of judgment rather than only beforehand.
“I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.”
Psalm 37:35-36
David’s image here is vivid and specific — a tree so lush and established it seems permanent, and then, abruptly, gone entirely, not even a trace left to search for.
Mark The Perfect Man
“Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.”
Psalm 37:37-38
“Mark” is an invitation to actually observe, not merely believe on faith — David has spent this whole psalm insisting the pattern is visible in real life, if a person is willing to watch long enough to see how each story actually ends.
“But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them… because they trust in him.”
Psalm 37:39-40
The psalm’s final word is the same word its whole argument has rested on from the first verse — trust, not achievement, named one last time as the actual basis for everything just promised.
