Psalm 37

The superscriptions in the psalms are actually included in the original. “A Psalm of David” is a part of verse 1 even though it is the title. Verse 25 actually explains when this psalm was written. “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” David wrote this psalm when he was a very old man, probably a very short time before he died. He had the opportunity to see life from childhood to old age. He understood what was important in life; he had a true scale of values. He was perhaps one of the few people of all time who as a young man was not afraid of old age. The phrase “A Psalm” does not occur.

The title of the psalm is simply, “From David.” David kept a file, and in this was an alphabetical file. In this file he had something that was important under each letter of the alphabet, some doctrine that was very important.

The first file is aleph. Aleph was an ox. All of the letters in the original Hebrew alphabet were pictorial. Aleph is actually an ox coming toward you, and he is pulling a burden. The ox always represented the servant and this principle is seen in the first two verses. Then there is the letter Beth which refers to a house. This is the house of God or the plan of God as known in the Old Testament, and on entering the house you learn something. So next we have Gimmel, a camel. The camel was the traveller and was associated with travel and this represents travel or knowledge. This is what is meant by an acrostic psalm. David kept a file on various types of doctrinal subjects. In his old age he pulls this file and gives us a picture of what he has filed that is most important under each one of these letters. He kept notes on the prosperity of the unbeliever, which is apparent but not real. Then he kept notes on the real prosperity of the believer. But he waited until he was about to die to write on the subject.

David had noticed during his lifetime that believers were often frustrated and very discontented because they saw unbelievers becomes successful, prosperous and apparently happy. David was quite concerned about the mental attitude of born-again believers who get their eyes on people, and therefore they are constantly frustrated, constantly fretful or upset, constantly envious of unbelievers. The more David saw these people the more he realised that in his dying moments he had to communicate a point regarding orientation, a point regarding man’s evaluation of life. He realised that too many of his friends, too many believers, were all mixed up and confused simply because they couldn’t keep their eyes on the Lord. The reason: no doctrine. No doctrine means no scale of values; no scale of values means frustration; no scale of values means a desire to fulfil the lust pattern—approbation lust, power lust, materialism lust. The unbelievers seemingly could get away with anything and everything; seemingly was very happy, seemingly was very prosperous and very successful. So as David is about to depart from this life he pulls his file. He holds up on it until he is close to death for one reason. No one can gainsay a man who has lived in every phase of life. He has lived as a child, he has lived as a teenage boy, he has lived as a young man with great potential and great pressures, he has lived as a middle aged man, he has lived as an old man. He has seen much of life. He knows what is real and what is not real and he is desperately concerned about believers who place a false scale of values on prosperity, on success, on the status symbols. For this reason many, many believers are constantly in a turmoil, constantly upset and off-balance, and constantly miserable and frustrated. They spend all of their time looking at someone else, wishing they had something that someone else has, being mentally disturbed and upset. So we have an orientation or an acrostic psalm.

Verses 1-8, orientation comes through divine commands.

Verses 9-24, orientation often comes through contrast.

Verses 25-40, orientation through blessing: the acrostic blessings

In verses 1 & 2 we have the aleph commands. Aleph refers to an ox.

Verse 1 – the first word begins with an aleph. Immediately we have the premise for the entire forty verses of this psalm, a premise in which God through David gives two commands. The first command is given in the hithpael stem and the second command is given in the piel stem. The first command is “Fret not” and the second command is “Be not envious.”

“Fret not thyself because of evil doers” – throughout this psalm we have the words wicked, evildoers, and so on. These are phrases simply referring to the unbeliever; referring to the unbeliever with emphasis on his old sin nature. Remember that the unbeliever lives his entire life under the control of the sin nature. This means that from his area of weakness during his lifetime he will commit X-number of sins; this means that during his lifetime from his area of strength he will produce X-amount of human good. Then there is the lust pattern, all types of lusts. These all form the motivation for the unbeliever, so that the unbeliever’s life is categorised by his sin, by his human good, by his lust pattern, and by his trends.

“Fret not” is in the hithpael stem, it means that the believer looks over into the unbeliever’s pasture and has a reaction called “fret.” We know it is a reaction because it is in the hithpael stem which is reflexive, or better yet, volitional. In other words, you act on yourself. He does this by thinking something that is negative in his mental attitude—envy, jealousy, pride, resentment, etc. So the first thing a believer does when he gets his eyes on the unbeliever is to make himself miserable. “Do not become resentful.” This is in the imperfect tense—the jussive, like the Greek subjunctive is a command that recognises human volition. In others words, you are tangled up in your own volition, in your own mental attitude; now get out of it! This can only be done by Bible doctrine.

“because of evildoers” – the word evildoer is a verb. It is a hiphil participle. The hiphil stem is causative and the participle indicates that this is an habitual condition. The word evildoer actually means to cause evil and then from causing evil to live by evil. The evil here is the old sin nature and it means to live under the old sin nature and to do so by your own negative volition. He apparently does some things that are wrong and he does some things that are good, but with all of it he is prosperous, successful, well-liked, etc. Believers are not to react to the prosperity or the apparent prosperity of the unbeliever. If the believer reacts to an unbeliever he cannot respond to the Lord.

“neither be thou envious” – piel imperative. When you begin to react you first of all start out with resentment. Then, as this resentment continues, it turns into envy. Because this envy is so intensive we go from the hithpael to the piel stem—imperfect, which is a jussive, a command recognising the importance of human volition in the command. So once again we have the principle: do not be jealous. Jealousy is a mental attitude reaction to the apparent prosperity of the unbeliever. Envy or jealousy of successful unbelievers represents complete disorientation to the plan of God.

Verse 2 – we see what finally happens to the ox. Sooner or later, of the ox falls into the ditch or breaks his leg and he is slaughtered. Then he simply becomes food on the table. Now the ox is the unbeliever. In other words, the prosperity of the unbeliever is temporary. The apparent happiness of the unbeliever is temporary.

“For they” – unbelievers, apparently prosperous; apparently happy—“shall soon be cut down.” Soon means the time is short compared to eternity.

“like grass” – grass is cut down and very soon thereafter it is dead grass, referring to the second death: “It is appointed unto man once to dies, and after this the judgment.” Whatever fun the unbeliever has in life, and it is very short and there is very little of it, he has eternity in the lake of fire.

Verses 3 & 4 is Beth, and it refers to a house. The house of God in David’s day was the tabernacle which represented Bible doctrine presented pictorially, presented through training aids. Later on when Solomon built the temple that was called the house of God, but there was no temple when David write this. The house of God in reality is Bible doctrine. You have to have Bible doctrine before you have any object for your faith after salvation.

Verse 3 – “Trust in the Lord.” The word trust is one of five different Hebrew words. Probably the most common is amen which simply means to use God as a prop, as a foundation. It is generally connected with salvation, as in Genesis 15:6. A second word chasah is the rabbit running from the wolf who gets into the cleft of the rock where the wolf cannot follow him. That means to centre your life in doctrine and in the plan of God. The third word is kawah which means to be a little thread, and the thread is woven into a large rope. While you can break the little thread, once you weave it into the rope it is no longer breakable. This is usually translated “wait on the Lord.” It means a faith which is weak in itself but when the faith uses Bible doctrine as its object—the doctrine is strong, permanent—the person becomes as strong as the doctrine he believes. Then there is the word jachal which simply means to be in great pain, to be under maximum pressure and yet to trust the Lord. This is often used of Job during the time of his pressures. The one that is actually used in this verse is batach which is used of a wrestler who picks up another and slams him to the ground—a body slam. It is used here in the sense of believing the Lord and therefore have such a strong faith in Him that you take your problems and pressures and slam them on the Lord. Here batach is in the qal imperative; it is a command. If we are ever going to get with this and have inner happiness, orient to the plan of God, then we have to come to the place where we slam our problems, difficulties and troubles on the Lord. He is much more capable than self.

Trusting in the Lord here is in His plan, His marvellous, perfect plan of phase two whereby He provides in such a wonderful way. When this happens there is a second imperative: “and do good.” This is also a qal imperative of the word asah which means to make something out of something, or to do something from something. We do divine good from something—divine operating assets for phase two. Good here refers to divine good, the production which comes in Old Testament times from the faith-rest technique or the spirituality as it then existed. This production of divine good is in contrast to the human good produced by the old sin nature.

“so shalt thou dwell in the land” is an imperative. It should be translated, “dwell in the land.” This is the Hebrew word which means to dwell in a house under conditions of great blessing. The house is God’s plan, phase two; Go in!

“verily” is of truth, doctrinally “thou shalt be fed,” or literally, “feed on doctrine.” This is a qal imperative and it does not even mean to feed. It is the verb for shepherding, it is more than feeding. Literally, this is “feed on doctrine and shepherd thou.” In other words, the Lord is your shepherd; you feed on Bible doctrine; you are eating the shepherd’s food, and therefore eating the shepherd’s food you have a bit of His character, a bit of His viewpoint, and you have His perfect inner happiness. It can even be translated, “Feed on doctrine and you will be a shepherd” – in the sense of being spiritually self-sustaining.

Verse 4 – “Delight thyself, ” hithpael (reflexive). The reflexive stem of delight takes us back to volition again, but this time it emphasises the positive and shows us that we can be happy. The word delight means here to make love. It is a word for amorous behaviour or to take exquisite delight in a member of the opposite sex. This refers to making love to the Lord and it requires some aggression—mental attitude, coordination, human volition and the impartation of self. The word is used here for occupation with the person of Christ. Make love to the Lord. In this way we are occupied with Him and this is the very antithesis of being fretful and being envious.

“and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” – because of who and what He is, not because we have done something to earn it.

Verse 5 – the third file, the gimmel command. The Hebrew letter looks like a camel from a long distance. The gimmel commands are commands that speak of wide knowledge. Through wide knowledge of the Lord [doctrine] there is definite orientation to the plan of God.

“Commit” – the original word meant to roll something, to roll a stone away, to roll a burden off of someone. It was used in military life for taking off a pack. It means to dump your pack on the Lord. “Commit they way unto the Lord” – the way are the problems, troubles, difficulties.

“trust” – batak, qal imperative. Faith-rest technique. You and I as believers are not to carry any pack of any kind. All of our troubles, frustrations, anxieties are the be dumped on the Lord and left there. It takes more to leave it there than it does to dump it there.

“and he shall bring it to pass” – literally, he will do the work. This is divine good in operation. The faith-rest technique gives God a chance to exercise His good. This is, again, asah meaning to make something out of something. So the Lord takes something—our misery—and makes blessing out of it; He turns cursing into blessing. As a result of this you finally have a testimony for the Lord.

Verse 6 – “And he shall bring forth thy righteousness.” What righteousness? The very character of God. The righteousness here is inner righteousness—mental attitude love, joy, peace, long-suffering, and so on.

“as the light” – the principle of Ephesians 5:14, the filling of the Spirit produces light; also Ephesians 5:8,9; Matthew 5:14-16. When the light of your life shows there is impact on the unbeliever.

“thy judgment” is literally, thy justice—your sense of justice, your stability in justice.

“as the noonday” is as the double light, a light that is so bright that no one could miss it, a light which is a perfect testimony concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 7 – the daleth command. Daleth is a door. The daleth command opens the door to the plan of God. You now are getting with it. We have had beth, the house. Most believers stay out on the porch after they are saved, never learning any doctrine. They try to live a good clean life and that is about all. The blessings are in the house, this is phase two. So get in the house. Some people stay on the porch all of their lives and only go to the back door to die. So they miss the boat as far as phase two is concerned, they fail to live with the plan of God.

How are we going to be in the house instead of out on the front porch? This is done by resting. So we have the word “Rest in the Lord.” Resting is a qal imperative again. It means to be quiet, to be relaxed. It means to have a mental attitude which is free from the usual—pride, hatred, jealousy, vindictiveness, implacability, spitefulness, bitterness, hostility, and so on. In other words, it says relax in the Lord. When you relax in the Lord your faith gets stronger, and then you …

“wait patiently” – the word means to whirl yourself around, it is a hithpael imperative. In other words, when you are in the house you are not perfect—the house is phase two, and every now and then you sin, so to whirl yourself around in simply rebound.

“fret not thyself”” – that is, do not be resentful, they same verb as that with which we started in verse 1. So he goes right back to the thing that keeps the believer out of the plan of God, the thing that keeps from being oriented to grace—mental attitude sins which always produce self-induced misery. And he is going to emphasise throughout this acrostic psalm the importance of getting away from the mental attitudes that ruin you. It isn’t the overt action that the Bible really emphasises. It prohibits overt sin and it recognises failure in the behaviour pattern of individuals but the sins that really destroy the Christian life are not what you do but what you think.

“because of him who prospereth in his way” – this means to resent one who displays prosperity.

“because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass” – who makes a killing in business. Don’t resent the unbeliever’s prosperity.

Verse 8 – the he commands. The word he is actually a window. It speaks of the mental attitude of the person viewing life. The believer looks through the window of life. Sometimes it is foggy and sometimes it is clear. When the window is fogged up it always fogs up for one reason: because of mental attitude sins. Believers looking out of fogged-up windows get the wrong perspective of life. These fogged-up windows come from their mental attitudes, the mental attitude sins—the envy, the jealousy, the pride, the vindictiveness, the implacability, and so on. So we have a command at this point.

The first command is a hiphil imperative: “Cease from anger.” Anger is a mental attitude sin and it represents the principle of all mental attitude sins. In other words, cease from anger means to cease and desist from all mental attitude sins. It actually means to have a relaxed mental attitude.

The next phrase repeats the principle: “forsake wrath” – again, this represents the menta, attitude sins.

Then for the third time we go back to the subject, the thing that was bothering David in his old age. He had seen the faithfulness of the Lord. He realised how gracious and marvellous the Lord was and how the Lord provided, how the Lord was faithful, and how that everything that the Lord gave was based upon His own perfect character, and that all grace was God giving, and all of the giving which He did was simply a reflection of His own perfect and wonderful faithfulness. Because of this is was very difficult for David to hear people fretting, upset, because of the prosperity or apparent prosperity of the unbeliever.

“fret not” – the third time he has used the phrase. It means, do not be upset and resentful. In other words, get your eyes off people. Inevitably when you have your eyes on people you have your eyes on self, and this results in self-pity plus disillusion. Self-pity plus disillusion makes for self-induced misery.

“in any way to do evil” is incorrectly translated. It should read, “it only leads to doing evil.” This is connected to verse 1 – “Fret not thyself because of evildoers.” Evildoer is a very technical word, it refers to the unbeliever. Evil is the principle of human good. Grace is the antithesis of human good. God does the work and man receives what God does for him. Always in the plan of God, He provides. When a believer acts like an unbeliever he gets in to this area, it only leads to doing evil.

What is it that makes the unbeliever miserable? He is fretful, he is jealous, he has the mental attitude sins—bitter, hostile, antagonistic, vindictive, etc. These all produce misery in him, just as they do in the believer. When the believer frets he is acting just like any unbeliever. This is like looking out of the window when it is all fogged up, and this is why we have the he command at the end of verse 8—“fret not thyself, it only leads to evil doing.” Evildoing is a hiphil infinitive. The hiphil stem means to cause evil. So this leads to a principle: We lower ourselves to the same attitude as the unbeliever. Mental attitude sins cause him to lower himself and act like any unbeliever.

This terminates one section of David’s file. He is still in the he file but this terminates the commands. In the first eight verses we have the acrostical commands, but we are not through with the alphabet and from this point we have some acrostical contrasts. We have David trying to teach in his old age from the standpoint of contrast, and he is going to begin with a contrast of eternal status. He is saying to believers who are upset and disturbed and jealous of the prosperity of others to look into eternity: these believers that you envy, what do they have in phase three? and what do you have as a believer?

Verse 9 – the he contrast. We look out the window and look at phase three, and take a quick evaluation of eternity. We look at a number of contrasts, beginning in verse 9 and going through verse 24, and we orient to life through these contrasts.

“for evildoers [unbelievers]” – because the unbeliever is controlled by his old sin nature, not because he is always doing evil. We have a contrast here which is both eternal and temporal. The evildoer in eternity is going to be cut off; the believer in time is going to have perfect happiness. The unbeliever in time is generally miserable with a few pleasant moments. Don’t resent the unbeliever’s happiness or prosperity because he has a lot of self-induced misery in time, and in eternity it only gets worse.

“cut off” – the last judgment of Revelation 20:12-15.

“but” is a conjunction of contrast. Here is the contrast between the believer and the unbeliever; “those who wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth.” We have in this psalm four out of the five Hebrew words for faith. This Hebrew word is qawah, the strongest of all words for faith. It means to take a little thread which can very easily be broken and to weave this thread into a giant rope which cannot be broken. It means here to wait on the Lord for a solution.

“the earth” is really ‘the land’ and it refers to the land of Palestine. For those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ the land can be “inherited” right now. The believer’s inheritance means that whenever he has a problem, a difficulty, he simply puts it in the Lord’s hands and forgets it. It also has a future connotation. In eternity it is going to be no more sorrow, no more tears, no more pain, no more death, the old things have passed away.

Verses 10-11, the contrast continues but we go to the next file drawer, the waw file. It is a very small letter and is supposed to have a hook on it because that is exactly what it was—a nail or a peg on which to hang things. So the waw contrast is the nail or the peg on which we hang a point of doctrine.

Verse 10 – “a little while” refers to the completion of human history; “the wicked shall not be” [literally, shall not]. That is, they shall not have any prosperity, any happiness, any success, because the lake of fire will be their lot. The “wicked” is simply a technical word for the unbeliever, the one who has not received Jesus Christ as saviour.

“thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be” – in other words, before you start to resent any unbeliever, and waste your time doing so, take a good look at the perspective.

Verse 11 – in contrast. “But the meek” – this does not refer to self-effacement. A meek person is simply a believer oriented to the grace of God through Bible doctrine.

“shall inherit the earth” – blessings in time as well as the great blessings of eternity.

“they shall delight themselves” – the verb is a verb of amorous behaviour. It has to do with occupation with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“in the abundance of peace” – the word for peace does not mean world peace. This is personal peace. It is a Hebrew word that refers to inner happiness.

Verses 12-13, the zayin contrast. The zayin is a sword or weapon. This is the sword of the unbeliever seeking to persecute, to destroy, to neutralise the one who is born again.

Verse 12 – “The wicked” refers to the unbeliever; “plotteth against the just.” The word for just is justified, one who is born again. Plotteth is a piel stem of zamam, and it means to sit down and think of some one who is the object of hatred, and to think of hurting them. It means to meditate evil, revenge, to plan a system of evil. It is premeditated revenge. The wicked actually premeditates revenge and retaliation against the one who is born again.

“and gnasheth upon him with his teeth” – the word for gnashing teeth is simply an idiom which expresses antagonism. So he looking for a way to retaliate and to hurt the one who is a believer. “The wicked plans revenge against the just [the righteous], he gnashes his teeth upon him.”

Verse 13 – “But the Lord shall laugh at him.” The word laugh is an anthropopathism, ascribing to God a human characteristic which God doesn’t have whereby we can understand God’s attitude. The word laughter is actually a way of describing the believer’s protection.

“for he seeth that his day is coming” – the Lord laughs as He sees the unbeliever’s day of judgment coming; in the plan of God he is removed.

This leads to a logical progression. The door of that file is closed. We turn next to the letter kheth which is a fence. God has a fence around us and we are in the centre of His protection. Verses 14, 15.

Verse 14 – the word for poor is simply the meek, a technical description of the believer who is under the grace of God. So meek means hopeless, helpless, useless, and thoroughly protected and provided for.

“and to slay such as be of upright conversation” – so we have an amplification of the fact that the unbeliever is antagonistic toward the believer in principle.

Verse 15 – God turns the unbeliever’s plotting against himself and He uses the plotting of the unbeliever to punish the unbeliever with it. This is the message of Psalm 7:15,16. “Their sword shall enter into their own soul.” This means in principle that anyone who is guilty of mental attitude sins will produce misery, self-induced misery.

Verses 16,17, the next file—teth. Teth has two meanings. It is the Egyptian word for a serpent, but it also means two things twisted together. They don’t really belong together but they are twisted together. So the concept is something that is rolled together, twisted together, but they don’t want to be together, they are not compatible.

Verse 16 – the teth contrast. “A little” – of materialistic things, very few materialistic things; “that a righteous man [believer] has is better than many riches of many wicked.” So we have two things twisted together, two things that live together in this life—a believer and the unbeliever. Whatever we have in life (it may be very, very little) it is better than all of the wealth of all of the wealthy people in the world, because we have Bible doctrine in the soul. Bible doctrine in the soul means inner happiness. This is something which is unique and something which no unbeliever can have, all he has is the details of life.

Verse 17 – what happens to the man and his details of life? “The arms of the wicked shall be broken.” Breaking the arm is actually an idiom for losing the details of life. So here is the unbeliever, his details wiped out, and now he is walking around with a broken arm—an idiom. He was miserable with the details, so think how he is without them! He is miserable with the details of life, except for a few moments of stimulation, and when the details are wiped out all he develops is a greater capacity for misery.

“but the Lord upholdeth the righteous” – the word uphold means to sustain. The Lord sustains the believer through doctrine.

This brings us to the principle of yodh and kaph. Yodh (Jot and tittle: tittle is waw; jot is yodh). Yodh is the smallest of all the Hebrew letters, it is a hand. So we have the yodh security, we are in the hand of God—verses 18-19.

Verse 18 – “The Lord knoweth the days of the upright.” The days of the upright is simply phase two of the plan of God, from the cross until death or the Rapture. God has allotted the believer so much time on this earth and he is in His hands all of the time that he is here. He knows how long we are going to be here and He calls is days, not years, because God gives us one day at a time.

“their inheritance [heritage] is forever” – and eventually he gets there.

Verse 19 – believers with Bible doctrine shall be satisfied under pressure. Famine is simply great pressure in an agricultural economy. The word satisfied means to be filled and satisfied. This is what Bible doctrine does for the believer.

Verse 20 – but for the unbeliever there is the kaph judgment. Yodh is the hand, but kaph which is simply an enlargement of it is the palm of the hand. But kaph is the palm of the hand pushing away something. In other words, it was simply saying no, or judging. The Lord does not sustain the unbeliever, does not help the unbeliever, does not provide for the unbeliever. The only thing that He provides for the unbeliever is salvation. The unbeliever has said no to salvation and so the Lord pushes out His palm and says no. This is a monopoly for the believer. The believer is in the hand of God but the unbeliever is getting the palm of God pushed out toward him, saying no.

Verses 21 & 22, the lamed file. A lamed is simply an ox goad, something to get the ox moving.

Verse 21 – “The wicked [unbeliever] borroweth and payeth not again.” Borrowing is the lust pattern of the old sin nature. He is motivated to borrow and has no desire to pay it back. The money is to gratify his lust pattern and he has no sense of responsibility in the matter.

“but the righteous showeth mercy” – mercy is simply grace in action. The righteous believer here has doctrine and because he does he also has minus the mental attitude sins. He has a relaxed mental attitude toward people and therefore gives of himself. He shows mercy. Here is the goad, something to get the unbeliever moving in the direction of God’s plan.

Verse 22 – “For such as be blessed of him.” God is blessing the believer; He is cursing the unbeliever. The only way that cursing can be turned into blessing is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The next letter is mem, a word for waters originally. When David comes to the M file, the file which has to do with water, he sees two principles. First of all, the Word of God is water—the water of the Word, Ephesians 5:26. He also sees the believer out on life’s sea under operation phase two. Often the sea is smooth—prosperity, and sometimes the sea is rough—pressure. The principle that David sees at this point is that when it is smooth [prosperity] doctrine gives the perspective, but when it is rough and when you have a storm on the sea, when you have pressure, you still have the same doctrine and you must have the same consistency under pressure that you have on your prosperity. So we have a principle applied to us in our Christian life: that we can be consistent, that we can go on moment by moment in the storms at sea or in the smooth weather.

Verse 23 – “The steps of a good man.” Notice that the word good is in italics. It doesn’t occur in the original. There isn’t a good man here. The word steps in the Hebrew refers to the marching and movement of troops, and the word man is the word for hero or, as we would use today, a champion. A champion is consistent, he keeps moving in the direction of the enemy. He is consistent because of what he has inside of him, not because of outside factors.

“are ordered by the Lord” – the word ordered here means to provide, to supply, to establish, to confirm and to stabilise. In other words, God has an answer for every problem in life and in God’s plan there is no problem of life too great for His plan. The catch: your steps have to be ordered by the Lord. Being ordered by the Lord is Bible doctrine. If Bible doctrine doesn’t run your life then you are not living for the Lord, you are living like any unbeliever.

“and he delighteth in his way” – he is a believer who is living under doctrine, he delights in His [God’s] way—doctrine. His steps are ordered by the Lord because he delights in doctrine. The word delight is chathetz. It means to be so excited about something that it is difficult to think about anything else. It is a word also used for human love. It means to be not only in love but to be nobly motivated by love. It means more than to just love someone, it means that with this love comes a tremendous capacity and motivation for nobility with regard to the object of love. This isn’t any type of frivolous, light delight. It refers to a strong capacity to love. It is a love for God’s way, a love for God’s Word, a love for the principles of doctrine.

Verse 24 – on the other hand every believer is not this way. Here we have the believer who is minus doctrine, and this believe falls. He produces human good in his fall. He is disappointing to the Lord, he fails the Lord, he is inconsistent. He falls, he is out of fellowship, he is carnal, he lives under the old sin nature. Wherever the word falling is found it never refers to loss of salvation, it simply refers to a believer who lives under his old sin nature. “Thou he fall, he shall not utterly cast down” – he can’t lose his salvation.

“the Lord holdeth him with his [the Lord’s] hand.” This is grace. God’s attitude toward us does not depend on our attitude toward Him. God blesses us on the basis of His character.

Next on the file is the letter N – nun. We now have the nun blessings in verses 25, 26. Nun signifies a fish. Notice about a fish. As long as he is alive he has water, and he has food. The fish is the believer.

Verse 25 – “I have been young, and now old.” When he says he is old it is a qal perfect of zaqan. The last letter is the N, the fish. The first letter is the zayin, the sword, so he has known pressures in his youth. The Q is the qoph, the back of the head, and it refers to blessing. All of the blessings of his past are stored here. Even though he has in the past had pressure and blessing through it all has provided everything that he would ever need. And David says he has come to this hour—once he was young but now is old—but all of the way through his life God has been faithful. In his old age David sees God’s grace every day that he lives.

“yet I have not seen the righteous” – the righteous is the believer, any believer, all believers. The word righteous simply means imputed righteousness.

“forsaken” – He will never leave us or forsake us; “nor his seed [children] begging bread” – God not only provides for the believer but He provides for the children of the believer.

Verse 26 – the conclusion of the N file, the nun blessing. “He is ever merciful.” He is is not found in the original, it is “Ever merciful”—He is always gracious. Mercy is simply grace in action; “and lendeth” – God doesn’t lend anything. The word lending here means to cling. It is used in connection with the marriage of Adam and Eve. He ever clings to us, he holds on to us, He never lets go of us. The word is also a hiphil participle. The hiphil is the causative stem, and this says in effect that God is caused to cling to us, and the reason is because of the work of Christ on the cross; “and his seed [of the believer] blessed” – God is the source of our blessing. You can’t change God but doctrine can change you.

Verses 27, 28 – the letter samekh. It denotes a fulcrum, a support. The root of this word is from the noun samak which means to lean upon something, to use something for support, as a foundation or a balance. The principle of the support of the believer in time is God’s plan as declared by Bible doctrine. So the samekh blessing will obviously be connected with God’s plan. We have a reference to phase two and phase three of the plan of God in verse 27.

Verse 27 – “Depart from evil, and do good,” a reference to phase two. Depart is a qal imperative and it means to separate yourself from evil. The word for evil is actually the old sin nature. Technically the old sin nature is often called the evil in the books of Psalms and Proverbs. That with which we are born is evil—the old sin nature. We are not spiritually dead because we sin, we are spiritually dead because we possess an old sin nature. The plan of God is set up in opposition to the sin nature, and to mental attitude human viewpoint which is called “the world.” The plan of God excludes the devil, it excludes human viewpoint, and it excludes any activity of the old sin nature. Because this is true we have the command at this point, “Depart from the evil.” Departure or separation from the evil simply means to live under God’s provision rather than living under the provision of the physical birth. Instead of depending upon the old sin nature we depend upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In this exclusion the Holy Spirit indwells to deal with the flesh. Doctrinal should indwell the soul to deal with the world and with the devil. The Holy Spirit is the means of overcoming the old sin nature. We are either controlled by the Spirit or we are controlled by the old sin nature. So we have under the plan of God perfect provision for all of the sources of opposition to the plan of God. “Depart from evil” includes the filling of the Spirit, the application of Bible doctrine to experience, the utilisation of the five techniques of the Christian life. In other words, everything that operates under the principle of the divine viewpoint.

If we are departed from the old sin nature or evil we then have a second command: “do good.” The Hebrew word for do here is asah, which means to make something out of existing materials. The good is made out of something that exists inside of us—the Holy Spirit produces divine good. “Do good” is the same as being filled with the Spirit, the same as application of doctrine. This is in opposition to the old sin nature.

“and dwell forever more” – dwell is a command and it means to dwell permanently in a place of blessing. The Hebrew word is shaken. So the command “dwell forevermore” actually encompasses phase three and phase one. You have eternal life the moment you believe, there is no further preparation for death, because of what God does at that moment. The only thing left is to grow up in phase two and this requires understanding of doctrine in phase two. So in this verse we have the fulcrum, the support—Bible doctrine which orients us to the plan of God.

Verse 28 – the concept continues. “For the Lord loveth justice.” It must be understood that the word Jehovah can refer to any one of the three persons of the Trinity, and generally in a case like this it refers to the Father who is the author of the divine plan. God loves justice and He is not going to be incompatible with His own nature, with His own essence. The big issue is, how can God who loves justice bless in phase two any believer and still be just? The answer goes back to phase one. On the cross all of the sins which disqualify us from blessing were all judged. So the biggest hindrance to being blessed has been removed in phase two because they have already been judged. That is why any time we are out of fellowship we simply confess or name or acknowledge our sins to God—we simply make reference to a case.

“he forsakes not his saints” – because he loves justice. He forsakes not any of His saints and it is all compatible with His justice and His love, because love and justice met at the cross. He is therefore free to bless us and to say, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” The only thing that hinders blessing is negative volition, human good, legalism and self-righteousness. This phrase means that there is no sin that you can commit that will cause Him to forsake you, no blasphemy that you can utter, nothing you can think, no series of activities that can get you out of the plan of God.

“they are preserved forever” – eternal security. They are guarded, protected forever. The stem used is the niphal (passive), the verb is shamar. The passive is grace—they receive preservation. With that the file drawer closes, the samekh file, and a new file is opened in the middle of the verse.

“but the seed of the wicked” – at this point, in the middle of the verse, we begin the ayin blessing. This is an eye. Here is the eye of God on the believer in blessing for all eternity, while at the same time judging the unbeliever and separating him in the lake of fire forever. The eye of God is His omniscience, that part of His character whereby He is thoroughly cognisant of who is a believer and who is not. He is omnipresent and therefore a witness against every unbeliever. He is omnipotent, He has the ability to judge, to cast into the lake of fire forever. He is immutable and His judgments are never reversed, never changed. He is veracity and He levels with those who stand before Him, they are going to spend eternity in the lake of fire, there will never be any change or deviation from that principle.

Verse 29 – “The righteous shall inherit the land.” The righteous refers to the believer, the inheritance of the land is a the fulfilment of the unconditional covenants to the Jews. This is the fulfilment of the Palestinian covenant, first mentioned in Genesis 15:18 and mentioned in Number 34:1-12; Deuteronomy 30:1-9; Joshua 1:3,4.

“and dwell therein forever” – the Hebrew word for dwelling, shaken, means to dwell permanently in a place of blessing. There are seven different words for dwelling. Some mean to dwell restlessly, some mean to be depressed, some mean to go with the intention of spending a day and staying for a long time, some to go and have a good time and leave. This one means to stay for a long time under terms of great blessing. It lasts forever, so eternity for the Jewish believers of the Jewish Age means the promises of God will be fulfilled to them. God keeps His Word.

Verses 30-31, the next file which is pe. This is a mouth. This time the blessing has to do with what the believer has to say—communication of doctrine and divine viewpoint.

Verse 30 – “The mouth of the righteous.” This is imputed righteousness, this is the believer, the one who has accepted Christ as saviour; “speaketh wisdom” – the mouth of the righteous refers to the believer who has learned Bible doctrine. Reading the Bible is not enough, it is learning its doctrine that is important. Stage one is getting that doctrine categorically; stage two is applying that doctrine to experience. “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom” – wisdom is the application of doctrine to experience. So you have to know doctrine before you can give it out. In this file, the mouth, we have the communication of divine good. Here is the believer who gets with Bible doctrine, learns doctrine, and he “speaks wisdom” – the application of doctrine to experience.

“and his tongue talketh of justice” – there are seven ways in which wisdom can be communicated. a) the communication of the gospel, doctrine pertinent to the plan of salvation. This is the responsibility of every believer; b) the declaration of the plan of God; c) the declaration of the grace of God. Basically the principle of grace is the character of God, who and what God is as over against who and what man is. God blesses us on the basis of His character, never on the basis of who and what we are; d) the communication of the thought of God. In general this is Bible doctrine—1 Corinthians 2:16; 2 Corinthians 10:5,6; e) discernment regarding false doctrine and the ability to help other involved in it; f) separation from false principle as well as false persons. The believer must be discerning with regard to both principles and to differentiate; g) the communication of a scale of values compatible with the scripture.

Verse 31 – “The law of God” is the Word of God, Bible doctrine; “is in his heart” – the word heart is used for the thinking part of the mind.

“none of his steps shall slide” – the word slide here means to totter. This person will have absolute confidence and stability with regard to life. It does not mean he will stop sinning. The Hebrew word here is maod, and it means to totter. A mature believer handles his sin immediately—1 John 1:9; he forgets it—Philippians 3:13; he isolates it—Hebrews 12:15. In this way he gets out of fellowship and then almost immediately he gets right back in. Hi life will be characterised by maximum time logged in the filling of the Spirit and minimum time out of fellowship. That closes the file and we move to tsadhe in verses 32 & 33. This is a reaping hook, used for reaping a harvest.

Verse 32 – “The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.” Here is the either the perpetually carnal believer or the unbeliever seeking to discredit a believer. The word watch means to make a reconnaissance in order to prepare an attack, so that an ambush can be set.

Verse 33 – “The Lord will not leave him [the believer] in his hand [the hand of the one who is seeking to neutralise/destroy him].” Who gets the reaping hook, the tsadhe?—the mental attitude sinner who is guilty of gossip, maligning, judging, vindictiveness, and so on. The most miserable believers are believers who are guilty of making the reconnaissance and then trying to set an ambush. So divine protection is on these believers in this verse.

“nor will he condemn him when he [the wicked believer of verse 32] is judged” – He will not condemn him with the wicked believer.

We come to the last three files and in these three files we will see that we have no reason to fear old age. Old age is designed in the plan of God as a blessing.

Verse 34 – the first word is qoph. This is the next file, and qoph is the back of the head. To the ancients the back of the head was the motor part of the brain, the part of the brain that dealt with coordination and agility, motion, action and function in the body. In effect this file drawer speaks of agility—agility in old age. Obviously in old age man is not as agile as in youth, but this file drawer is not talking about physical strength, it is talking about mental agility and coordination. It is referring to those things necessary for the function of the mind in old age.

“Wait” – this word is generally mistranslated. The verb is qawah which doesn’t mean to wait, it means to trust—the perpetuation of the faith-rest technique into old age. It means to keep using the faith-rest technique. It speaks of a piece of thread weaved into a rope so that it can no longer be broken. The rope is the grace of God, and when you take the miserable, helpless, hopeless life of the believer oriented to grace and weave it into God’s plan then you have the principle, grace = God doing the work—divine good. If God can sustain a young person and provide inner happiness and occupation with Christ He can do the same thing for older people. Wait simple means to be oriented to the grace of God, to recognise that no matter how we advance in life or are prospered by the hand of God there never comes a time when we can depend upon human strength. There is no place in God’s plan for human good. Wait here is in the piel stem, the intensive stem, and it simply recognises that all of your life you are going to face challenges and difficulties, and that you cannot solve these with human good. You cannot solve the problems of life, God’s plan isn’t designed for your self-solutions. God’s plan is designed so that He can solve them. “Wait on the Lord.” Wait is simply a verb orienting to grace through the faith-rest technique.

The next verb is a qal imperative—“keep,” shamar, which means to guard. The intensity of life demands orientation to grace, but you are not always under fire. There are periods between the tactical situations of combat in the life of a soldier, and so this is for that period of time when there might be a little boredom, a little change, things are going well and easy. So we have the qal imperative: guard the Christian way of life, guard grace, guard the plan of God in your life. In other words, this means retain in your soul Bible doctrine. You never know when you are going to use it. Be ready! This means to retain knowledge, to retain doctrine, so that you have it loaded and ready to go next time there is any kind of a combat situation.

“his way” – God’s way is based on God’s character, the essence of God. No one can have relationship with God as long as God’s righteousness is unsatisfied. No one ever knows the grace of God until God’s righteousness is satisfied. Rebound is mercy, everything that follows rebound is mercy because God’s righteousness was satisfied at the cross. In rebound we simply recognise that God’s righteousness was satisfied at the cross. This is true for every aspect of the Christian life. We guard “his way” when we realise that we can never earn or deserve anything from God; all comes from the love and mercy of God—grace. Keeping God’s way is constantly going over and over doctrine.

“and he shall exalt thee” – if God doesn’t exalt you through grace there is no exaltation. This phrase is very important, it goes back to the piel stem and represents the intensity of God’s character. If He doesn’t do it, it isn’t an accomplished fact. This word exalt means to honour—rum, which means to receive honour/recognition on the basis of someone who has the power to honour. Cf. Joshua 3:7.

“to inherit the land” – inheriting the land means victory in time. It has to do with crossing the Jordan. In Moses’ day they did not cross the Jordan—apostasy and lack of doctrine meant that they were disciplined in the desert for forty years. But Joshua’s generation crossed into the land and had victory. So the inheritance of the land was based on Bible doctrine.

We have a contrast in this verse:

“when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.” We have to go back to verse 1. There are people who seem to be happy for the moment, who have the details of life, the success symbols. As a believer in Jesus Christ you may be tempted to envy them. Yet there is a purpose in it all. You are going to be prosperous in heaven, you are going to live in the presence of the Lord forever under terms of prosperity that are so fantastic that they cannot be described in human terms. God does not ask us to depend upon human status symbols, human prosperity, human details. He says you will have them; they are often used as tests, just as suffering can be a test and disaster can be a test. You may be required to learn to be oriented to grace and understand doctrine in times of success as well as in times of adversity. But God reminds us that our life is totally planned, made up of assets which come through Bible doctrine. That means that whether you are exalted or not you can have a wonderful life. That wonderful life means learning doctrine, appreciating who and what God is. It means responding to God’s love.

Verse 35 – the resh file for the resh blessing (verses 35 & 36). This refers to the frontal lobe, the place where doctrine resides. Remember that David wrote this in his old age and this is the viewpoint of old age.

“I have seen the wicked in great power” – the word wicked refers to an unbeliever who prospers in time; “I have seen [ra’ah] refers to the fact that David during his lifetime. It means to view something passing by, suddenly, to view something passing going the other way. David has seen throughout his lifetime unbelievers who have been successful in time. The words great power are literally great prosperity. Then he uses an illustration for them when he says, “spreading himself like a green bay tree.” The Hebrew doesn’t talk about a green bay tree or even recognise the existence of one. This is actually in the Hebrew “an indigenous green tree.” There is no specific tree mentioned, it is a tree in general. The tree is green—green stands for prosperity. It is indigenous, which means it is in its native soil. The native soil is time. Here is an unbeliever in time, he has rejected the cross, he is not in the plan of God. As an unbeliever in time he is very prosperous, very successful, sometimes very evil and very out of line. This file is to give perspective, to tell us something. The unbeliever has a mind in which he has misery with an occasional spurt of happiness, stimulation and fun, but it doesn’t last very long. On the other hand the believer can have doctrine in his soul with which he can have inner happiness and occupation with Christ, and he can be perpetually happy without it depending on what he is doing or how successful he is, or any of the details of life. As far as the unbeliever is concerned he often has many of the details. The believer is often minus the details and if he is minus doctrine he envies the unbeliever, he often loses the perspective of life. David has seen the unbeliever in prosperity and in this analogy he reminds us of something. They are indigenous green trees in time because they are planted in the soil of history, their roots are in the earth of time. But when you take an indigenous tree and transplant that tree elsewhere, often the tree dies, the roots shrivel. This is what David is saying. In time they have these roots in the soil and are prosperous, but when you take this unbelieving tree and put it in eternity it dies. When it goes into eternity it has no soil for its roots, it doesn’t thrive. In other words, it goes into the lake of fire. So he is saying that time is just a drop in the bucket compared to eternity, so don’t resent the fact that the unbeliever is going to have some prosperity. So what is wrong with the perspective that envies the unbeliever of anything? The details of life are nothing compared to the Lord Jesus Christ, to doctrine, the Word, to inner happiness.

Verse 36 – this same unbeliever moves on. “Yet he passed away” – physical death comes to the unbeliever.

“I sought him but he could not be found” – the word for sought in the Hebrew [baqash] means to be interested in someone. David was interested in unbelievers and sought to lead them to the Lord. Unbelievers are often very glamorous and have a certain glory but when they die the soul leaves the body and the glamour is gone. Unbelievers are ships that pass in the night; they will never be seen again.

Verse 37 – the next file is shin, a tooth. “Mark” – watch, observe carefully, learn something from a believer who knows and applies doctrine.

“the perfect” – mature. Here is a person in the plan of God who gets with Bible doctrine and applies it. He has great stability and great peace. Observe this person!

“behold the upright” – a believer who grows up spiritually; “for the end of that man is peace” – literally, “there is a future for the man of peace.” At the point of salvation the believer is qualified for eternity, so when he gets to phase three he has a glorious future. The believer with doctrine has a glorious future but the upright is any believer, he is upright because of what God did at the point of salvation. So there are mature believers—mark them well—but there are also upright believers who in whatever status of spiritual life are going to be in eternity just as much as the mature believer.

Verse 38 – “But the transgressors,” referring to the unbeliever; “shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off.” This means very simply that these unbelievers, many of whom are wonderful people, are going to be judged forever. The born again believer is going to live forever in the presence of God.

Verse 39 – the last file draw is tau, it refers to a mark or a signature. This is the signature drawer. This is the story of David’s life. “But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord.” He is talking about phase one, and he is saying in effect that the whole plan of God from beginning to end—beginning with the cross and ends with eternity, which has no end—is from the Lord. God does the work. It is divine good. The plan of God is the work of God.

“he is their strength in time of trouble” – the time of trouble is phase two. In phase two we are going to have a certain amount of suffering and God has made provision for every moment. So He is our strength, our stability in time of trouble.

Verse 40 – “And the Lord shall help them [believers] and deliver them; he shall deliver them from the wicked [those who persecute], and deliver them, because they trust in him.” So David ends with the fact that the faith-rest technique is the believer’s stability, his life. Claim the promises and the doctrines from God’s Word, and no matter what happens in life phase two can be wonderful in its own way even as phase three will be wonderful forever.

________________

Psalm Thirty-Seven

1-2~~{An acrostic Psalm of} David
Do not fret/'become resentful' {tsalach - no mental attitude sins}
because of evildoers {reversionists like King Saul},
be not intensively envious/jealous toward wrongdoers 2~~
for they will 'be cut off'/'be circumcised' {namal} like the grass,
and wither up like the green herb.

{Note: Greatness and jealousy never live together! Forget what others have! It matters not!}

3~~Trust in Jehovah/God
  {batach - body slam - slam your problems on the Lord},
and manufacture good
  {'asah -capacity to produce divine from bible doctrine}.
Permanently dwell happily in the land
  {shakan - permanent dwelling in blessing},
and feed/graze {ra`ah} on doctrine
  {'emuwnah - the famine responsive word for doctrine}.

4~~Delight yourself in Jehovah/God
  {`anag - amorous behavior word - a woman flirting with a man -
  means 'be occupied with God'}
and He will give you the 'deepest desires'
  {mish'alah - requests beyond you could ever expect to receive}
of your 'right lobe'/heart.

5~~Commit your way to Jehovah/God
  {galal - literally 'roll the stones out of your way'},
trust also in Him,
and He will manufacture {'asah} it {the solutions}.

6~~And He will cause to bring forth/manufacture {yatsa'}
your righteousness . . . on the basis of the light {from doctrine},
and your character/wisdom/judgment
as the 'double-light'/noonday/'bright noon day light' {tsohar}.

{Note: This is a picture of God working brightly through you.}

{Faith Rest Technique}
7~~'Be silent' {and concentrate} . . .in Jehovah/God
  {damam - means to be silent, quiet. In biblical terms it means to be
  quiet and concentrate on the study of the Word},
and 'whirl yourself around'
  {chuwl - to whirl around is a picture of rebound - turning back to
  God when you go astray}.
Do not fret/'become resentful' {tsalach - no mental attitude sins}
of those who display prosperity
in his way of life {derek} . . .
{about} the man
who manufactures wicked schemes.

8~~Cease from anger
  {motivated by mental attitude sins - jealousy, bitterness etc.},
and forsake/desert wrath.
Do not fret,
it leads only to manufacturing/doing evil {your own reversionism}.

9~~For evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for Jehovah/God,
they will inherit the earth.

10~~Yet a little while
and the wicked man will be no more,
and you will 'look carefully'/discern {biyn}
for his place,
and he will not be there.

11~~But the 'SuperGrace beleiver'/
'one orientated to his surroundings with emphasis on grace' {`anav}
shall inherit the earth;
and shall 'express SuperGrace delight'
  {`anag - sharing the happiness of God}
  {to have prosperity and enjoy it}
themselves in the abundance of 'inner peace'.

{Story of Saul Against David}
12~~The wicked/reversionist
  {rasha` - unbelievers or believers imitating unbelievers in
  reversionism - Saul}
'carefully plan ways of doing the evil'/plots {zamam}
against the just/righteous/'those with divine viewpoint'
  {tsaddiyq - example David},
and keeps on 'internally burning in his anger
and jealousy of the prosperous one'
  {idiom and probability literally: 'gnashes his teeth'}.

13~~The Lord/'Adonay
shall keep on jesting/toying/laughing with enjoyment {sachaq}
at him {Saul} . . .
for he {the Lord} sees
that his {David/SuperGrace Believer's} day is coming.

{Note: For example in I Samuel 18, Saul tried to get David killed by requiring him to bring back the foreskins of 100 Philistines. So, God caused David to bring back 200 foreskins! This is the concept of 'being made a fool' here.}

{Reversionists Attack SuperGrace Believers}
14~~The wicked/reversionists {rasha`}
have drawn out the sword,
and have bent their bow,
to cast down the poor and needy
  {reversionists have no virtue - they will attack anyone they
  see as against them},
and to slay such as be of 'SuperGrace believer'/upright {yashar}
Way of life {derek}
upright conversation.

{Picture of the Sin Unto Death of Reversionists}
15~~Their sword shall enter into their own heart,
and their bows shall be broken.

{Note: This is a picture of Saul, a great warrior in his own right, falling at the hands of the Philistines in the battle of Mount Gilboa. In I Chronicles 10:13-14, we see the reason for Saul's death.}

16~~A little that a righteous/'SuperGrace Believer' has
is better than the riches of many wicked/reversionists.

{Note: Why? Because you need capacity for happiness before you can enjoy the blessings that come from God. So, when you 'learn to be content' regardless of your circumstances, you are richer then the riches of other men with no capacity - which only comes from bible doctrine resident in your soul.}

17~~For the arms/weapons {used in the sense of strength}
of the wicked/reversionists shall be broken
but Jehovah/God upholds/supports
  {here in battle and between battles}
the righteous/'SuperGrace believer'.

18~~Jehovah/God knows/comprehends {yada` - Omniscience here}
the days of the upright/'SuperGrace believer'
and their inheritance shall be forever.

{Note: The SuperGrace believer lives one day at a time. And, God provides for that day all that he needs. God knew all His invisible heroes from eternity past - as with everything else He knows and always will know!}

{Note: This verse is talking about the inheritance of SuperGrace believers and gives us David as a great example. Now why? Because David has recorded some of the biggest sins that a believer can commit - adultery - murder - geographic disobedience to God's will on and on. But, he rebounded and returned to SuperGrace status - as all reversionists have the opportunity to do. The inheritance cannot be lost. 'Once a believer, always a believer' is the doctrine of eternal security. YOU did nothing meritorious to earn it, and you can do nothing strong enough without merit to lose it! It is all about
God . . . not about YOU!}

19~~They shall not keep on being ashamed
in the evil/wicked time
  {in disaster or adversity SG has capacity to cope}
and in the days of famine
  {in economic disaster SG believer will have capacity to be content}
they shall keep on being satisfied.

{Note: With capacity to share the happiness of God, the SuperGrace believer is always content regardless the circumstances.}

20~~But the wicked/reversionist shall perish/
'wander around until destroyed',
and the enemies of Jehovah/God . . . {shall be} as the fat of lambs.
They shall be consumed {kalah} . . .
into smoke {`ashan}
shall they be consumed/destroyed/'disappear like smoke' {kalah}.

21~~The wicked/reversionist borrows {money, goods},
and pays not again {welshes on obligations - no capacity for life}.
But the righteous/'SuperGrace Believer'
shows continual grace and keeps on giving.

22~~The 'blessed of Him' {barak - describes SuperGrace Believers}
shall keep on inheriting the earth {referring to in time!}.
And they that be cursed of Him shall be cut off
  {no blessings in time and can be loss of rewards in eternity - but
  not loss of salvation}.

23~~ The steps/'goings on'/'path' {mits`ad}
of a good/strong man/'SuperGrace Believer'
  {geber - another synonym for an SG believer}
are established by Jehovah/God.
He {SuperGrace believer} delights
in His {God's} Way {derek - Way of Righteousness}.

{Doctrine of Eternal Security}
24~~Though he fall {believer out of fellowship},
he shall not be utterly cast down . . .
for Jehovah/God sustains/upholds him with His hand.

25~~I {David} have been young . . .
and now am old.
Yet I have not seen
the righteous/'SuperGrace believer' deserted/forsaken,
or his descendants/seed {next generation} begging bread.

{Note: Perfect example was Solomon. From grace by association with David, he was a billionaire all his life.}

26~~The One {God} . . . ever gracious/merciful,
and 'helps the helpless' {lavah - there to lend help when needed}.
And his {SuperGrace Believer's} descendants/seed . . .
{receive} blessing.

27~~'Swerve aside'/'separate from' evil/reversionism,
and manufacture {'asah} good
  {out of SuperGrace knowledge divine good}.
And dwell forever more.

28~~For Jehovah/God keeps on loving justice
  {referring to perfect fairness of the Lord},
and does not forsake His 'godly ones'/saints.
They are preserved forever
but the seed of the wicked/reversionist shall be cut off.

{Note: Sooner or later God must cut off the line of the reversionist. RBT indicates that 3 generations of reversionism and God takes them out.}

29~~The righteous/'SuperGrace believer' shall inherit the land,
and dwell therein forever.

30~~The mouth of the righteous/'SuperGrace believer'
keeps on utter categorically {hagah} wisdom {chokmah},
and his tongue talks of justice/equity/fairness {mishpat}.

31~~The law/'divine viewpoint in written form' {towrah}
of his Elohiym/Godhead . . . {is} in his 'right lobe'/heart.
None 'of his steps'/'his walk in the {righteous} Way'
shall not totter {no instability in the SuperGrace believer}.

32~~The wicked/reversionist
'watches for a chance to ambush' {tsaphah}
  {can not believe what he sees so he observes and can not believe
  what he sees so looks for a chance to ambush}
the righteous/'SuperGrace Believer',
and seeks to slay him.

33~~Jehovah/God will not leave him {SuperGrace Believer}
in his {wicked reversionist/s} hand,
nor condemn him {SuperGrace Believer}
when he {SuperGrace Believer} is judged/maligned/'run down'.

34~~Wait {qavah - take in doctrine daily and wait for God's timing}
on Jehovah/God,
and keep His way {righteous way of life as set out by the Bible},
and He {God}
shall promote/'build an Edification Complex of the Soul in'/
Exalt {ruwm} you . . .
to inherit the land.
When the wicked/reversionists are cut off,
you shall see it.

{Note: David saw Goliath get it quickly and Saul over a longer period of time. On and on.}

35-36~~I have seen the wicked/reversionist in great power {Saul},
and spreading himself like an 'indigenous producing tree'/
'a tree in its own soil producing beautifully' {ra`anan 'ezrach} 36~~
but he {reversionist}
'passed off the scene' {death or destruction and gone from power}
and, lo, he was not.
Yes, I looked for him, but he could not be found
  {in the analogy, not even a stump remained}.

37~~Observe {shamar}
the 'SuperGrace Believer'/perfect {tam - SG with Way of Life in view}
and behold the 'straight and level'/upright
  {yashar - SG with stability in view}.
For the future/end/conclusion {'achariyth}
of that man {SuperGrace believer}
is prosperity/'inner happiness'/peace
  {shalowm - and 'in time' is in view here}.

38~~But the transgressors/reversionists {pasha`}
shall 'receive destruction'/'be desolate' . . .
together {with other reversionists}.
The future/end/conclusion {'achariyth - in time again}
of the wicked/reversionist
shall be cut off {karath - final stage of discipline - sin unto death}.

39~~But the deliverance/salvation
of the righteous/'SuperGrace Believer'
is of Jehovah/God.
Their strength . . . in the time of trouble/disaster.

40~~And Jehovah/God shall aid/help them {SuperGrace Believers},
and deliver them.
He {God} shall deliver them {SuperGrace Believer}
from the wicked/reversionists,
and cause them to be delivered {yasha`},
because they 'trust when they are hurt' {chacah}
in Him.

{Note: Chacah is the word used for a small animal running away and hiding in a crack in a rock.}