"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him" (Psalm 37:7)/aka Setting the Record Straight

1)Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
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3)Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4)Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5)Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
6)And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
7)Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him:


More often then not, as a Christians, I think that we have a tendency to believe that we are entitled to something from God. As though it were His privilege to have us associate with His name. I don't know about anyone else, but I sometimes have a hard time divorcing success from lifestyle (ie: why is -he- doing so well living like the Devil??). Two things have occured to me that this passage drove home.
One, God doesn't need to punish "evildoers". If they're not Christians they're going to burn forever in Hell. Problem solved de facto.
Two, they're not His kids. "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth" (Heb 12:6a). I don't know about you, but I know that in my house it never mattered what whomever was doing down the street or up the block. It was always "well, that's them", "I'm not his/her parent", or "not in my house". If you ever still have doubts that this whole "saved" thing is more of a relationship and a -lot- less a bunch of rules and regulations that we call "religion" and just borrow on Sunday, this may help you out a bit. Btw, it's not a sin to still have questions and things that you doubt because you don't understand them, or don't think them to be right. It happens sometimes: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24b). The trick is to have those questions answered before it becomes a stumbling block...but that's for another time. Back to the matter at hand.
God doesn't have to punish anyone for not turning to seek His face. There is a price tag for sin. That is punishment enough (first point). Along with that, if He actively set out to personally make the lives of everyone who -doesn't- turn to Him a living Hell, so to speak, that puts a serious dent in the whole "free will" thing. I mean...it's a basic Pavlovian response (I'm sure that there's a Bible passage for this or something, I've just been enamored with the idea of learned behavior since I was like...17 or something). It's the way that our society is run and how (in my opinion) parents that don't know how/don't have time to properly raise their kids do it. If you do something they don't like you get punished. End of story.
Not to say that punishment is a bad thing. It made me who I am today, and I'm -very- thankful for that. I mean that sometimes you have to let them touch the stove themselves cause you've already told them a thousand times, and that little burn will teach them a lesson they won't soon forget. That, and it always helps to know -why- you're getting punished. I remember that sometimes my mother used to re-iterate to me why I was getting spanked -while- it was happening. I'm sure I'm not the only one :P let me tell you, the "do you know why I'm spanking/spanked you?" speeches used to get to me worse than the pain sometimes but, to this day, I can only remember two spankings that I got that I didn't deserve. One, my mother honestly believed that I was lying until she finally gave up and literally told me "you're either the dumbest kid in the world, or you're telling me the truth"...she had been spanking me for so long, taking breaks to give me a chance to confess, that she got tired...and I think I was numb. We haven't had much of a problem with her believing me since then, and I was no older than 12 at the time. The other time...I don't even remember the circumstances. I just know that it was made known that I hadn't done it and her reply was that it was for "something else that you did that I don't know/didn't do anything about" :P true story. I hope that you get my rambling point. If God were to punish everyone that didn't turn to His face, then a lot of them would do it simply so that they wouldn't be punished, and not because they wholeheartedly -want- to. And, I don't know about you, but I'm not going to send my Son to Earth for some ungrateful wretches that spit on Him and revile Him (when they're not asking for stuff, miracles, and proof) and finally -kill- Him, just to have them dishonor that great sacrifice by accepting the gift only because they "have to" to make their lives easier.

In summary: "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31, my former "life's verse"...something I got from my Dad). Something that I realized -while- typing that...look at the chronological order of that verse.
You "mount up with wings as eagles": you feel as though you're on top of the world sometimes (like you first get saved, apparently).
You "run and not grow weary": you realize that there's a daily grind to be had. That life is a marathon and not a sprint. Someone said "To live above with those we love, -that- would be Glory. To live below with those we know? Well...that's a different story". Lastly:
You "walk and not faint": then you run into hard times. Then you start in with the Noah speech (I've been listening to Bill Cosby lately. He has this thing that he does about the speech that Noah had with God about the Ark and the animals and the idea of flooding the Earth. Hilarious and absolutely relateable) about how hard it's been for you and how your neighbors are making fun of you for building the Ark for however-many years, and how there's a -huge- mess in the bottom of the boat from all of the animals and you just -know- that it's going to be you who has to clean it up, etc. You might even have to endure the full-blown Job treatment. One of the scariest sentences in the Bible? "And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job" (Job 1:8a). The response to that in the modern vernacular would be "God...how you gonna dime me out like that??" instead Job spits one of the most powerful verses in the Bible and one of the hardest lessons to deal with "...Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21)
If you haven't noticed, I'm on a complain-free kick here. It's a little rough sometimes, but it's -much- better in the long run. Trust in the Lord, wait patiently for Him (cobbled together paraphrase from Psalm 37:5 and 7).
Last thing: from the family chapter (Psalm 91) "He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him" (Psalm 91:15).
Notice: "he will call...I will answer:" ie: He will "never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5), (Joshua 1:5), (Deuteronomy 31:8), (Deuteronomy 31:6).
"I will be with him in trouble;" (see above)
"I will deliver him, and honour him" now...what strikes me is that it doesn't say "he will call upon me and I will deliver him". No, the deliverance is -last-. -After- He's walked through the furnace with you. But "Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid" (Mark 6:50). Sometimes we see the Hand of God moving in our lives and it disquiets or discomforts us. Don't worry, He's not in the habit of making our lives miserable for His own pleasure (Matthew 7:11), (Luke 11:13). But I want you to know something. No matter -what- you are going through, He will not allow you to be tried more than you are able to bear (I Corinthians 10:13). Even though His faith in us is a hard thing to bear some days...especially when it's greater than our own faith in ourselves and it's not Matthew 14:27 (immediately) that we see His face or His hand in our dealings. Look here: no matter -what-...when you're down to your last penny, last thought, and last prayer "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against the stone" (Psalm 91:11-12)
God's got it. Selah (pause. think about it)
Amen.