The Book of Psalms is one of the most beloved and most often-read books of the Bible. Bible commentator James Johnston wrote: “Many of our favorite songs and hymns are portions of a psalm or a paraphrase. We go to the Psalms when we’re laughing and when we’re crying. Amazingly, they often say what we feel but couldn’t find the words to describe.”

The psalms are unique in that they engage both the heart and mind as we are reading them. Consider Psalm 1:1-2. This is a very familiar psalm. Notice what the psalmist says in verse 2 about the relationship between the blessed man and the Word of God: he delights in it and he meditates on it. To delight in the law of the Lord is to love God’s Word—that’s a heart function. To meditate on His law is to think deeply on God’s Word—that’s something you do with your head. These are wise words from the psalmist! There are many psalms devoted to the wisdom of God (i.e., Psalm 1; Psalm 119; Psalm 37). Today we will focus our attention on Psalm 37.

We find the main point of the entire psalm in the very first verse recorded by the psalmist. He said, “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers.” Two big ideas here: 1) don’t consume yourself with worry as to why “evildoers” seem to prosper, and 2) don’t be envious of their apparent success! We must resist the temptation to seek after worldly riches, power, and influence; and we must fight this temptation by placing value in what is eternal.