6. "How Long, Lord?" "Yet a little while." Psalm 37:10-11

Text: “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?  How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?” 

Psalm 13:2.

          “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” 

Psalm 37:10.

Good morning, long-suffering Christian!  In Psalm 37 the focus of our current study of God’s infallible and inspired Word, the genuine regenerate yet long-suffering Christian is instructed and encouraged over and over again – that the Lord shall indeed grant us ‘good comfort in bad times’.

“Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people, saith your God.  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”            (Isaiah 40:1-2)

In these two Old Testament verses, Jerusalem clearly denotes a type of the church: all those who have been elected to Salvation by God the Father in Eternity; granted repentance from sin and faith to believe in Christ Jesus in time; washed in the Blood of the Lamb; saved by God’s grace through the full Atonement Sacrifice of Christ at the Cross; and kept by the power of God ever after. 

All such regenerate souls are, therefore, recipients of the precious promise of comfort these verses contain; for our sins are forever taken away.  Praise God for such saving grace!

Knowing and fully believing the above fact of Christian faith, assures each one of us of God’s  ‘good comfort in bad times’.

Our deadly enemies – the world, the flesh, and the Devil – all ruthlessly conspire together to cause true, Bible-believing Christians sore troubles, hindrances, illnesses, injuries, and depression of spirit.  However, the good news is that, they are only permitted to cause us these burdens and problems ‘...for a little while...’ before the Lord calls a halt and sends us His refreshing and His peace.

One day real soon, all of these deadly enemies – spiritual and physical – shall forever cease to cause true Christian believers trouble.

Verse 10.  “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be.  O wherefore, tried believer, dost thou envy one who in a little while will lie lower than the dust? 

"Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.  His house shall be empty, his chair of office vacant, his estate without an owner; he shall be utterly blotted out, perhaps cut off by his own debauchery, or brought to a deathbed of penury by his own extravagance.  Gone like a passing cloud – forgotten as a dream – where are his boastings and hectorings, and where the pomp which made poor mortals think the sinner blest?”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 179)

A beneficial exercise, perhaps, would be for believers to look back at a time when someone, or some set of circumstances, a seemingly ‘impossible’ situation was causing us great anxiety, depression of spirit; and mental consternation.  Now, think where exactly that person, circumstance, ‘impossible situation’ is today!  See?  It was merely permitted to cause us, the meek, trouble ‘for a little while...’

Verse 11.  “The meek shall inherit the earth.  Not the hot, stirring spirits who bustle for the world shall have it, but the meek, who are thrust up and down from corner to corner, and hardly suffered to remain anywhere quietly in it.  This earth, which they seem most deprived of, they only shall have and enjoy.”  (John Pennington 1656)

Our troubled souls constantly cry out to the Lord God, “How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?” – this is done during ‘bad times’ of suffering, often prolonged suffering, but the Lord’s answer to our problems remains faithfully the same, “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.”

Now, that is what I call ‘good comfort in bad times’, dear Christian friend.  Praise God!  In the words of the song, ‘And the darkest hour is just before dawn...’

Another problem I found when reading and seeking to apply God’s Word and Holy Scripture to the circumstances being endured by me at any given time, is the fact that, this wonderful comfort from God is promised to ‘the meek’ – and I have big trouble defining myself as ‘meek’!  However, let us look at this concept in greater depth:

Dictionary Definition: Meek – (adjective) having a mild and gentle temper; submissive; Meekness – quality of being meek. (The Chambers Dictionary, page 999)

Those that know me personally are well aware that I am not very ‘meek’ in the above, dictionary defined, sense – in fact, it is well known that, ‘I do not suffer fools gladly.’, to say the least.  Being too ‘quick’ has been a personal lifetime’s failing.  (Sorry.  Pray for me?  I would dearly love to be a much more gentle and quiet-spirited man.)

However, let’s look at the Biblical Moses: he slew an Egyptian and buried his body in the sand (Exodus 2:11-15); went in to Pharaoh’s palace and told him to let the Hebrews go free (Exodus 5:1); delivered a death-threat to the mighty Pharaoh (Exodus 28-29); commanded a great internecine slaughter among the Hebrews (Exodus 32:26-28); ruthlessly put down rebellions among the Hebrews in the wilderness, etc. etc. 

Yet the Scriptures describe Moses: “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3)  His meekness was in his true and faithful obedience to the will of the Living Lord God Jehovah.  Glory to His grace!

Thought: Take comfort, weary Christian – we shall soon be given God’s peace.