Fret? Or Rest?
Psalm 37 is a favourite Psalm of mine. Here are verses 1-9, with notes from a little devotional I did on those verses, for a bible study group.
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FRET NOT yourself because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness (that which is not upright or in right standing with God).
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed.
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.
And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.
Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.
Cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not yourself–it tends only to evildoing.
For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait and hope and look for the Lord [in the end] shall inherit the earth. [Isa. 57:13c.] (Psalm 37:1-9 AMP)
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Psalm 37 thoughts…..
Commands:
Do not fret (v.1 and 7 and 8))
Trust (v. 3 and 5) and do good
Dwell (v. 3) feed on His faithfulness
Delight (v. 4)
Commit (v. 5)
Rest (v. 7), wait patiently. Fret not
Cease from anger. Forsake wrath. Do not fret (v. 8)
Wait (v.7)
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Turning FRET
Into REST
Fretting is based in FEAR. Fear is a lack of TRUST, lack of security and safety in God.
What causes fear? Why do we worry and fret?
Perfect love casts out fear.
If we love God, we TRUST Him, we COMMIT everything to Him, we feel safe, and secure, and we REST. That’s where we DWELL, in that land, where we feed on His faithfulness. We DELIGHT in Him, because of His history of faithfulness and so our desires are fulfilled in a way nothing else can fulfill them.
Look at the words FRET and REST. Remember those puzzles where you turn one word into another word, one letter at a time?
What is the difference between the two words, fret and rest? The letter F and the letter S. How can we turn that F into an S? How do we turn fretting into resting?
I always think about the old English written language where S was often written as an F
F —> S
F stands for Fear —> S stands for Safety, security
Take the F out of Fret, and replace it with S for safety and security, and so the word FRET, rearranged, turns into the word REST
Fretting or worrying, is likely to bring anger or wrath, perhaps jealousies (envy) but resting brings peace and content.
In resting, we learn to WAIT, and to wait patiently.
In resting, we are secure.
Fretting is turned into resting!
BEAUTIFUL!
AJ ❤ ❤ ❤
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Very nice application, Ann. In the flesh, it is very difficult to turn Fret into Rest, but not only can it be done through the Holy Spirit, but God insists on it! A good accompanying passage to Psalm 37 is Philippians 4:6-7. Thanks for the encouraging words!
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Yes, those verses are favourites too…. 🙂
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Thanks for YOUR encouragement! 🙂
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