Daily Devotional For Sunday, May 10, 2026

Good morning and good day Southside! It is Mother’s Day and I pray you are honoring your mother as the Scriptures state in Exodus 20:12. Following the reading in the One Year Chronological Bible reading for today, May 10, we are looking at some more psalms David wrote. The Scripture I have chosen for us to meditate on for today comes from Psalm 37:7:

“Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for Him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes” (NLT).

It is so easy for us to get discouraged and frustrated at all the evil and sin in our world. It does seem at times that the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. It seems at times that injustice is the rule of the land and justice is . . . only a fleeting ideology and hope. If we are not careful, our attitude and actions can go “south” and turn to anger. That is David’s point in Psalm 37:8. There is righteous anger. God has righteous anger. Yet, the more evil, sin and injustices we see, we can let our righteous anger turn to unrighteous anger.

Some people will quote Psalm 37:7 and then wonder why they cannot get to this state of waiting patiently on the Lord. The main reason is they do not want to do what David has told us to do in the preceding verses of this psalm – trust in the Lord. Instead, we allow our unrighteous anger to cause us to envy the wicked as we see how much they do and get away with in life. This is the number one temptation David is addressing in this psalm. This is David’s point in Psalm 37:1, ”Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers” (NASB).

Why would we even get envious of wrongdoers? Because they seem so happy, successful and immune to punishment by our justice system. If we think too long and hard on this, we can then set ourselves up to start comparing ourselves to others – thinking they are much better off than we are. We think, “Being a Christian does not pay well but my friends seem to be bringing in the dividends left and right.” Let me give you a few examples:

• Take a godly teenage girl who dresses modestly. Maybe she is bullied or made fun of by other ungodly girls. They get the boys and all and all she gets is mocking. She could allow anger to burn in her heart against her parents for making her dress modestly. Therefore, out of envy, she might be vulnerable to start dressing and acting like the other girls to be accepted and to get the boys.
• Adults are no different. Maybe we see someone at work who is climbing the ladder of success faster than we are. They are deceitful and great at manipulating others with office politics. Therefore, we can get envious and angry wondering if we also should play the same game they are to succeed.
• Maybe you look at your friends who had a “mid-life” crisis and divorced their wives for unbiblical reasons. Now, they are married to a much younger wife. They seem happier than you and so you start wondering out of envy should you do the same thing. 
• Or consider the single godly young woman who wants to get married. All her friends have snagged the perfect husband, but only by sleeping with him prior to the wedding. Angry envy can cause you to think that maybe you should do the same thing.

How do we deal with this temptation? David tells us five times in this psalm – “those who wait for the Lord will inherit the land” (Psalm 37:9, 11, 22, 29, 34). This phrase “inherit the land” goes all the way back to the days of Moses and Joshua when God told His people to wait on them and they would inherit the Promised Land (Numbers 26:52-56 and Joshua 11:23).

David used this phrase as a metaphor for heaven. Why do I say that? God already used David to conquer the land, rid it of Israel’s enemies so that the people could inherit the land. They were already there. So, David was not referencing something the people already possessed – material land. He was referencing something they had yet to possess – their inheritance in heaven. The writer of Hebrews makes this same reference to Abraham in Hebrews 11:10. The Apostle Peter does the same thing in 1 Peter 1:3-4. 

The only way to fight the temptation of envious anger of the unrighteous is to keep looking towards heaven. David’s poetic skills are seen in this psalm. He had 22-units or verses that begin with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet in order. Trust is faith which keeps our eyes on the Lord no matter what our circumstances may be. When the devil throws at us a situation where the wicked seem to be better off than us, we should accept the Scripture the Holy throws at us to trust and meditate on in our hearts.

All of us are prone to cheap substitutes rather than waiting on the Lord and trusting Him. Former atheist and now Christian apologist C.S. Lewis writes this:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (Source: C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, p. 26).

In Psalm 37:5, David writes: “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you” (NLT). The Hebrew word translated as “commit” is [גָּלַל, gol} and it means “to roll, to roll away.” Author and pastor Charles Spurgon said, “Roll the burden of life upon the Lord” (Source: Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, p. 171). The Apostle Peter says something very similar in 1 Peter 5:7. In Psalm 37:7-8, David encourages us to refrain from anger when we see the wicked prospering. Why? Anger makes us vulnerable. Anger only leads to more anger.

Norm Evans was an all-pro tackle for the Miami Dolphins. He was on the famous 1972 team that went 14–0, the only perfect record in NFL history. He learned how important it is to keep your cool:

“It’s really dangerous for a pro football player to get angry. In fact, that’s when linemen sustain their most serious injuries. Anger is so harmful in football that if I can get an opposing lineman or end angry at me, he will concentrate on beating me and forget to attack the quarterback—and that’s my job, protecting the quarterback” (Tim LaHaye and Bob Phillips, Anger Is a Choice, pp, 19-20).

Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry and do not sin with your anger.”  That in itself is a huge challenge because our anger, especially our uncontrolled anger reveals more about us than the injustice we experienced or observed. 

Reflection Assignment: Do you ever get envious and jealous of the wicked and how it seems they prosper without penalty or punishment? Does your anger ever get the best of you in this? How do you typically respond to this? Do you keep your eyes turned to Jesus or do you feel the temptation to compromise as the unrighteous do? The biggest challenge in us trusting the Lord with this is ourselves – not the unrighteous or the wicked. When you look at yourself, what is in you that tempts you to “take matters into your own hands”?

Scripture To Meditate On: Psalm 37:28, 39-40, “For the Lord loves justice, and He will never abandon the godly . . . (39) The Lord rescues the godly; He is their fortress in times of trouble.(40) The Lord helps them, rescuing them from the wicked. He saves them, and they find shelter in Him” (NLT).

Prayer To Pray: “Lord, please rescue me from myself. I am my own worst enemy. I do not want to be driven by envious anger at the unrighteous. I want my anger to motivate me to honor You, not follow the path of the wicked. In faith, I trust You and only You. Help me to do what David encourages me to do – keep my eyes on the future promised blessings, not by comparing my present circumstances. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly