Worrying about the Wicked

Scripture Reading: Psalm 37:1-13

Fret not yourself; it only tends toward evil.

The kind of worrying the Psalmist has in mind here is that which is provoked by the prosperity of the wicked. There is a kind of mental anguish we can inflict on ourselves due to the injustice we perceive in wicked people getting away with wicked things and having a good life while doing so.

We can lose sight of how things will work out in the end. That is not to suggest we shouldn’t pursue justice and righteousness now as far and as much as it is possible, things being what they are. It is not to say we throw up our hands in frustration and feel that any attempt to speak the truth and seek what is right is futile. But it is a warning against crossing over a line in which we see that things aren’t getting sorted out, so we seek to sort them out ourselves in ways that are themselves immoral and unjust.

That is the point of the first half of this verse which says, “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath…” We can become so filled with fretfulness over the injustices we see in this world that we take matters into our own hands in a way that is in itself evil. We embrace the kind of violence that makes us like the very people who have so enraged us to begin with.

The way to avoid that outcome is to learn to be at peace in this crooked world without being at peace with it. Don’t let yourself fret over things in a way that tends toward evil. If you ask how, one thing you can do to overcome the kind of fretting that tends toward evil is to have faith in the justice of God, which is another way of saying, “have faith in God. Having faith in God means, at least in part, you have faith that He is just, and justice will be served. The way the Psalmist put it is “for the evildoers shall be cut off…in just a little while, the wicked will be no more…” (verse 9).

Worry, even worry about wickedness and injustice, is rooted in unbelief. Worry is believing bad things about God. No, we wouldn’t put it that way, but that is what we are doing. We, by our fretting, are testifying that we don’t believe God is going to set everything right. And that is saying something really bad about Him. It is a false witness. It isn’t true. But it is what we are saying without saying it aloud.

What is true is God is just. No sin goes unpunished. Every deed will be accounted for. Which really ought to make us sweat. More than that, it ought to make us flee as fast as we can to the cross of Christ to put ourselves under His blood to receive His grace and mercy. There is forgiveness there. You see, every sin is dealt with either at the cross or the judgment throne. Either it is nailed to the cross with Christ, or we are nailed for it in the end.

So, we don’t have to fret about it. “In just a little while, the wicked will be no more.” “The Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.” We’d be better served to laugh with the Lord than to worry about the wicked.