¹Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. ²For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. ³Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. ⁴Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. ⁵Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. ⁶He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.

Part lament and part wisdom, this psalm has been a help to many believers. The first six verses sound like they are lifted out of the book of Proverbs. Nine terse, poignant instructions make this passage memorable; two are negative, and seven are positive. Not so much commands, they convey the advice of David, a man known for his godliness and proven character. We must not mistake the apparent overlap in meanings and the seemingly minor differences in each as simply the stylistic license of a poet. David was a man of his word and chose his words carefully. These nine points of advice are worthy of closer examination.

Things we should not do:

Do not fret. Who among us doesn’t fret at times? The underlying Hebrew term carries the connotation of “to heat oneself in vexation” (BDB), not simply a hand-wringing worry. The idea is that of a kindling precursor to anger, an emotional burning within us, mainly when there is little or nothing we can do about the cause of the offense. At times, we become agitated by people who do horrible or malicious things against us. This can result in useless worry or endlessly regurgitating events and conversations in our minds, imagining how we might respond, retort or retaliate—which do nothing more than waste our emotional energy. David’s advice is to stop fretting!

Be not envious. Why would we be envious of “wrongdoers?” Because they seem to have the upper hand in life, particularly over us or our loved ones. We should never wish to trade places with them, for, as verse 2 teaches, their successes and victories will be short-lived, like grass that fades in the heat.

Things we should focus on

Trust in the Lord. While we are to avoid certain things in life that we ought not to do (like not fretting or being envious), we should give more attention to the things we ought to be doing. As Proverbs speaks of fearing the Lord, here is the active counterpart: trust in Him. We should rely on His Word and teaching to be true, but more fundamentally, we ought to put our highest faith and hope in Yahweh, the Lord, who always keeps His promises.

Do good. Our actions should reflect our trust, and we cannot say we trust God and then not desire in our hearts to do what is right. The two go hand in hand.

Dwell in the land. For the Jewish people, this advice was significant. God gave the land to Abraham and his descendants, the Jewish people. They lived under the constant threat from surrounding nations and people groups trying to drive them out of the land. They were to never flee in fear or defeat from what was promised; the land was theirs. Likewise, we should never abandon God’s promises to us, that He will never leave nor forsake us. He will strengthen us and give us peace, and the list of promises goes on. If we trust God and commit to doing good, we should keep holding on to God’s promises.

Cultivate faithfulness. Trusting God is not a one-time deal. To be sure, coming in faith for eternal salvation is singular, never needing to be repeated, but daily faithfulness is a lifestyle, a discipline that needs cultivating. The NET translates this as “maintain your integrity” and the NKJV “feed on His faithfulness.” It’s a farming term. We must tend to our faith so that it grows and develops, and doesn’t atrophy through non-use.

Delight yourself in the Lord. David loved the Word of God (see Psalm 119, for example) because it reflected on God, whom he trusted. He didn’t think of God as a tyrant but had a great affection for Him. And he invites us to join him in delighting in the Lord. How do we do that? We cultivate our relationship with Him by spending time with Him in conversation (reading His Word and praying), consciously bringing Him into our thoughts throughout the day, consulting with Him, and looking for His presence in what might seem to be the mundane things of life, thanking Him for His daily blessings, and the list goes on. David is not telling us to delight in our faith’s benefits but in God, who gives these benefits. Our motivation is not to get blessings; those are our rewards. Our motivation is to know and love God Himself.

The astounding promise here is that if we delight in Him, then He will give us the desires of our hearts. What a wonderful verse! In one sense, God is giving us a blank check—but it is conditioned on the impulse of our hearts. Because He knows that our delight is in Him, that the desires of our heart line up with His desires, He says, “Ask and it will be given to you” (Matt. 7:7). The apostle John, who likewise delighted in the Lord, recorded His words, “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” John himself later wrote, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14).

Commit your way to the Lord. Our future is in the Lord’s hands, and we should take each step in faith, purposing to act according to His will. As James teaches us, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit’ … Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that’” (James 4:15).

Trust also in Him. The passage now circles back to “trust” (same word as in verse 3), like a bookend. At the heart, the root, the foundation of all that we do, we must trust in the Lord.

Lord, I love You more than anything or anyone else. I desire to grow in my faith, so that my desires align more and more with Yours.