Thursday, April 20, 2017

Cheaters Never Win?

While researching for Tuesday's blog, Be Still, I came across Psalm 37.  I was looking for the Bible verse "Be still and know that I am God." That's Psalm 46:10. The concordance (the part in the back of your Bible that helps you find verses.)  showed 3 verses contained the word still. The first listing says "Be still before the LORD and wait" Psalm 37:10.  I feel like I'm in a season of waiting for the LORD to show me my next move so my curiosity was piqued.

What I found in Psalm 37 was a very practical how to guide on handling yourself with the bad guys are winning.  It wasn't the verse I had been looking for but it was the word I needed from the LORD.  Isn't God amazing?

We all come upon people in our lives who are doing things all wrong.  They cheat. They lie.  They steal.  They treat people awfully.  They don't own their mistakes.  They are downright mean.

And yet...

They seem to be prospering.  They get the promotion. They buy a bigger house.  They drive a better car.

As a Christian, I'm often torn in these situation.  My brain knows that God has a plan for me.  A plan to prosper me and not harm me (Jeremiah 29:11).  I even know the old saying "cheaters never win".  So what to do when it seems like cheaters are winning?

The verse that the concordance pointed me to was 37:10


Stay in your own lane.  Keep your eyes on your own paper.  Worry about yourself.  That's what to do when it seems like cheaters are winning.  Be still and let God be God.

Kids love to tattle and get in each other's business.  They aren't generally sneaky about it either.  A couple of weeks ago, I had a kid tattle on another one then 10 minutes later come back to ask what I'd done about it.  I gave him my classic line on such matters: "When that's your business, I'm gonna let you know."

Isn't that what God is telling us here?  "When you need to worry about, I'm gonna let you know"

Instead we are to keep our eyes on our own paper.  Stay in our lane.  Do the work God has given you to do.  Let Him work out the rest.  Remember the old Steven Curtis Chapman song "God is God".  There's a line in the song that says God is God and I am not.

That's the key - remembering that God is God and I am not.  And that's what Psalm 37 is trying to teach us to do.  It's full of practical advice on how to trust God and let Him work.

For a great article about all of Psalm 37 and how to let God be God, read this

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