Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
While in some ways, our world today is very different than the world of ancient Israel in the Old Testament, in other ways, it is very similar. Evil finds fertile ground to prosper. The strong and powerful take advantage of the weak. The righteous often suffer at the hands of the wicked.
But rather than despair at the injustice in the world and the power of wicked people, the psalmist here gives us some good advice. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” Don’t get all worked up over all the evil you see in the world. Trust instead in God. Trust him to take care of you. And trust him to deal with the evil in the world. He is God and will deal with that evil in his own time.
Twice in these three verses, the psalmist tells us not to fret. The word translated here as fret means “to get angry, be angry” (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary). This is the same word we find in Jonah 4:1, where Jonah became angry over the repentance of Nineveh and God’s sparing them.
Why not? Because that can often lead to responding with even more evil. That does not mean that we should passively sit by while evil prospers. If we have the opportunity to make a difference, by all means, do so. But do it in a godly and God-honoring way. Don’t respond in anger. Remember that “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (Jam. 1:20). Respond instead in love. And trust that God will reward “those who wait on the Lord” and that “evildoers shall be cut off.”
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