Recently my family went through a difficult season of trial that we didn’t ask for, one that felt like a personal attack, and was completely wrong and unfair. As the people leading the attack spread lies and half-truths, I felt anxious, fearful, and helpless. I felt like a caged animal whose freedom had been taken away. Trapped with nowhere to go. We struggled with what to do? What do we do when people treat us in wicked and evil ways?
As we struggled through our situation, God gave us Psalm 37. In this Psalm, King David reflected on the unfairness of wickedness and evil. He mentions the word wicked or evil over ten times in the psalm, reflecting on how he felt evil people seemed to prosper in their wrongdoings. His lament of the evil in the world reminds us that no one is immune to it. Not kings. Not even Christians. But even as he reflected on the injustice, he also provided us a better way to handle difficult seasons of life. The way of freedom. Psalm 37:1-6 says:
Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.
Do not fret. Trust God. Do good. Commit your way to the Lord. This is the way of freedom. We cannot control other people’s actions, but regardless of what they do, we always have freedom in Christ to trust God and do good. We always have the freedom to honor him in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, even if it doesn’t make sense or seems unfair to us at the time.
When I was going through my season of trial and the anxious feelings would threaten to consume me, I would take a deep breath and remind myself to trust God and do good. I would ask God, “How can I honor you in this situation?” No one can take away my freedom to trust in my loving God and to do good for my fellow man.
As time passed and through a lot of prayer, the situation finally resolved itself. Eventually I could look back and see how God had worked in all the details, as I committed to trusting him and taking opportunities to do good to others, even those who seemed to be against me.
This situation may now be in the past, but the lesson of how to walk in freedom in Christ through difficult seasons has stuck with me. The more I focus on honoring and trusting God and focus less on all the wrong in the world, the more freedom I have to serve those in this broken world.
I no longer live shackled by fear, anger, and resentment. I learned how to give the things I did not have control over to God. Not just injustice, but the daily struggles I have. I have learned to give over the anxiety of the daily things I worry about such as my kids, friends, community, and church. With no longer carrying the heavy burden of worry, I am now free to trust God and work on living a life that honors him. As I walk in that freedom, I find a peace that is beyond understanding and I can better see how God is working in my life.
That is the irony of having freedom in Christ. The more you surrender to God, the more freedom you have. Because of Christ, you can give up trying to live up to the world’s expectations, and instead begin to find value in Him. In Christ you can give up carrying burdens that are not yours to carry, and instead you begin to trust them to your all-powerful God who works good for those who love Him.
With each thing you surrender to God, you walk more and more in your freedom in Christ. You are free to do good no matter what comes, because you know that no matter what the world says or does to us, God loved us enough to send His only son to die for us. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, we now have the gift of the Holy Spirit, which means God is always walking with us, even in the valleys. In those valleys, God gives us freedom to lean on Him to strengthen our faith and empower us to continue to do good for His glory.
What can we take from Psalm 37? The destructive power of evil and wickedness has always been burning and sometimes we get caught up in it. We can let it consume us or we can fight it. We can fight it by living in the freedom God has given us to trust Him and continue to do good to the glory of God. Whatever situation you find yourself in right now, may you find freedom to continue in faith to trust God and do good!
