Great Inheritance

DEVOTION

PSALMS

GREAT INHERITANCE

Ps 37:10-17

10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. 11 But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.

12 The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; 13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.

14 The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. 15 But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.

16 Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; 17 for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.

NIV

Again we see a contrast between the wicked and the righteous. It would be good to remember the definition of each of these types as according to the Lord. The wicked are defined as those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The righteous are those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Just because someone has not or yet accepted Jesus does not always make them a bad person. It does mean they live their life based on worldly concepts, putting their own interests as the central theme of their efforts. Even those who do great humanitarian works, accept the praise of men for what appears as their selfless acts. People praising people seems to be the way of the wicked. They have pride in their own accomplishments, their own achievements, and their own intelligence as well as their success and wealth. But the fact is their day is coming, their end is in sight. God will not allow them access into his rest, unless of course they repent and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. But it seems an impossibility as long as they remain prideful. The righteous understand the need to be humble. They understand God has provided everything needed for life. All that we are, all that we have, and all that we do are a result of God having started a good work in us and it is he who is bringing the work to completion. Because we are meek, the humble, the gentle in mind will inherit the land, or earth. This is talking about the new creation, the new earth, the new heaven and the new city of Jerusalem. We will delight ourselves in the abundance of peace, as the Hebrew words state it. The wicked will not know such peace, much less any abundance of it. They might try to strike out against those us of who are the righteous, but all their efforts will actually destroy themselves. We see believers all over the world experiencing persecution at the hands of the wicked. Some of the wicked are even doing it in the name of their god or gods. Those of us who live in a free county, may not be murdered because of our faith, but there are still the wicked who try to have God removed from our country. There are those who would ridicule us for having faith in God. They laugh under their breath because we trust God. They think we are weak-minded. One ex-wrestler, ex-Governor even stated that Christians are weak-minded people who use Christianity as a crutch.  One individual wrote that the strong-minded rise to the challenge of their dreams, the weak-minded become haters. There is a general sense within the world of the wicked, they are strong and we are weak. There is another plot at foot as well, they attempt to discredit God, because they do not want to be held accountable for their lifestyle. If there is no God, then there is no consequence for their actions. But God will bring all them to ruin, he will not allow them to come into his rest and have peace. Their own bows, their own swords are their own death. But God will uphold the righteous, he will uphold us and keep us. Our faith will not be shaken, our feet are set on solid ground, our belief in Jesus Christ is firm and established and witnessed to by the indwelling of the Spirit within us. The wicked might believe they have the truth about life, but we know we have the truth, not just about this life, but about eternal life, which we began the day we believed. Thank you Jesus. We have a great inheritance.