Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Nothing to Prove | The Writings | Psalm 37

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

Are you tired from trying to keep up? Can you do it all? Studying the Bible like a pastor, working out like a Peloton instructor, and dressing like a fashion influencer. In today's episode, Tanya shares hope in Psalm 37 to break this exhausting cycle. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 37

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. So my day had gotten a little out of control. It looked like this. Wake up and do the quiet time and read the books like a pastor that I follow that I really admire. Read the same books, definitely. Do the workout routine with the girl on the Peloton.

Eat the high-protein breakfast the nutritionist said is good to maintain weight. put on my makeup like the girl on Instagram and then curl my hair like the viral TikTok video my girls showed me the other day. Wear the clothes that don't make me look like I was born in my actual decade. And that was all before 8 a.m. Time with the Lord. Got it. Learn something new. Yep. Burned some calories. Check. Dressed like everyone on the planet while still expressing myself, working on it. The only problem is that I was doing all of these things or at least some of them to prove to myself I was as good as all the people I admire. But I'm not a pastor.

I'm a mom. And sometimes with people that live right here in this house like to eat breakfast and chat in the mornings. And I'm not a Peloton instructor. I don't live in New York. I don't have to wear blue leggings for a photo shoot. So I don't need to worry so much about looking good in those. I started thinking about this because our church was in the middle of a study on Luke.

And in chapter five of Luke, the devil takes Jesus into the desert. And the devil tries to tempt him with things that sound really appealing, at least to us. Food, because he hadn't eaten in 40 days and power and authority. But the devil wasn't deceiving Jesus. Rather, the devil himself was deceived. Jesus already had every single thing the devil was trying to tempt him with. And then the Bible says that we have what Jesus has. It says that when we surrender to Jesus, we receive God's promises for eternal life.

In Psalm 37, it's called an inheritance, an abundance and a heritage. It says the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. And it says, the Lord knows the days of the blameless and their heritage will remain forever. They are not put to shame in evil times. In the days of famine, they have abundance. And it says the righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever. And then in the New Testament, Jesus taught that He is the way that this promise is fulfilled. In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

I don't know about you, but I've always wondered about that meek thing. How do I get there? He says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. And then Jesus explained in John 6 that He, he, eat is the bread of life, and whoever comes to him will never be hungry or thirsty. On the other hand, the enemy is constantly trying to deceive us, so we think we have to go out there and prove ourselves. So we take the best of everything, from close to business strategy, to the way we speak and the way we look and we become a hodgepodge of the best fads and practices

of the 2020s. I've been thinking, though, about how I really have nothing to prove, and I'm working on shifting my mindset into waking up and remembering that I don't have to prove anything today. How far removed are we from God's promises, and how do we get back to being okay with who we are, where we are, what we can afford, what we need to do today, and how to do it out of love instead of selfish ambition. The Israelites who first sang Psalm 37 together were under serious scrutiny from the people who didn't follow God's law. See, the Israelites were the minority, and instead of it looking like God was blessing them for obeying him, it seemed as if the ungodly were the ones having the cultural and financial success.

David is the likely author of this Psalm, and it's written from his later years, when he had the perspective of an old man. It seems like he'd seen the fads come and go. He watched people rise and fall, and then he was more certain than ever that the only thing worth hanging on to were the promises of God. In Psalm 37, there's one way to live where we fret and another way to live where we trust, delight, and do good. Frette is a constant state of anxiety or worry. It's probably the state we live in a lot of the time because we forget.

about our true inheritance. Frat is a result of thinking we have something to prove all the time. How can I prove to myself that I'm good enough? And how can I prove to the world that I'm all the things I'm trying to show that I am, smart, kind, trendy, funny? So instead of trusting and delighting and doing good because we can, we're fretting about what everyone else is doing and trying to make sure we can keep up. The psalmist says, fret not yourself because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. It's not just a recommendation,

but a command to turn away from fret and envy and toward the promises of the Lord. The things we think everyone else has and the things we think we need to be happy are a lie, and they fade like the grass. But when we delight ourselves in the Lord, or in other words, when we believe that he's better than anything else, then we really will be content. How might your life be different if you woke up remembering that you have been given much, but have nothing to prove. Would it change the way you feel? Would it change the way you

speak? Would it change the way you spend your time or your money or your attention? We get in the way of our own peace and delight when we think we have something to prove. Will you take time today, right now perhaps, to talk to God about what you think you have to prove today? Tell him what it is and why you think you think it's important. Ask God to turn your eyes away from things that lie to you about their importance and ask him to help you see the beauty of his promises for an inheritance that cannot fade, whither, be lost, or taken away.