Psalm 37:12-17 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

12The wicked scheme against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them,
13but the Lord laughs,
seeing that their day is coming.

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

16Better is the little of the righteous
than the abundance of many who are wicked.
17For the arms of the wicked will be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.

The Righteous Cast Aside

Whoever told you that life will be fair? It isn’t! Many people who lie, cheat, steal, and trick others are often raised up and worshipped almost as though they are next to God, while those who serve the Lord with their lives, in truth and in righteousness, are often devalued, mistreated, misunderstood, and rejected. Those who manipulate and charm others to their own advantage often win the hearts of the people, while those who speak truth to the people, for their good, are often cast aside as unwanted and rejected.

Now, those who are truly wicked will scheme against the righteous if the righteous (in God’s eyes) are interfering in any way with what the wicked are doing against God. For example, many wicked people are posing as pastors of “churches,” and they are teaching lies to the people, and they are turning the gatherings of “the house of God,” his temple, the church, the body of Christ, into businesses being marketed to the people of the world. So they are diluting the gospel message to attract the world to their gatherings.

So, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ who takes God and his word to heart, to obey it, and so you follow the instructions of the Lord in his word, and so you are exposing the fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are, and you are revealing the lies which are being taught as truth, and so you are teaching the truth of the gospel, as opposed to the lies, then the liars and deceivers are bound to come after you to attack you and to try to discredit you so people will not listen to you, but will listen to the liars.

They Draw the Sword

If the wicked who are trying to win the hearts of the people, or who are trying to get the sympathies of the people so that the people will listen to them, feel in any way that the truly righteous are a threat to their popularity or to their ability to win the people over to their side, they may “draw their swords,” i.e. they may go on an all out attack against the righteous to bring them down in the eyes of the people so that the people will hate or distrust or reject them and their teachings. And some of them are succeeding.

So many people today who profess faith in Jesus Christ are rejecting the gospel message as Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught it, when taught in the correct biblical context, and not out of context. For they taught that faith in Jesus Christ, if it is genuine biblical faith, will result in us denying self, dying to sin daily (in practice), and us following our Lord in walks of surrender to him in obedience to his commands, in practice, by the grace of God, in the power of God, and for the will and purpose of God.

But the wicked have twisted the gospel message to teach that all God requires of us who profess faith in Jesus Christ is an acknowledgement of Christ and who he was and is, and what he did for us via his death and resurrection. So many are teaching that we don’t have to die to sin (repent), and we don’t have to obey God’s commands, for they call that “works salvation.” Or some of them will teach repentance and obedience as recommended, but as optional, and not critical to one’s salvation from sin.

They Slay the Upright

But they don’t stop there with counteracting the truth of the gospel with the lies of the enemy. Many of them will go on the all-out attack against those who are following the Lord to try to discredit them or to make others hate and reject them because they are believing the lies about them. So the wicked are not content with just destroying the gospel, and thus the lives of those who believe the lie, but they want to destroy the righteous who are following the Lord so that the people will reject them and not listen to them.

So, if we are being attacked for speaking the truth to the people about sin, and concerning the lies being taught as truth, because we are exposing the lies and the liars for what they are, while we are proclaiming the truth of what the Scriptures teach (in context), then we are in good company. For that is what the prophets of the Old Testament and Jesus Christ and his apostles faced, and what his followers have faced since then when they spoke or speak the truth to the people that the people do not want to hear.

So, the perspective that our Lord wants us to have about all this, when and if we are being persecuted in this way, and when others are believing lies about us, and so they are rejecting us, is that the little that we do have is better than the abundance of the wicked who will die in their sins, and who will not have eternal life with God, because they believed the lies and not the truth, and because they taught the lies and not the truth to the people. It’s better to be rejected by humans than to be rejected by God for eternity.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Life is Not Fair!
An Original Work / July 28, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Weary of Heart

Based off Isaiah 40
An Original Work / January 23, 2016
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

You who bring the Good News,
Lift up your voice.
Do not fear. Shout it out:
“Here is your God!”
The sovereign Lord comes
With power and strength.
He gathers His tender lambs
In His arms.

Lift up your eyes and look:
“Who made all things?”
God, our creator knows
All about you.
Your cause is not
Disregarded by God.
He will not leave;
He’ll not abandon you.

When you are troubled
And weary of heart,
Trust the Lord with your life.
Do not despair.
He will empower you;
Strengthen within.
Soar on wings like eagles,
Walk and not faint.