Copyright 2015 J. Neely
Psalm 37:25
25 I have been young [na`ar],
and now am old [zaqen]; yet have I not seen [ra'ah] the righteous [tsaddiyq]
forsaken [`azab], nor his seed [zera`] begging [baqash] bread [lechem]. KJV-Interlinear
25 I have been young, and now am old, yet I
have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. ESV
Many will
criticize this verse unfairly, because they do not read it correctly. The key
to this verse is in the word righteous, tsaddiya, which means just and lawful.
And, if on the one hand there are righteous people, then on the other hand, in
contrast, there are unrighteous people.
So the meaning of
this verse rests in the definition of the word righteous.
We have already
seen in other studies, that the word wicked applies to anyone who lives a
pattern of their life outside of God’s will.
That includes
believers and unbelievers alike.
Understanding how
it applies to unbelievers is easy, since they have not believed in Christ, and
therefore have not received credit for the righteousness of God, in their life.
Believers on the
other hand, have received the righteousness of God, but believers have
additional requirements, responsibilities, and obligations, to live their life
accordingly. And the pattern of their spiritual life, demands that they live
their life in accordance with God’s mandates for the spiritual life.
God’s mandates are
very simple. Once a person has believed in Christ they are saved forever. But
they are also expected to grow up in the spiritual life, which means their
spiritual life has to be a functional spiritual life. And a functional
spiritual life requires confession of sin in order to live in fellowship, which
is the environment in which the spiritual life functions.
The legal
requirements for righteousness or twofold. First the individual has to be saved
by believing in Christ. That is a given.
The second
requirement, is that they must advance to spiritual maturity, which is the
process of spiritual completion of one’s life.
Therefore, the
righteous person is one who has fulfilled or is pursuing both of these
prerequisites.
And this verse
applies to the believer who is advancing in their spiritual life.
David was old when
he wrote this Psalm. He had the advantage of hindsight and looking back on his
life, as well as the history of the people around him for the many decades
prior.
He saw the wealthy
and the poor. He saw those who were positive towards Bible doctrine, and God,
and the Savior, and the responsibilities and obligations expected from the
spiritual life. And he also saw those people who were negative towards Bible
doctrine, and God, and the Savior, and the responsibilities and obligations of
the spiritual life which they ignored or neglected, or took for granted.
Blessings pour out
from God onto spiritually advancing believer.
Therefore, if an
individual is positive towards God, positive towards Christ, positive towards
learning Bible doctrine through instruction, and is genuinely and legitimately
pursuing their spiritual life, without pretense and without a phony agenda,
then God’s blessing is on the menu for their life.
This does not mean
there won’t be hardships along the way, but this does mean that no matter what
the difficulties the spiritually mature believer encounters in life, then God
will provide for those difficulties and get them through them.
As for the
negative believer, then if that person chooses to live their life in the same
way that unbelievers live their life, then they have no right to expect
blessings from God, when they in fact ignore God.
The choice of how
your life will be is always up to you.
This is the devil’s
world. And you will face difficulties, trials, tribulations, burdens, and hard
times, sooner or later in your life.
With God, you will
have a way through any and all of them.
Without God, you
are on your own.
And you always
have the choice of which type of life you want to live.
These
studies are a part of the massive daily study web site at DailyBibeStudy.Org,
and are written, so that you can come to Christ if you have not done so
already, and therefore not be lost forever.
And
if you have already believed in Christ, then these studies are written so you
can learn and understand and grow in your spiritual life, so that you can come
to the full knowledge of Christ, so that you can fulfill your meaning and
purpose in life as God intended for you, and so you can qualify for a
phenomenal eternal reward which you will have forever. To ignore this opportunity to pursue a daily
study means you will be incomplete, unfulfilled and you will lose out, big
time.
The
Daily Bible Study is online, making it possible as never before in all of human
history, to advance in ones relationship with God, through Christ, and to
complete yourself beyond your imagination.
But
you have to decide to make that commitment.
No one else can study for you.
You have to do that yourself.
