March 27, 2019

Do not fret because of evil men 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; … and enjoy safe pasture.
—Psalm 37:1–3

Do not envy [evil men].57 Do not be troubled at their prosperity.
Do not imitate them. Do not by their happiness be provoked to practice the same wickedness to arrive to the same prosperity.
Do not be not sinfully impatient and do not quarrel with God because he has not allowed you the same measures of prosperity. Do not accuse him of injustice and cruelty because he afflicts the good and is indulgent to the wicked. Leave him to dispense his blessings according to his own mind.
Do not condemn the way of piety and religion. Do not think the worse of your profession because it is attended with affliction. The happiness [of the wicked] has no stability. It has, like grass, more of color and show than strength and substance. Grass nods this way and that with every wind. The mouth of a beast may pull it up, or the foot of a beast may tread it down; the scorching sun in summer or the fainting sun in winter will deface its complexion.
[Rather, have] faith. Trust in the Lord. This is a grace most fit to quell such impatience. The stronger the faith, the weaker the passion. Impatient motions are signs of a flagging faith. Many times people are ready to cast off their help in Jehovah and address to the God of Ekron multitudes of friends or riches. But trust in the Lord, in the promises of God, in the providence of God.
Obedience. Do good. Trust in God’s promises and observance of his precepts must be linked together. It is but a pretended trust in God where there is a walking in the paths of wickedness. Let not the glitter of the world render you faint and feeble in a course of piety.
The keeping our station. Do good. Because the wicked flourish, do not therefore hide in a corner, but keep your sphere, run your race. “And enjoy safe pasture.” Because people delight in that in which they trust, [turn] from all other objects of delight to God as the true object. “Delight yourself in the LORD”; place all your pleasure and joy in him. Trust is the spring of joy and of supplication. When we trust him for sustenance and preservation, we will receive them; so when we delight in seeking him, we will be answered by him.
—Stephen Charnock