Commentary - Psalm 37:5-6

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 37 is a wisdom psalm, an acrostic poem that contrasts the way of the righteous with the way of the wicked. The central theme is an exhortation to the righteous to trust in God and not to fret because of evildoers who seem to prosper. David, writing in his old age, provides a long-term perspective: the wicked will be cut off, but those who wait for Yahweh will inherit the land. Our specific passage, verses 5-6, is the heart of this counsel. It moves from the internal disposition of trust to the external action of commitment, promising that God will act to vindicate His people. The structure is a command followed by a promise, a pattern common in Scripture. Commit, trust, and He will act. The result of this divine action is the public manifestation of the believer's righteousness, as clear and undeniable as the sun at noon.

This passage is a direct assault on the anxiety and envy that so easily beset believers when they look at the world through a worldly lens. The command is to roll your way onto the Lord, a very physical and decisive image. This is not a passive waiting but an active entrusting of one's entire life path, with all its troubles and uncertainties, into the hands of a sovereign and good God. The promise is that God will not be a passive recipient of this trust. He will do it, He will bring about His purposes, and in so doing, He will bring the believer's righteous standing into the light for all to see.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 37 sits within the first book of the Psalter. It is one of several wisdom psalms that reflect themes found in the book of Proverbs. The psalm's acrostic structure (each stanza beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) suggests a carefully composed piece intended for meditation and memorization. Its primary purpose is pastoral: to encourage faithfulness in the face of the apparent success of the wicked. This was a significant theological problem for the saints of the Old Testament, as it is for us today. Why do the wicked prosper? David's answer is consistent throughout: their prosperity is a mirage, a temporary state that will end in judgment. The righteous, in contrast, have a future and an inheritance secured by Yahweh Himself. Verses 5-6 are a focal point, providing the practical mechanism for enduring this tension: active, decisive trust in God, who is not just an observer but the great Actor in history.

Key Issues

Beginning: The Great Exchange

The core of our text is a transaction, a great exchange. We are called to give something to God, and He, in turn, promises to do something for us. What do we give Him? We "commit" or "roll" our way onto Him. This is the path we are on, our life's journey with all its burdens, anxieties, plans, and failures. It is the sum total of our circumstances. We are to take this entire bundle and, with a heave of faith, roll it onto the shoulders of Yahweh. This is not a suggestion to try; it is a command to do. It is the practical outworking of what it means to cast your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you (1 Pet. 5:7).

What does God do? "He will do it." And what is "it"? He will act. He will accomplish His will in our circumstances. And as a necessary consequence of His action, He will vindicate us. He will bring our "righteousness" to light. This is not our own, self-generated righteousness, which is nothing but filthy rags. It is the righteousness that is ours by faith, the righteousness that comes from God. In the Old Testament context, this referred to one's righteous cause, one's innocence in a particular dispute. In the fuller light of the gospel, we see it as the imputed righteousness of Christ. God promises to demonstrate publicly that those who trust in Him are indeed His own, and their standing before Him is as secure and bright as the noonday sun.

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

Psalm 37:5

Commit your way to Yahweh, Trust in Him, and He will do it.

Commit your way to Yahweh... The Hebrew word for "commit" is galal, which literally means to roll. Imagine a man carrying a massive, burdensome stone that is far too heavy for him. The command is to roll that stone over onto someone else, someone who is able to bear it. This is not a delicate placement; it is an act of desperation and trust. Our "way" is our entire life's course. It's your career, your family, your finances, your sicknesses, your conflicts, your future. The psalmist tells us to take the whole tangled mess and roll it onto the Lord. This is a decisive act of abdication. You are ceasing to manage your own life, to be the master of your own fate, and you are handing the reins over to God. This is the opposite of the anxious striving that characterizes the world. It is the foundational act of faith.

Trust in Him... This clause explains the internal disposition that must accompany the external act of commitment. You don't roll your burdens onto someone you don't trust. Trust, or batach in Hebrew, means to be confident in, to feel safe with. It is the settled conviction that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He has promised to do. This is not a blind leap. It is a trust founded upon the character of God as revealed in His covenant faithfulness. We trust Him because He is trustworthy. We commit our way to Him because He is the sovereign Lord of all ways. The two actions are intertwined; the commitment is the expression of the trust.

and He will do it. Here is the glorious, rock-solid promise. The Hebrew is emphatic: vehu ya'aseh. And He, He Himself, will act. God is not a passive spectator in our lives. When we entrust our way to Him, He takes it up. He works. He accomplishes. He brings things to pass. The verse does not specify what He will do in minute detail, and this is crucial. We are not promised that He will make us rich, or that He will remove all our troubles. We are promised something far better: that He will act according to His perfect will and for His ultimate glory, which is always for our ultimate good (Rom. 8:28). This is the essence of resting in the sovereignty of God.

Psalm 37:6

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light... This is the result of God's action. The world, and often our own hearts, will slander and accuse us. Our motives are questioned, our character is maligned. The wicked seem to get away with their schemes, while the righteous suffer unjustly. But God promises a day of vindication. He will "bring forth" your righteousness. It is currently hidden, obscured by the fog of this fallen world, but He will cause it to dawn. It will shine like the light of the morning. This righteousness is, fundamentally, the believer's right standing with God through faith. In a practical sense, it is also the believer's just cause. God will show that your trust in Him was not misplaced. He will clear your name.

And your judgment as the noonday. The metaphor intensifies. Not only will your righteousness be brought into the light, but your "judgment", meaning your just cause, the verdict in your case, will be as clear as the sun at its highest point. At noonday, there are no shadows. Everything is exposed and seen with perfect clarity. This is the nature of God's vindication. It will not be ambiguous. It will be public, undeniable, and absolute. While we may experience foretastes of this vindication in this life, the ultimate fulfillment looks forward to the final judgment, when God will settle all accounts and the righteousness of His people, clothed as they are in the righteousness of Christ, will shine before the entire created order. On that day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and the wisdom of those who trusted in Him will be plain for all to see.

Key Words

Galal, "Commit" or "Roll"

Galal is a verb that conveys a very physical action. It's used for rolling stones (Gen. 29:3) or rolling away a reproach (Josh. 5:9). In this Psalm, it is used metaphorically to command a complete and total transfer of one's burdens, plans, and life-path to God. It is not a partial offering but a wholesale surrender. It pictures the believer ceasing to strive in his own strength and decisively placing the entire weight of his life upon the all-sufficient shoulders of Yahweh.

Tsedeq, "Righteousness"

The Hebrew word tsedeq and its relatives are central to the Bible's teaching on our relationship with God. It means righteousness, justice, or having a right standing. In a legal context, it means innocence or a just cause. In this verse, it refers to the true moral character and just cause of the believer, which is often hidden or slandered in the world. God promises to bring this righteousness out into the open, to vindicate His people. In the New Testament, this concept is fulfilled and deepened in the doctrine of justification by faith, where believers are clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ.

Application

The application of this text is profoundly simple and yet a lifelong challenge. First, we are commanded to stop carrying our own burdens. Your anxiety is a form of pride; it is the assumption that you are in control and that your fretting can somehow alter the outcome. The command to "commit your way" is a command to repent of this self-reliance. Take a specific inventory of your anxieties, your job, your children, your health, the state of the nation, and one by one, roll them onto the Lord. Do it today. Do it again tomorrow.

Second, we must cultivate a settled trust in the God who acts. Our faith is not in a static principle but in a living, active, and sovereign Person. When you commit your way to Him, you must believe that He has taken it and is working all things for your good. This means you can rest. You can be still and know that He is God. Your circumstances may not change overnight, but your relationship to them does. They are no longer your problem to solve; they are His.

Finally, we must live in the confident hope of our final vindication. The world may misunderstand you. You may be slandered. You may lose in the courts of men. But the final verdict has not yet been read. God will have the last word, and on that day, His judgment will be as clear as the noonday sun. Your righteousness in Christ will be revealed, and your faith will be shown to be the wisest course of action imaginable. Therefore, do not fret because of evildoers. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and wait for the dawn.