Commentary - Psalm 37:12-13

Bird's-eye view

This short passage provides a snapshot of a central biblical theme: the stark contrast between the frantic, impotent rage of the wicked and the serene, sovereign laughter of God. The entire psalm is a wisdom psalm, an acrostic poem designed to counsel the righteous not to fret over the apparent prosperity of evildoers. These two verses distill the reason for this godly patience into a powerful diptych. On one side, we see the wicked man, consumed with malice, plotting and gnashing his teeth like a caged animal. His fury is personal, intense, and immediate. On the other side, we see the Lord enthroned in the heavens, observing this spectacle not with alarm, but with laughter. This is not the laughter of frivolity, but the laughter of absolute authority and foreknowledge. God laughs because He sees the end of the story. He knows the "day" of the wicked is already on the calendar and rapidly approaching. The passage is therefore a profound encouragement to the saints to adopt God's long-term perspective and to trust in His ultimate, inevitable justice.

In essence, David is pulling back the curtain of ordinary providence to show us the spiritual reality behind the headlines. From our vantage point, the wicked seem powerful, their threats are real, and their hatred is palpable. But from Heaven's vantage point, their most furious efforts are a ridiculous charade, a prelude to their own certain doom. The believer is called to live in light of that revealed, heavenly perspective, not the deceptive, ground-level appearance of things.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 37 is an extended meditation on the age-old problem of the prosperity of the wicked and the afflictions of the righteous. Unlike some psalms that are raw, emotional cries from the midst of suffering, this one has the settled, didactic tone of a seasoned teacher, likely David in his old age (v. 25). It is an acrostic, with each stanza beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which gives it a sense of completeness and deliberate instruction. The psalm repeatedly contrasts the fate of the righteous, who will "inherit the land," with the fate of the wicked, who will be "cut off" and "be no more." Our two verses (12-13) fit squarely in the middle of this argument, providing one of the sharpest contrasts in the entire poem. They serve as a theological anchor for the practical advice given throughout: "Fret not," "Trust in the Lord," "Delight yourself in the Lord," "Commit your way to the Lord," "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him." These commands are not based on wishful thinking, but on the bedrock reality described in our text: God is not worried about the wicked, and therefore, neither should we be.

Key Issues

The Divine Comedy

We live in a world that takes itself far too seriously. More specifically, the wicked take themselves and their rebellion against God with deadly seriousness. They believe their own press. They think their political machinations, their cultural subversions, and their hatred of the righteous are weighty, significant matters that are shaping the future of the world. And from a human perspective, it often looks that way. Their plots cause real harm, and their gnashing teeth can be genuinely intimidating.

But the Bible invites us to see the whole affair from a different seat. God is in the heavens, and from that vantage point, the most fearsome conspiracy of men is a laughable absurdity. As Psalm 2 tells us, when the kings of the earth set themselves against the Lord and His Anointed, "He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision." This is not the laughter of someone who is unconcerned with the suffering of His people. Rather, it is the laughter of a sovereign who has already written the final act of the play. He knows that all the strutting and fretting of the wicked is just a setup for the final punchline, which is their own destruction and the vindication of His people. The wicked think they are in a grand tragedy, with themselves as heroic rebels. God knows they are in a divine comedy, and they are the fools.

Verse by Verse Commentary

12 The wicked schemes against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth.

This verse gives us a close-up of the nature of wickedness. It is not a passive state of being; it is active, personal, and malicious. First, the wicked schemes or plots. This points to the intellectual dimension of sin. Evil is not just a matter of uncontrolled passions; it involves deliberation, planning, and cunning. The ungodly man lies awake at night devising ways to harm the righteous (Ps 36:4). He is a strategist in the service of rebellion. His target is specific: the righteous. This is not random violence. It is a targeted animosity, the enmity that God put between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). The world does not hate Christians for their inconsistencies; it hates them for their righteousness, because that righteousness is a standing rebuke to their own sin.

Second, he gnashes at him with his teeth. This moves from the cold calculation of the mind to the hot fury of the heart. Gnashings of teeth is the language of enraged, impotent frustration. It is the action of a predator that sees its prey but cannot yet strike, or a defeated enemy who can do nothing but express his hatred. Think of the Sanhedrin listening to Stephen's sermon (Acts 7:54). This is not a dignified disagreement. It is a visceral, animalistic expression of pure malice. The wicked man is consumed by a hatred that is so profound it manifests physically. If his plotting is what he does in the dark, his gnashing is what he does when the righteous man is in his sight.

13 The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.

The camera now pans up, from the dirt and spittle of the wicked man's fury to the serene heights of heaven. The contrast could not be more jarring. In response to the wicked's intense seriousness, the Lord simply laughs. This is divine derision. God is not intimidated. He is not worried. He is not even impressed by the display of rebellion. He finds it, in the final analysis, ridiculous. The creature, a puff of dust, is shaking his fist at the Creator of the cosmos. The sinner on death row is laying out his grand plans for the future. The absurdity is worthy of laughter.

And the reason for this divine laughter is given plainly: For He sees that his day is coming. God's laughter is rooted in His omniscience. While the wicked man is obsessed with his plans for the righteous, God is looking at His own calendar. And on that calendar, a day is circled. It is "his day," the day of the wicked. This is his day of reckoning, his day of judgment, the day his schemes unravel and his teeth are silenced forever. God sees this day not as a possibility, but as a settled future reality. It is coming. It is as certain as the sunrise. Because God sees the end from the beginning, He can laugh at the foolishness of the man who sees only the present moment. The wicked man's story has been written, and God, the author, knows how it ends.

Application

The application of this text lands squarely on our perspective. We are constantly tempted to fret, to become envious of the wicked, and to be intimidated by their threats. We watch the news, we see their plots, we hear their gnashing teeth in the halls of power and on the digital mobs of social media, and our hearts begin to fail us. This psalm is God's prescribed cure for that anxiety.

We are called to do two things. First, we must see the wicked for who they are: objects of divine laughter. We must learn to cultivate a righteous and joyful derision for the proud and boastful schemes of God's enemies. This is not arrogance on our part, but rather a humble alignment of our own perspective with God's. When the world parades its latest lunacy as moral progress, we should not just be angered; we should see the cosmic joke in it and chuckle along with God. This kind of laughter is a weapon; it breaks the spell of intimidation that evil tries to cast over us.

Second, we must learn to see time as God sees it. We are fixated on "our day," with its immediate troubles and pressures. God wants us to fix our eyes on "his day," the coming day of judgment for the wicked. We must cultivate a long-term faith. The wicked are like a green bay tree, flourishing for a moment, but they will soon be cut down and wither (Ps 37:2, 35-36). Their doom is not a matter of "if," but "when." Living in light of this coming reality frees us from the tyranny of the present. It allows us to be still, to wait patiently, and to keep doing good, knowing that our God has the whole story under control, and that in the end, His justice will prevail and His people will inherit the land.