The Smoke and the Glory Text: Psalm 37:20
Introduction: The Snapshot and the Video
We live in an age of the snapshot. Our entire culture is geared toward the immediate, the instantaneous, the here-and-now. We see the wicked prospering, and it is blasted across our screens in high definition. We see the ungodly man lauded in the public square, his ventures succeeding, his influence growing, his arrogance seemingly vindicated. And the righteous man, who is trying to build his house on the rock, often looks like a fool for his troubles. The snapshot says that wickedness pays, and handsomely.
This is precisely the temptation that Psalm 37 is written to address. The entire psalm is a pastoral corrective to the righteous who are tempted to "fret" because of evildoers. To fret is to become heated, to grow angry and agitated at the apparent success of the ungodly. But God, through David, tells us to stop looking at the snapshot and to watch the whole video. The story is not over. In fact, the end has been written from the beginning, and the final scene for the wicked is not one of glory, but of smoke.
Our text today is the hinge of this argument. It provides the starkest possible contrast between the ultimate fate of the righteous, who will inherit the land, and the wicked, who will vanish. It is a verse of divine toxicology, explaining what happens when a creature sets himself up as an enemy of the Creator. It is a promise, a warning, and a profound comfort all at once. It teaches us to see the world not as the secularist sees it, a random collection of snapshots, but as God sees it, a story with a plot, a purpose, and a final, decisive judgment.
We are in a long war, and in any war, there will be moments when the enemy appears to be advancing on a particular front. But the Lord of hosts has already declared the outcome. This verse is a field report from headquarters, reminding us not to be dismayed by temporary, flashy successes of the enemy. Their glory is a cheap firework, a momentary flash that ends in a wisp of foul-smelling smoke. Ours is the dawn.
The Text
But the wicked will perish;
And the enemies of Yahweh will be like the glory of the pastures,
They vanish, in smoke they vanish away.
(Psalm 37:20 LSB)
The Inevitable Perishing (v. 20a)
The verse begins with a blunt and certain declaration:
"But the wicked will perish;" (Psalm 37:20a)
The word "but" sets up the great contrast that runs through this entire psalm. The previous verses have described the stability and inheritance of the righteous. Now, David turns his attention to the other side of the ledger. This is not a possibility; it is a certainty. It is not a hope, but a statement of fact. The wicked will perish.
Who are the wicked? In the biblical dictionary, the wicked are not simply those who commit certain outrageous sins. The wicked man is the one who lives his life without reference to God. He is his own standard, his own law, his own god. He builds his life on the sand of his own autonomy. To perish means to be utterly destroyed, to be brought to nothing. It is the natural, logical, and just end of a life that has detached itself from the only source of life, who is God Himself.
This is a foundational principle of reality. If you cut a flower from its root, it may look beautiful in a vase for a day or two, but it will wither. It has been separated from its life source. In the same way, the wicked man, by setting himself against God, has cut himself off from the fountain of life. His perishing is not so much an arbitrary punishment as it is the inevitable harvest of his own choices. He has sown to the wind, and he will reap the whirlwind.
We must not soften this. We live in a sentimental age that wants to believe that everyone is basically good and that all paths lead to the same place. The Bible will have none of it. There are two paths, and only two: the way of the righteous, which leads to life, and the way of the wicked, which leads to destruction. This verse is a signpost, written in bold letters, warning us of the cliff ahead.
The Enemies and Their Fleeting Glory (v. 20b)
The psalmist then defines the wicked more precisely and introduces a startling image to describe their apparent success.
"And the enemies of Yahweh will be like the glory of the pastures," (Psalm 37:20b LSB)
Notice the identification. The wicked are not just people who make bad choices; they are "enemies of Yahweh." To be at war with God's law and God's people is to be at war with God Himself. When Saul was persecuting the church, Jesus did not ask, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my people?" He asked, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4). This is the great folly of the wicked: they pick a fight with the one who holds their next breath in His hand.
But then comes the strange simile. They are like "the glory of the pastures." What is this? This refers to the wildflowers and rich green grass that spring up in the spring after the rains. For a brief season, the fields are glorious. They are covered in a riot of color and life. This is the snapshot. This is the prosperity of the wicked. It is real, it is visible, and it is beautiful to the watching world. Their success is not an illusion; it is a temporary, flourishing reality.
This is a crucial point. The Bible does not deny that the wicked often prosper. It affirms it. Their businesses succeed, their books become bestsellers, their political power grows. They have a glory. But the psalmist wants us to understand the nature of that glory. It is the glory of a wildflower. It is stunning for a moment, but it has no permanence. It is subject to the changing seasons, to the scorching sun, to the foot that treads it down. It is a dependent, fleeting, and ultimately fragile glory.
The Final Vanishing (v. 20c)
The final clauses of the verse complete the picture, showing us the end of the video, not just the promising start.
"They vanish, in smoke they vanish away." (Psalm 37:20c LSB)
The glory of the pasture vanishes. The hot summer sun comes, and the beautiful flower withers, turns brown, and is gone. The psalmist intensifies the image. Their end is not just a fading, but a vanishing into smoke. One moment, you see the smoke, and the next, there is nothing but empty air. It is an image of complete and total annihilation.
Think of the fat of the sacrifices on the altar. It is placed on the fire, and it produces a great billow of smoke, a momentary spectacle, and then it is gone forever. This is the end of the enemies of God. Their lives, their accomplishments, their kingdoms, their pride, all of it will go up in smoke. From the perspective of eternity, their entire existence will be a mere vapor, a puff of smoke that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
The repetition here is for emphasis: "They vanish, in smoke they vanish away." God wants this to sink into our hearts. When we are tempted to envy the wicked, when we are discouraged by their apparent triumphs, we are to remember this image. We are to look at their glory and see it for what it is: fuel for a future fire. Their success is simply piling up more material to be consumed.
A Tale of Two Glories
This verse, then, presents us with a choice between two glories. There is the glory of the pastures, and there is the glory of the Lord. The glory of the pastures is loud, flashy, and immediate. The glory of the Lord is often quiet, slow, and cruciform.
The world chases the first kind. It seeks the glory that can be measured in dollars, in followers, in political victories. It is the glory of the wildflower, which lives for its own display and then dies. But the righteous are called to seek a different kind of glory. "He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun" (Psalm 37:6). This is a glory that grows. It starts like the dawn, barely perceptible, but it grows brighter and brighter until the perfect day.
The enemies of God have their glory now. It is all the heaven they will ever know. For the believer, our best is yet to come. Our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:4). The wicked get a handful of smoke; the righteous inherit the earth.
Therefore, do not fret. Do not be agitated. Do not envy the smoke. The man who builds his life in opposition to God is building a bonfire of his own accomplishments, and the day is coming when God will put a match to it. But the one who trusts in the Lord, who does good, who waits patiently for Him, is building a house of stone that will stand forever. When all the smoke of this world has cleared, the city of God will remain, and the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Trust the video, not the snapshot.