The Great Divide: Economics of the Covenant Text: Psalm 37:21-22
Introduction: Two Economies, Two Destinies
The book of Psalms is given to us to shape our understanding of the world, and to form our affections. It is God's hymnal, teaching us how to feel, what to desire, and how to see the world as it truly is. And one of the recurring temptations that the Psalms address head on is the temptation to envy the wicked. We look out at the world and see the ungodly prospering. They cut corners, they build empires on debt and deceit, they swagger and boast, and it appears for all the world that they are winning. The righteous man, meanwhile, is trying to walk uprightly, to be honest in his dealings, and it often looks like he is being left in the dust.
Psalm 37 is given as a potent antidote to this temptation. It is a wisdom psalm, much like a chapter from Proverbs, and its central message is this: when you are evaluating the state of the righteous and the wicked, you must learn to judge by the video, not by the snapshot. The snapshot might show the wicked flourishing like a green bay tree. But the video, which runs to the end of the reel, shows him cut down, withered, and gone. God's economy and man's economy run on entirely different principles and are headed toward entirely different outcomes.
Our secular age believes that economics is a morally neutral science of numbers and market forces. But the Bible knows nothing of this. Economics is always theological. Your checkbook register is a theological document. How you handle your money, your debts, and your assets reveals what you truly believe about God, His providence, and His promises. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. This means that at the heart of all economic activity, there is a fundamental spiritual divide. There is the economy of the wicked, and there is the economy of the righteous. One is an economy of taking, and the other is an economy of giving. One is built on the sandy foundation of faithless borrowing, and the other is built on the bedrock of gracious generosity. One leads to being cut off, and the other leads to inheriting the land. These two verses before us today lay out this great divide with stark and simple clarity.
The Text
The wicked borrows and does not pay back,
But the righteous is gracious and gives.
For those blessed by Him will inherit the land,
But those cursed by Him will be cut off.
(Psalm 37:21-22 LSB)
The Character of Two Debtors (v. 21)
The first verse gives us a sharp contrast in character, revealed through financial dealings.
"The wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives." (Psalm 37:21)
Notice the first half. The defining characteristic of the wicked man's financial life is theft. He borrows and does not repay. This is not talking about a catastrophic business failure where a man is simply unable to pay. This is describing a character trait. The wicked man sees borrowing not as a solemn obligation to be honored, but as a tool for personal advancement at another's expense. He is a deadbeat. He takes on debt with no serious intention of repaying it, or at least, he is cavalier about his responsibility. This is a form of stealing, plain and simple. It is a lie in action. He makes a promise with his mouth that his heart has no intention of keeping.
This reveals his worldview. He lives in a world of scarcity and predation. To get ahead, you have to take from others. He is a consumer, a taker, a black hole of need and want. He is the man described in Proverbs whose desire kills him because his hands refuse to labor. He wants what the diligent man has, but he will not do what the diligent man does. So he borrows. He leverages. He lives on other people's money, and in the end, he defaults on his obligations, leaving a trail of broken trust and financial ruin. This is the spirit of our age, from the individual with maxed out credit cards to the government with its trillions in unpayable debt. It is the economics of wickedness.
The contrast with the righteous could not be more stark. "But the righteous is gracious and gives." The righteous man is not defined by what he takes, but by what he gives. His life is characterized by generosity. He is not a black hole; he is a fountain. Why? Because he serves a God who is a giver, a God who so loved the world that He gave His only Son. The righteous man's generosity flows from his theology. He knows that God is the owner of all things and that He is a God of infinite abundance. He knows that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Therefore, he can hold his possessions with an open hand.
This grace and giving is the fruit of righteousness, not the root of it. He is not righteous because he gives; he gives because he is righteous. He has been declared righteous by faith in Christ, and the Spirit of Christ within him produces this fruit of generosity. He works diligently, he lives within his means, and the result is that he has a surplus. And what does he do with that surplus? He doesn't hoard it. He is gracious, and he gives. He is a lender, not a borrower. This fulfills the Deuteronomic blessing: "The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow" (Deut. 28:12). This is the economics of righteousness.
The Destiny of Two Heirs (v. 22)
Verse 22 moves from character to destiny. It shows us the ultimate, long term result of these two economic approaches. The consequences are not arbitrary; they are covenantal.
"For those blessed by Him will inherit the land, But those cursed by Him will be cut off." (Psalm 37:22 LSB)
This verse is the engine that drives the logic of the entire psalm. The word "For" connects everything. Why is the righteous man generous? Why is the wicked man's prosperity a fleeting illusion? Because God's covenant has promises and sanctions, blessings and curses. And these are not just spiritual platitudes for the sweet by and by. They are historical realities that work themselves out in time and on the earth.
First, consider the destiny of the righteous. "For those blessed by Him will inherit the land." This is a constant refrain in this psalm. Jesus picks up this very promise in the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). What does this mean? It means that God's plan is to give the world to His people. This is not some hyper spiritualized heaven. The word is "land" or "earth." It is tangible. It is real estate. It is culture. It is civilization. The promise is that the righteous, the gracious givers, the meek, are the ones who will ultimately own and shape the future. Their generosity, their hard work, their faithfulness, their covenant keeping across generations builds lasting wealth, both spiritual and material. They are building something that endures.
This is the outworking of God's blessing. Blessing is not a fuzzy feeling. It is God's active, creative favor resting upon a person, a family, a people. And that favor produces tangible results over time. It results in fruitful wombs, flourishing businesses, stable communities, and a lasting inheritance for their children and their children's children.
Now look at the destiny of the wicked. "But those cursed by Him will be cut off." This is the covenantal curse. The man who lives by taking, by faithless borrowing, by theft, lives under the curse of God. And the end of that road is to be "cut off." This means to be disinherited. It means to have your name blotted out. Your business fails. Your family line withers. Your influence evaporates. Whatever apparent success he had was a sham, built on sand, and the covenantal storm washes it all away. He leaves nothing of lasting value behind. He is cut down like the grass. He is a historical dead end.
So we have two paths, two economic theories, and two destinies. The path of the wicked is to borrow and not repay, which puts him under God's curse, and he will be cut off. The path of the righteous is to be gracious and give, which brings him under God's blessing, and he and his descendants will inherit the land. This is the long view. This is the video, not the snapshot.
Conclusion: The Ultimate Giver and the Ultimate Debt
As with all Scripture, this passage finds its ultimate fulfillment and its deepest meaning in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the truly righteous one, the ultimate gracious giver. He who was rich beyond all measure, for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). He gave everything. He gave His life.
And what about us? In our natural state, we are the ultimate wicked borrower. We have incurred a debt of sin before a holy God that is infinitely beyond our ability to repay. We are spiritual deadbeats. We have taken all of God's good gifts, His air, His water, His life, and we have not rendered back to Him the thanks and obedience that we owe. We are bankrupt, and the penalty for our failure to pay is to be "cut off" from the presence of God forever.
But the gospel is the glorious good news of how this impossible debt was handled. God the Father, the ultimate creditor, did not simply forgive the debt. That would be unjust. No, the debt had to be paid. So Jesus Christ, the Son, stepped in and paid our debt in full on the cross. He took our bankruptcy upon Himself. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us. He who was blessed forever took the curse upon Himself, being "cut off" on the cross, so that we who were cursed might receive the blessing of Abraham and the promise of the Spirit through faith (Gal. 3:13-14).
When we, by faith, receive this gift, we are set free from our debt. We are declared righteous. And we are made heirs. We are adopted into God's family and given the promise that we too will inherit the land. We become sons and daughters of the ultimate Giver, and His Spirit begins to work in us, transforming us from wicked takers into righteous givers.
Therefore, our generosity, our financial integrity, our refusal to be a servant to lenders, is not a way to earn our salvation. It is the natural, joyful, grateful response of a people who have had an unpayable debt paid on their behalf. We give because we have been given everything. We are gracious because we have been shown the ultimate grace. And we live with our eyes fixed on the inheritance, the glorious future that God has promised to those who are blessed in His Son. So do not envy the wicked. Their balance sheet is a lie. Their prosperity is temporary. Live by the economy of grace, and you will find that you are investing in a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and an inheritance that will never fade away.