Commentary - Psalm 37:34

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 37 is a wisdom psalm, a masterful piece of instruction from an aged David, designed to settle the hearts of the righteous when they see the wicked prospering. The central problem addressed is the temptation to "fret" or become envious of evildoers who seem to be getting away with it all. David's consistent answer, repeated in various ways, is a call to patient faith. The prosperity of the wicked is a mirage; it is like grass that is green today and thrown into the oven tomorrow. The righteous, in stark contrast, have a lasting inheritance. This psalm is not a pie-in-the-sky promise for the sweet by-and-by, but a rugged, earthy assurance that faithfulness to God pays off in the long run, right here on the ground. Verse 34 serves as a powerful summary of this central theme, encapsulating the duty, the promise, and the vindication of the saints in one tight package.

The structure of the psalm is acrostic, with each stanza beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This gives it a sense of completeness, a comprehensive A-to-Z on the subject of divine providence. Our verse falls under the letter Qoph, and it distills the psalm's practical exhortation into a two-part command followed by a two-part promise. The command is to hope and to keep. The promise is exaltation and vindication. It is a call to long-term, covenantal thinking in a world that is obsessed with short-term gains.

Outline

Context In The Psalms

Psalm 37 stands alongside other wisdom psalms like Psalm 1, 49, and 73. It tackles the age-old problem of theodicy: why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer? Unlike Psalm 73, which recounts a personal crisis of faith, Psalm 37 takes a more didactic, instructional tone. David is not wrestling; he is teaching from a place of settled conviction. The refrain throughout is that the current state of affairs is temporary. The wicked may be "spreading himself like a green bay tree" (v. 35), but his end is destruction. The righteous may be afflicted, but their end is peace and a lasting inheritance. This psalm is a crucial corrective to a short-sighted faith. It commands us to look at the world through God's timeline, not our own. The promises of inheriting the land and seeing the wicked judged are not just Old Testament peculiarities; they are foundational to the biblical understanding of justice and are picked up and expanded in the New Testament, most notably in the Beatitudes where the meek are promised they will inherit the earth (Matt 5:5).

Key Issues

The Long Game of Faith

We live in an impatient age. We want instant coffee, instant communication, and instant results. This spiritual ADHD makes a verse like this one particularly difficult for us to swallow. "Hope for Yahweh and keep His way." This is the long game. This is not a vending machine transaction where we put in a prayer and get out a blessing. This is the slow, steady, plodding work of a lifetime. Biblical hope is not a flimsy wish; it is a confident expectation based on the character and promises of God. It is an anchor for the soul. But this hope is not passive. It is not sitting around waiting for the rapture bus. It is active. We are to "keep His way." This means walking in obedience, day in and day out, especially when it doesn't seem to be "working." The promise is tied to the practice. God rewards faithful endurance, not flashy sprints. The world tells you to seize the day, to get yours now. God tells you to plant trees under whose shade you may not sit. He tells you to be faithful, and He will take care of the results in His time.

Verse by Verse Commentary

34 Hope for Yahweh and keep His way,

Here we have the two great pillars of the Christian life, presented as two sides of the same coin: faith and obedience. The command begins with the internal posture of the heart: Hope for Yahweh. The Hebrew word for hope here is qavah, which has the sense of waiting, looking for, and expecting. It's not a passive, listless waiting, but an eager, expectant waiting. It is the posture of a servant who waits for his master's return, or a watchman on the wall waiting for the dawn. This hope is not in an abstract principle or a turn of good luck; it is fixed upon a person, Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God of Israel. This is the root. But this root must produce fruit. The second command shows us the external manifestation of this hope: and keep His way. To "keep" means to guard, to observe, to pay close attention to. "His way" refers to the path of life laid out in God's law. True hope in God will always express itself in a life of obedience to His commands. A man who says he hopes in God but walks in rebellion is a liar. The two are inextricably linked. Faith without works is dead, and hope without holiness is a delusion.

And He will exalt you to inherit the land;

Now we turn from the duty to the reward. The first part of the promise is positive: God will exalt you. This is the divine reversal that the Bible speaks of so often. The world's way is to exalt yourself, to climb the ladder, to make a name for yourself. God's way is the way of humility and faithfulness, and in His time, He does the exalting (1 Pet 5:6). And what is the nature of this exaltation? It is to inherit the land. In the immediate Old Testament context, this referred to the literal land of Canaan, the promised inheritance of Israel. It meant security, prosperity, and fruitfulness. But the promise was always bigger than that. The land was a type, a down payment, of a much greater inheritance. As the New Testament makes clear, the ultimate inheritance of the saints is the entire renewed creation, the new heavens and the new earth (Rom 4:13). When Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt 5:5), He is quoting this very psalm. The promise is that those who are faithful to God in the small things will ultimately be put in charge of everything. The future of this world does not belong to the proud and the powerful, but to the humble saints who hope in God.

When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

The second part of the promise is negative, and it strikes our modern sensibilities as a bit harsh. But it is essential to biblical justice. It is not enough for the righteous to be rewarded; the wicked must be judged. The promise is that the wicked will be cut off. This is a covenantal term. It means to be excommunicated from the people of God, to be disinherited, to be destroyed. Their flourishing is temporary. Their roots are shallow. God will see to it that they are removed. And the psalmist adds a crucial detail: you will see it. This is not about gloating or taking vindictive pleasure in the downfall of others. It is about public vindication. God's justice is not done in a corner. It will be a public spectacle. The righteous, who have endured the taunts and oppression of the wicked, will be there to witness God setting the record straight. This sight will confirm their faith, solidify their hope, and cause them to praise the righteous judgment of God. It is a necessary part of the story, because it shows that God is a just governor of the universe who does not allow sin to go unpunished.

Application

This verse is a rock to stand on in a world of sinking sand. The application for us is profoundly simple, yet requires a lifetime of faithful practice. First, we must cultivate a deep, abiding hope in God Himself. This means steeping our minds in His promises, rehearsing His past faithfulness, and fixing our eyes not on our fluctuating circumstances, but on His unchanging character. We must learn to wait on His timing, trusting that He is never early and never late.

Second, this hope must be the engine of our obedience. We are to "keep His way." This means that when we are tempted to cut corners, to compromise with the world, to fret because the ungodly are prospering, we must choose the path of integrity. We obey not in order to be saved, but because we are saved and because we trust the one who saved us. Our daily choices to walk in righteousness are tangible expressions of our hope that God's way is, in fact, the best way.

Finally, we must rest in the promise of future vindication. The world's scorekeeping is not final. There is a day coming when all accounts will be settled. The meek will inherit the earth. The wicked will be cut off. And we will see it. This knowledge should free us from the need for personal vengeance and from the anxiety that comes from seeing injustice go unchecked. Our God is a God of justice, and He will have the last word. Therefore, we can afford to be patient. We can afford to be faithful. We can afford to play the long game, because our King has already won the victory.