The Final Verdict: God's Grip on the Righteous Text: Psalm 37:39-40
Introduction: Judging by the Video, Not the Snapshot
Psalm 37 is a psalm for the man who is tempted to look out his window at the world and conclude that the wrong team is winning. It is a psalm for the believer who sees the wicked prospering, flaunting their rebellion like a new set of clothes, while the righteous are often hard-pressed, quiet, and seemingly overlooked. The temptation that David addresses throughout this entire acrostic poem is the temptation to envy the evildoers. It is the temptation to fret, to become agitated and discouraged, because the immediate snapshot of the world seems to indicate that crime really does pay.
But David, speaking as a wise old man, counsels us to take the long view. He tells us to judge by the video, not by the snapshot. The wicked are like grass, green and lush for a moment, but the mower is coming. Their prosperity is a greasy pole over a bonfire. They will soon be cut off, and their place will be no more. The meek, on the other hand, will inherit the earth. The whole psalm is a series of contrasts, a collection of inspired aphorisms that drive this point home from every conceivable angle. The wicked borrow and do not pay back; the righteous are generous. The wicked plot; the Lord laughs. The wicked draw the sword; it enters their own heart.
And after laying out this great contrast for thirty-eight verses, David brings it all to a thunderous conclusion. He doesn't just tell us what will happen to the wicked; he tells us why the righteous will endure. He brings us to the ultimate source of our security, the final cause of our perseverance. The reason the righteous have a future is not because they are more clever than the wicked, or more resilient, or more virtuous in their own strength. The reason the righteous have a future is because their future is God Himself. These last two verses are the anchor of the entire psalm. They are the great summary statement, the final verdict on where true security lies.
The Text
But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh;
He is their strength in time of distress.
Yahweh helps them and protects them;
He protects them from the wicked and saves them,
Because they take refuge in Him.
(Psalm 37:39-40 LSB)
The Source of Salvation (v. 39a)
The psalm concludes with a powerful declaration, beginning with a great "But." After describing the end of the wicked man, who will be no more, David turns our attention to the foundation of the righteous man's hope.
"But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh..." (Psalm 37:39a)
This is the bedrock. The salvation of the righteous is not from themselves. It is not from their own moral striving, their clean living, or their doctrinal precision, however important those things may be as fruit. Their salvation, from beginning to end, is "from Yahweh." It is an alien reality. It is a gift. It originates entirely outside of themselves, in the gracious heart of the covenant-keeping God.
We must be absolutely clear on this. The world believes in salvation by bootstrap. Modern evangelicalism often flirts with salvation by decision, as though our weak-willed choice were the deciding factor. But Scripture is plain. Salvation is of the Lord. He planned it, He accomplished it, and He applies it. The righteous are not righteous because they mustered up more willpower than their neighbors. They are righteous because God, in His sovereign grace, has declared them righteous in Christ and has given them a new heart that desires righteousness.
This means that our security does not depend on the firmness of our grip on God, but rather on the firmness of His grip on us. The wicked man's story ends because he is the author of his own story, and he is a fool. The righteous man's story endures because God is the author of his story, and God never fails to write a glorious ending. This is not just about the ultimate salvation of our souls in the eschaton. It is about every deliverance, every rescue, every preservation in this life. It is all from Yahweh.
The Stronghold in the Storm (v. 39b)
David then specifies one of the most crucial ways this salvation manifests itself in our lives.
"...He is their strength in time of distress." (Psalm 37:39b)
God does not promise the righteous a life free from distress. In fact, this whole psalm assumes that the righteous will have plenty of reasons to fret. There will be times of trouble, times when the wicked seem to be winning, times of pressure and affliction. The promise is not the absence of the storm, but the presence of a stronghold in the storm. Yahweh Himself becomes our strength.
Notice the grammar. He does not simply give us strength, as though it were a commodity He dispenses from a distance. He is their strength. Our strength is not a thing; it is a Person. This is why the Apostle Paul can say, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). He is not talking about some abstract power-up. He is talking about the indwelling life of Christ Himself. When we are weak, when our resources are depleted, when the distress is overwhelming, we are driven not to our reserves, but to our God. He becomes our fortress, our stability, our might.
The world seeks strength in wealth, in political power, in military might, in self-reliance. But all of these things fail when a true "time of distress" arrives. A financial crash, a terminal diagnosis, a tyrannical government, a profound betrayal, these things reveal the utter bankruptcy of all earthly strongholds. The righteous have a refuge that cannot be shaken, because their refuge is the unshakeable God.
The Redundancy of Grace (v. 40a)
Verse 40 seems, at first glance, to be wonderfully repetitive. But this is not sloppy writing; this is the redundancy of covenantal love. God is piling up assurances for His anxious people.
"Yahweh helps them and protects them; He protects them from the wicked and saves them..." (Psalm 37:40a)
Look at this cascade of verbs. He helps. He protects. He protects again. He saves. This is like a father reassuring a frightened child, saying "I've got you. I'm right here. I won't let you go. I've got you." God is not being inefficient; He is being pastoral. He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust, and He knows how easily we become discouraged.
He "helps" them. This is practical, timely aid. It is God stepping in to be an ally in the fight. He "protects" them, or delivers them. This is a rescue from a clear and present danger. And then He says it again, emphasizing the source of the danger: "He protects them from the wicked." The entire psalm has been about the threat posed by the wicked, and here is the ultimate answer. Our protection from them is not our own cleverness or defensive maneuvering, but God's direct intervention. Finally, He "saves" them. This is the all-encompassing word. It is the final, complete, and total deliverance from all that threatens.
This is a comprehensive security plan. Whatever the nature of the threat, God has a verb for it. He is our helper, our bodyguard, our rescuer, and our Savior. The wicked have no such promises. They are, in the final analysis, on their own.
The Condition of Trust (v. 40b)
The psalm ends by stating the instrumental cause of this great salvation. It tells us how we come to be the beneficiaries of this divine protection.
"...Because they take refuge in Him." (Psalm 37:40b)
This is crucial. The help, the protection, and the salvation are applied to a particular kind of person: the one who "takes refuge" in God. This is not a work that earns salvation. Taking refuge is the opposite of earning something. It is the act of ceasing from your own efforts and casting yourself entirely upon the provision and protection of another. It is the posture of faith.
To take refuge in God is to admit that you cannot save yourself. It is to see the advancing armies of the wicked, to feel the distress, to acknowledge your own weakness, and to run into the fortress that is God Himself. It is what David did when Saul was hunting him. It is what Hezekiah did when Sennacherib surrounded Jerusalem. It is what the sinner does when he flees to the cross of Jesus Christ.
This is the condition, if you will. But even this is a gift. God does not save us because we have faith. He saves us through faith. Faith is the empty hand that receives the gift. And God is the one who enables the hand to open. The reason the righteous take refuge in Him is because He has first opened their eyes to see that He is the only refuge worth having.
Conclusion: The Only Safe Place in the Universe
So, when you are tempted to fret, when the prosperity of the wicked seems loud and permanent, and your own path seems quiet and difficult, remember the end of the story. The final verdict has already been written.
The wicked will be cut off. Their story is a dead end. But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh. He is their strength, their help, their protector, and their Savior. And why? Because they have learned the secret of the universe. They have learned that there is only one safe place to stand when the world is shaking, and that is in the shadow of the Almighty.
This is not a call to passivity. Throughout this psalm, the righteous are described as those who "do good" and "dwell in the land." But their action flows from their trust. They act with courage because they have taken refuge. They are generous because they know their supply is secure in God. They are patient because they know God will act in His time.
The entire Christian life is summarized in this final clause. We are those who have fled for refuge to the hope set before us, and that hope is Jesus Christ. He is our salvation. He is our strength in every time of distress. He is the one who helps and protects us from the wicked one. And He saves to the uttermost all those who take refuge in Him.