Psalms 37:34 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist ends this sermon, and it says the same thing as the whole psalm. He keeps pressing the same lesson home.

The duty is still the same: “Wait on the Lord, and keep his way” (Psalm 37:34). Our part is duty, and we must take it seriously. We must keep to God’s way, never leave it, and never drift along lazily in it. We must keep close to God and keep moving forward. But events belong to God, and we must leave their outcome to him. We are to wait on the Lord, watch how his providence, his wise rule over our lives, is moving, and fit ourselves to it with care. If we make it our concern to keep God’s way, we can gladly wait on him and commit our path to him. We will find him a good Master for both those who work for him and those who wait for him.

The reasons for this duty are the same too. They come from the certain ruin of the wicked and the certain salvation of the righteous. The psalmist had once been tempted to envy the success of the wicked. To strengthen himself against that temptation, he went into God’s sanctuary, the place of worship, and there he understood their end (Psalm 73:17). From there he teaches us the same lesson. When we compare the end of the wicked with the end of the righteous, the temptation loses its power.

Think first about the misery of the wicked at the end, no matter how long they seem to prosper. “The end of the wicked shall be cut off” (Psalm 37:38). Whatever looks good for a while cannot be truly good if it ends that badly. In the end, the wicked will be cut off from all good and all hope of good. Their joys will come to a final stop, and they will be forever separated from the source of life, left over to evil.

David had seen examples of this in his own life. He had watched the pomp and power of sinners fail to protect them when God’s judgment came. He had seen a wicked man, perhaps Saul or Ahithophel, a man of great power and great fear among the people, carrying everything before him and seeming firmly set and thriving, spreading himself like a green bay tree. A tree like that may be full of leaves, but it bears no fruit. It may look rooted and secure, but it is still only temporary. Yet what happened to him? He passed away like a dream, like a shadow. He was gone in an instant. David looked for him and could not find him. He had played his part and left the stage, and no one truly missed him.

What David saw in one case will be true of all sinners in the end. Their final ruin will one day be plain to the saints, just as the saints are sometimes made a spectacle to the world now (Psalm 37:34). When the wicked are cut off, and they certainly will be, you will see it and bow before God’s justice. “The transgressors shall be destroyed together” (Psalm 37:38). In this world, God often singles out one sinner here and another there to make an example and warn others. But on the day of judgment, all the transgressors will be destroyed together, and none will escape. Those who sinned together will be condemned together.

Now think about the blessed end of the righteous. Look at what becomes of God’s poor, despised people. Sometimes the world is so wicked that a person’s godliness keeps him from rising in it, or from making money and building a life by its standards. Even so, those who keep God’s way can be sure that in due time he will exalt them to inherit the land (Psalm 37:34). He will raise them to a place in the heavenly home, to dignity, honor, and true riches in the New Jerusalem, the holy city. He will give them that good land of promise, of which Canaan was only a picture. He will lift them above shame and danger.

Their end is peace (Psalm 37:37). Let everyone notice the blameless person and watch the upright man. Mark him so you can admire him and imitate him. Keep your eye on him and see what becomes of him, and you will find that his end is peace. Sometimes the close of a good man’s life is more comfortable than the beginning. His storms pass, and after his time of trouble he is comforted again. Even if all his days are dark and cloudy, his death may still be peaceful, and his sun may set in brightness. Or if it sets under a cloud, still his future state will be peace, lasting peace. Those who live in uprightness will enter into peace when they die (Isaiah 57:2). A peaceful death has ended the hard life of many a good man, and all is well that ends this well forever. Even Balaam wished that his death and last end would be like the righteous.

Their salvation is from the Lord (Psalm 37:39, 40). This includes the great salvation the prophets searched into carefully (1 Peter 1:10). Eternal salvation, the salvation from God that belongs to those who order their life rightly (Psalm 50:23), also comes from the Lord. The God who means Christ and heaven for his people will be enough for them. He is their strength in time of trouble. He supports them under it and carries them through it. He helps them and delivers them. He helps them do their duty, bear their burdens, and fight their spiritual battles. He helps them bear trouble well and gain good from it. In due time, he delivers them from their troubles.

He delivers them from the wicked who would crush them and swallow them up. He keeps them safe where the wicked can no longer trouble them. He saves them, not only by keeping them safe, but by making them happy, because they trust in him. It is not because they have earned it, but because they have committed themselves to him and put their confidence in him, honoring him by that trust.