WHEN THE UPRIGHT GET UPTIGHT (2 OF 2)
by Ron Dunn
The Solution to It, Part 2
When The Upright Get Uptight
Ron Dunn
Psalm 37
It is a strange world we live in--a strange time. It is interesting how things change, interesting that the things we once thought were the solutions to our problems have now become our problems. I remember a number of years ago when somebody said the solution to our problem would be unhindered, free love. If we would get rid of all our hang-ups, and get rid of all our antiquated, Puritanical ideas, that would be the solution. Now it has become our problem.
It is that way in the human situation. We always seem to run faster when we've lost our way. Somebody described a fanatic as somebody who has lost his purpose and redoubled his effort. That is a pretty good definition.
The Psalmist opens with this statement: Fret not thyself. Immediately, that sets the theme for the whole psalm, the subject of it, the title of it. He is saying to us as God's people to fret not ourselves. The word carries with it the idea of a frustrating situation. It really has in it the idea of heat. We sometimes say, that burns me up; I'm all hot under the collar; I'm hot and bothered about this. This is a good way of rendering what the Psalmist is saying, but he is addressing himself to people who believe in God, to Christians. Yet they are not exempt from certain situations that cause them to be filled with fear, frustration and even a tinge of anger.
If you think about it for a little bit, you will agree that this is the reason any of us ever become anxious and fearful and frustrated. It is because there is a great contradiction between our expectations and our experience. There is a great conflict between the way things are and the way things ought to be. These things the Psalmist is talking about are peculiar to Christians. There are some things that upset us that wouldn't upset a lost person, some things that bother us that would not bother an atheist. An atheist hardly ever ...
When The Upright Get Uptight
Ron Dunn
Psalm 37
It is a strange world we live in--a strange time. It is interesting how things change, interesting that the things we once thought were the solutions to our problems have now become our problems. I remember a number of years ago when somebody said the solution to our problem would be unhindered, free love. If we would get rid of all our hang-ups, and get rid of all our antiquated, Puritanical ideas, that would be the solution. Now it has become our problem.
It is that way in the human situation. We always seem to run faster when we've lost our way. Somebody described a fanatic as somebody who has lost his purpose and redoubled his effort. That is a pretty good definition.
The Psalmist opens with this statement: Fret not thyself. Immediately, that sets the theme for the whole psalm, the subject of it, the title of it. He is saying to us as God's people to fret not ourselves. The word carries with it the idea of a frustrating situation. It really has in it the idea of heat. We sometimes say, that burns me up; I'm all hot under the collar; I'm hot and bothered about this. This is a good way of rendering what the Psalmist is saying, but he is addressing himself to people who believe in God, to Christians. Yet they are not exempt from certain situations that cause them to be filled with fear, frustration and even a tinge of anger.
If you think about it for a little bit, you will agree that this is the reason any of us ever become anxious and fearful and frustrated. It is because there is a great contradiction between our expectations and our experience. There is a great conflict between the way things are and the way things ought to be. These things the Psalmist is talking about are peculiar to Christians. There are some things that upset us that wouldn't upset a lost person, some things that bother us that would not bother an atheist. An atheist hardly ever ...
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