Psalm 37:1-39 MSG

[1] Don’t bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked. In no time they’ll shrivel like grass clippings and wilt like cut flowers in the sun. [3] Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last. Keep company with God, get in on the best. [5] Open up before God, keep nothing back; he’ll do whatever needs to be done: He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon. [7] Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. Don’t bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top. [8] Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes—it only makes things worse. Before long the crooks will be bankrupt; God-investors will soon own the store. [10] Before you know it, the wicked will have had it; you’ll stare at his once famous place and—nothing! Down-to-earth people will move in and take over, relishing a huge bonanza. [12] Bad guys have it in for the good guys, obsessed with doing them in. But God isn’t losing any sleep; to him they’re a joke with no punch line. [14] Bullies brandish their swords, pull back on their bows with a flourish. They’re out to beat up on the harmless, or mug that nice man out walking his dog. A banana peel lands them flat on their faces—slapstick figures in a moral circus. [16] Less is more and more is less. One righteous will outclass fifty wicked, For the wicked are moral weaklings but the righteous are God-strong. [18] God keeps track of the decent folk; what they do won’t soon be forgotten. In hard times, they’ll hold their heads high; when the shelves are bare, they’ll be full. [20] God-despisers have had it; God’s enemies are finished—Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time, vanished like smoke in thin air. [21] Wicked borrows and never returns; Righteous gives and gives. Generous gets it all in the end; Stingy is cut off at the pass. [23] Stalwart walks in step with God; his path blazed by God, he’s happy. If he stumbles, he’s not down for long; God has a grip on his hand. [25] I once was young, now I’m a graybeard—not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets. Every day he’s out giving and lending, his children making him proud. [27] Turn your back on evil, work for the good and don’t quit. God loves this kind of thing, never turns away from his friends. [28] Live this way and you’ve got it made, but bad eggs will be tossed out. The good get planted on good land and put down healthy roots. [30] Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone, rolls virtue around on his tongue. His heart pumps God’s Word like blood through his veins; his feet are as sure as a cat’s. [32] Wicked sets a watch for Righteous, he’s out for the kill. God, alert, is also on watch—Wicked won’t hurt a hair of his head. [34] Wait passionately for God, don’t leave the path. He’ll give you your place in the sun while you watch the wicked lose it. [35] I saw Wicked bloated like a toad, croaking pretentious nonsense. The next time I looked there was nothing—a punctured bladder, vapid and limp. [37] Keep your eye on the healthy soul, scrutinize the straight life; There’s a future in strenuous wholeness. But the willful will soon be discarded; insolent souls are on a dead-end street. [39] The spacious, free life is from God, it’s also protected and safe. God-strengthened, we’re delivered from evil—when we run to him, he saves us.