Thinking As An Heir of the Kingdom of God
Is your thinking “earth bound” or is it “heaven bound”? By “bound” I mean is your thinking informed and shaped by this worlds thinking or is your thinking informed and shaped by the authoritative mind of God as revealed in His word – Psalm 19:7-11; II Timothy 3:16-17. To further clarify the point of our study, are you daily pursuing a life of practical, consistent embracing of the principles of Romans 12 where Paul declares God’s will to be that you not be conformed to this world, but be being transformed continuously into the image of Christ by the renewing of your mind (thinking) through the diligent trusting study of His Holy word (II Timothy 2:15). To consider it yet another Biblical way, are you daily, again as Paul, in the Holy Spirit’s leading, commands in Colossians 3:1-3, “…..seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 1:22 reveals something of what our Lord is doing there at His Father’s right hand)? Are you setting “…..your mind on the things above, not on things that are on earth.”? My hope is that these principles of God’s word pertaining to His will for His chosen ones gives you, the reader, a clear understanding of why you are being asked to consider whether your thinking is “earth bound” or “heaven bound”.
A fundamental, inherent principle contained in all that will be considered in this study, and that you must continuously make application of, if you would be faithful, is the God created reality that what and how you think directly produces, in all circumstances, exactly how you act — your thinking produces your behavior, your conduct, your actions, your feelings . . . . . always. Contrary to the lie of modern humanistic education, medicine, and psychology, your conduct is not the result of your feelings nor do your feelings or emotions produce your behavior.
The Biblical focus of our study is Psalm 37:1-2,3-6,7 (Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotes will be from the NASB).
1 Do not fret because of evildoers. Be not envious toward wrongdoers. 2 For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. 3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. 7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Consider, as relates to whether your thinking is “earth bound” or “heaven bound”, the first command of v7. Have you been and are you now, today, consciously, trustingly resting in the LORD (Psalm 46: 10)? Would others who know you and observe your life on a regular basis testify to your life being a life that is obviously resting in the LORD? If your answer to these questions is a hesitant “sometimes”, or “I’m not sure”, do you realize that the only thing that is preventing you from being able to give a confident, humble, grateful, joyful “most of the time” answer is your thinking and the degree to which your thinking is informed by scripture and the extent to which you then trust God and His faithfulness to you as revealed in His scripture (II Timothy 3:16-17). “Informed by scripture”, means the disciplined practice of trustingly making the principles and doctrines of God’s holy word the basis of your thinking and evaluation of all things to do with living your life each fresh new day (Psalm 118:24; Numbers 23:19; Matthew 6:33-34; Philippians 1:21-22; II Corinthians 1:17-21; Isaiah 46:8-10).
Consider now that first command in v7 — “Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him;”.
What does it mean to “rest”? The Hebrew word translated “rest” is the word “damam” and means “to be silent; to be still; to stand still”. It further carries the command to “refrain from speech” in a spirit of reverential love for God in the fullness of His sinless, holy purity and majesty. In Leviticus 10:3, when Moses is explaining to Aaron the reality of what had just happened to his irreverent, “take it upon themselves to help God” sons, Moses declared “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.” And what was Aaron’s response? “So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.” It is worthy of our notice to consider the conclusion of Solomon concerning the proper, righteous way to enter into the presence of God, as revealed in Ecclesiastes 5:1-7. As you look at this passage, note particularly the descriptive characteristics of the approach to God that is described by Solomon, as the “sacrifice of fools” in verse 2.
Additionally, this idea of “rest” denotes a life being lived free of mental and emotional distress, turmoil, and anxiety, that is exemplified by, in the midst of whatever life in God’s providential order brings, an ability to be quiet, relaxed, and peaceful – Job 30:27; Psalm 4:4; 30:12; 131:2; 37:1-7; Philippians 4:4-13; Matthew 6:25-34. In its verb form this “rest” describes the action of being fixed and stable; without motion or action; to be firmly fixed. As a noun it defines the state of being that is free from toil, strain, and stress; without anxiety, fretting, and fear (Proverbs 14:30a speaks of this freedom).
Having established to some degree what the Holy Spirit, by the pen of the Psalmist, wants us to understand that it means to “rest in the LORD”, let’s look again at vv1-7 of Psalm 37. There are ten eternally significant points of instruction (commands/principles of trusting, loving obedience) in vv 1-7 of this Psalm, all of which have to do with living out the reality of His blessed gift of immutable, eternal, infinite joy that is inherent in a life lived in Christ as His chosen one, daily, gratefully serving Him as a faithful steward of what He entrusts to you each day – Ephesians 1:3-6; I Peter 1:3-6a; Colossians 2:9-15;1:22; II Peter 1:1-4,5-7,8-11; I Thessalonians 1:9-10; 4:9-12; Philippians 4:4-13.
The ten points are: 1) Do not fret 2) Be not envious 3) Trust in the LORD 4) Do good 5) Dwell in the land 6) Cultivate faithfulness 7) Delight yourself in the LORD 8) Commit your way 9) Rest in the LORD 10) Wait patiently for Him. There is one single, impossible to deny or over emphasize, common denominator that binds these ten instructional commands together for every true believer — the obedient embracing of each of these commands as the standard of truth by which you live, is, and always will be, the direct result of your thinking (the activity of your mind and will) that, in turn, produces the act of loving obedience of Christ (behavior or conduct) that exemplifies your daily living (II Corinthians 10:3-5). This fact (of thinking determining ones conduct/behavior) is immutably woven by our Creator, into the “warp and weave” of the fiber of every human being created by Him in His sacred holy image (Genesis 1:26; Hebrews 1:8-12; Psalm 147; 145).
Notice that in this entire passage there is never any question about the presence and influence of evil and evildoers. To the contrary, it is the given, that the presence of such is the reality of life in this sinful, fallen world. However, to what degree does this passage reveal that the thinking (which produces behavior/conduct) of the one who is a follower of Jesus Christ should be dictated or affected by the reality of the evil that surrounds us every day — John 17:15-16; II Timothy 2:3-7; Romans 12:1-2,14-21(Proverbs 24:17-18); Luke 6:27-35; Matthew 5:43-45?
What, in the context of these ten specific commands, will it mean to “Think as an heir to the kingdom of God” while living in the hostile kingdom of our enemy, Satan. Jesus reminded those who would follow after Him “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” John 15:18-19. This, our Lord taught, will be the response of the unbelieving world to true followers of Christ when they live life, in this sinful world, thinking and thus behaving like heirs to the kingdom of God (Colossians 3:1-3). As relates to how the follower of Christ should respond, review the passages at the end of the immediately preceding paragraph.
Now it is time to briefly consider how these ten commands, faithfully, willingly, lovingly obeyed, equip you as a believer to live a life of daily victory as the result of consistently thinking as an heir to the kingdom of God.
Psalm 37:1-7:
V 1 – “Do not fret because of evildoers. Be not envious toward wrong-doers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb.”
Command #1 – “Do not fret . . . . .”
The Hebrew word here translated “fret” is the word charah and means “to burn, as in becoming angry; to be distressed; to compete”. Thus, God’s command, to think as an heir to the kingdom of God, is to trustingly obey Him by refusing to become angry or distressed because of evildoers because you know your heavenly Father is Sovereignly superintending the lives of the evildoers as surely as He is your life as His beloved child – V 2 (Proverbs 16:1,4,9; 21:1-2,30-31).
Command #2 – “Be not envious . . . . .”
To be envious, meaning fretting that produces a kind of competing speaks to the command to not be jealous or zealous toward/of “wrongdoers”. Obediently refuse to let yourself be jealous of or zealous for what the seeming gain or prosperity of the evildoer is, but rather, as the Psalmist declares in Psalm 52:5 and Paul speaks of in I Corinthians 5:8 and Philippians 4:11, learn to go forth in trusting God and being content in His order for your life in kingdom service each day.
V 3 – “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Command #3 – “Trust in the Lord . . . . .”
To trust (the Hebrew word batach) the Lord is, contextually, “to be boldly confident in; to feel secure in; to securely rely on” Him (Proverbs 3:1-8). Again, we see the command of God, as relates to thinking as an heir to His glorious, infinite, indestructible Kingdom, beginning with lovingly trusting Him and His immutable faithfulness to His own (Jeremiah 29:11-13; II Corinthians 1:17-21) – II Peter 1:1-4,5-7,8-11.
Command #4 – “. . . . .do good;”
To do good, in the economy (will) of God, is the same in any and every situation or circumstance as revealed in multitudes of passages, only a few that we will consider here – Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5; Psalm 103:1; I Chronicles 28:9; Matthew 22:37-40; 5:43-45; Romans 12:14-21; Philippians 2:3-4; I Thessalonians 4:9-12; I Peter 2:13-17; I John 4:7-19.
Command #5 – “. . . . .dwell in the land. . . . .”
To dwell in the land, in the context of Psalm 37, is to abide or inhabit the place (land/country/location) where you are, as in resting there, lying down there, remaining there, and doing so in an ongoing way. To state it another way, it is to recognize the sovereignty of God in your life with the assurance that comes from confidently knowing He is providentially directing your steps exactly as He predestined them to be, for His glory and your good as His beloved child. And do so, as Paul says in Philippians 4:11, learning, day by day, to be content and satisfied with whatever your circumstances are because you know God is indeed directing your steps – Jeremiah 29:11-13; Psalm 139:5-6,12,14,16,23-24; 119:71,75; Proverbs 16:1,4,9; 21:1-3,30-31; Acts 17:26 (24-28); I Corinthians 12:18; 10:13.
Command #6 – “. . . . .cultivate faithfulness. . . . .”
To cultivate faithfulness, as stated here by the Psalmist, reflects back to his third command, namely, to trust in the Lord. Having established the necessity of trusting in the Lord, the Psalmist now expounds how that trust in the Lord should be evidenced in every believers life. The word cultivate means to closely associate with or to be in close companionship with, and the word faithfulness speaks of fidelity in steadfastness, thus to cultivate God’s immutable, steadfast faithfulness to His own (Numbers 23:19; Genesis 18:14; Luke 1:37) is to live in grateful, joyful close association with Him. It is to “feed securely on His faithfulness” living ones life as His child confident in the fidelity and immutable steadfastness of His faithfulness to His own – Romans 8
V4 – “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
Command #7 – “Delight yourself in the Lord. . . . .”
The primary focus of this command is on the reality of the sinlessly pure, majestically holy, radiantly beautiful person of “I am” – our uncreated, always existent Sovereign, Holy God, the God of all creation – Genesis 1:1; Psalm 33-34; Isaiah 44:6; 40:5-8; 42:5-8; 48:8-11; Revelation 20:11-15; 21-22; Isaiah 46:8-10. The secondary focus of this command is on how He desires you as His child to lovingly respond to Him as you live each day as a faithful steward of what He entrusts to you each day – Romans 13:1-10; I Thessalonians 4:9-12; I Timothy 2:1-4; I Peter 2:9-19. How amazing and humanly incomprehensible it is to know that the glorious, sinless, uncreated, always existent sovereign God who created you (Psalm 139; Acts 17:26) and chose you to be His beloved child, the bride of His Holy Son, loves you with an infinite love (Jeremiah 31:3) that commands you to delight yourself in Him so that He might pour out that infinite love on you as you humbly, gratefully, lovingly delight yourself in Him. And what does it mean to delight yourself in Him? The Hebrew word translated “delight” in the context of this passage means “to take pleasure in”, and in this case God, in His infinite love is calling His own to take great pleasure in Him – not for what He has done, is doing, or will do in the future, but in the majestic splendor of who He is – I am. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines the verb “delight” as “being affected with great pleasure; to please and be highly pleased; to give or afford high satisfaction or joy”. Webster further states that “Delight is a more permanent pleasure than joy, and not dependent on sudden emotion or feeling”. In other words, to delight yourself in the Lord is a conscious, willful, intentional act of your rational mind to worshipfully, gratefully, lovingly, trustingly take great, inexpressible pleasure and joy in His Holy Trinitarian person.
V5 – “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it.”
Command #8 – “Commit your way. . . . .”
Herein we find yet another command that harkens back, in the Psalmists instruction here in this thirty seventh Psalm, to the third of his ten commands, as found in verse 3 – “Trust in the Lord. . . . .”. This word commit is a word that fundamentally means “to roll” as in “to roll ones self over onto or into something or someone”. Clearly, in the context of this passage, the Psalmist meaning is to, with deliberate intention, trustingly, confidently roll yourself and the circumstances and responsibilities of your life over into God’s immutable, loving embrace (Deuteronomy 33:12; Isaiah 52:12; Psalm 139:5; Romans 8) that you might go forth as a faithful steward of His plan for you in His kingdom service each new day – Psalm 118:24; Matthew 6:25-34 (vv33-34); 25:14-30; Philippians 4:4-13 (v11).
V7 – “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. . . . .”
Command #9 – “Rest in the Lord. . . . .”
To rest in the Lord, as here stated, denotes one primary meaning expressed in a number of ways – “to keep silent; to be motionless; to relax; to stay still; to wait in silence”. In the context of our passage it refers to “the absence of mental and emotional distress and churning that is evidenced by the ability to be quiet and relaxed”. The first of these ten commands we are considering in this study, as found in verse 1, is a command that speaks to the practical, living, reality of this rest, here in verse 7, as evidenced in the life of a child of God who trusts Him and obeys what verse 1 commands – “Do not fret. . . . .”. It is this “rest” that Paul speaks of in Philippians 4:7 when he speaks of that “. . . . .peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension. . . . .” that “. . . . .will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” And as pointed out in the seventh command, in verse 4, just as we are to “delight in” the radiantly beautiful, sinless, holy “person” of God, in like manner the believer is commanded here in verse 7, to “rest in” His holy person in the confident assurance of the eternally fixed, immutable, irrevocable faithfulness of God to His own – Deuteronomy 33:12; Isaiah 52:12; Psalm 139:5; Romans 8:1-2,11,14-17,26-30,31*,32-35,37-39.
Be ever mindful that obedience of any command of God is the righteous response of a new loving, grateful, trusting heart and mind – II Corinthians 5:17; John 14:15,21,23.
Command #10 – “. . . . .wait patiently for Him. . . . .”
In Isaiah 40:31 the children of God are commanded to “. . . . .wait on the Lord. . . . .” and promised that those who obediently do so “. . . . .will mount up with wings like eagles. . . . .” – Psalm 84:11. To “wait on the Lord” is to (as His grateful, loving, joyfully worshipping faithful child & steward) quietly, contentedly trust Him & obey Him, joyfully embracing each new day (Psalm 118:24) that He entrusts to you here, as the precursor to doing so in His Holy presence in sinless, glorified perfection for all eternity – I Peter 1:3-6a (II Corinthians 4:7-11); Isaiah 25:3,9; 53:7***; Lamentations 3:21-32; Matthew 6:33-34; 27:14; Psalm 27:14***; 37:34; 46:10; Romans 8:23*. So, here in verse 7, the tenth command to those who would be learning to think like an heir to the kingdom of God is to “. . . . .wait patiently for Him. . . . .”. I would suggest for your consideration, that no child of God will ever “. . . . .wait patiently for Him. . . . .” apart from first loving Him and trusting Him, which takes us back to the third command in verse 3. Don’t overlook the significance of the adverb “patiently” in this tenth command. This adverb tells us how to “wait”. To “. . . . .wait patiently. . . . .” is to wait with a trusting, longing, living hope in the sure confidence of the faithfulness of God (see Command # 6 in verse 3) to fulfill every promise He has made to you as His child and heir to His Holy kingdom – II Corinthians 1:17-21; Revelation 20:11-15; Isaiah 46:8-10***.
As a final thought concerning God’s immutable, irrevocable (Romans 11:29,33-36), full and sufficient provision for each of His beloved children to indeed live victoriously as heirs to His Holy kingdom, trustingly embrace, with a grateful heart and mind, the truth of His provision for you as revealed in II Peter 1:1-4.