Scripture Daily

Context No. 1990 of 4322 · Psalms

Context · Reflection

Psalms 37:17-32: in context

17For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous. 18The LORD knows the days of the perfect. Their inheritance shall be forever. 19They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil. In the days of famine they shall be satisfied. 20But the wicked shall perish. The enemies of the LORD shall be like the beauty of the fields. They will vanish— vanish like smoke. 21The wicked borrow, and don’t pay back, but the righteous give generously. 22For such as are blessed by him shall inherit the land. Those who are cursed by him shall be cut off. 23A man’s steps are established by the LORD. He delights in his way. 24Though he stumble, he shall not fall, for the LORD holds him up with his hand. 25I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread. 26All day long he deals graciously, and lends. His offspring is blessed. 27Depart from evil, and do good. Live securely forever. 28For the LORD loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. 29The righteous shall inherit the land, and live in it forever. 30The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom. His tongue speaks justice. 31The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. 32The wicked watch the righteous, and seek to kill him.

This psalm contrasts the fate of the wicked with the security of the righteous. The arms of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous. And it gives a promise about those who belong to God: though he stumble, he shall not fall, for the LORD holds him up with his hand. The steps of a good man are established by the LORD; and even when he stumbles, God's hand keeps him from being utterly cast down.

The line worth holding is this: though he stumble, he shall not fall, for the LORD holds him up with his hand. Notice that the righteous person is not promised he will never stumble; he may stumble, and does. What he is promised is that his stumbling will not be a final fall, because God holds him up. The difference is not between those who stumble and those who do not, but between stumbling into ruin and stumbling while held by God's hand. The one whom God upholds may stumble, but will not be utterly cast down, because the hand that holds him keeps him from the final fall. There is great comfort here for those who stumble, as all of us do. We fail, we fall into sin, we falter, we lose our footing; and we can fear that a stumble means the end, that we have fallen away, that we are ruined. This promise says otherwise: though we stumble, we shall not fall, for the LORD holds us up with his hand. Our stumbling is real, but it is not the last word, because God's hand holds us. He does not let his own be utterly cast down by their stumbles; he holds them up, keeps them, restores them. This is not license to stumble carelessly; the psalm is not excusing sin. But it is assurance for those who fear their stumbles have finished them: that the security of the righteous rests not on their never stumbling, which they cannot promise, but on God's hand that holds them, which does not fail. God is able to keep us from stumbling, and, when we do stumble, to hold us so that the stumble is not a final fall. There is one able to keep you from stumbling, Jude says, and to present you faultless. When we stumble and fear we have fallen beyond recovery, we may hold to this: that God's hand holds us, that our stumbling is not our undoing, that the one who upholds his own will not let them be utterly cast down. Though we stumble, we shall not fall, not because we do not stumble, but because the LORD holds us up with his hand.

When I stumble and fear that my failure has finished me, that I have fallen away beyond recovery, can I take hold of the promise that though the righteous stumble they shall not fall, because the LORD holds them up with his hand, so that my security rests not on my never stumbling but on God's hand that holds me and will not let me be utterly cast down?

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