Befriend Faithfulness (Psalm 37:3)

 

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Psalm 37

Exodus 28:1-6; 29:1-9

John 11:45-54

Befriend Faithfulness (Psalm 37:3)

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

“I think, taking it all round, I used to be happier when I was mostly hard up – and more generous. When I had ten pounds I was more likely to listen to a chap who said, ‘Lend me a pound note, Joe,’ than when I had fifty; then I fought shy of careless chaps – and lost mates that I wanted afterwards – and got the name of being mean. When I got a good cheque I’d be as miserable as a miser over the first ten pounds I spent; but when I got down to the last I’d buy things for the house.” Henry Lawson wrote these words in his short story A Double Buggy At Lahey’s Creek, where the man of the property is going back and forth over buying his wife an expensive but comfortable doubly buggy.

The farther from poverty we get, the greater the fear of it, he continues. And isn’t this so true – that when we are hard up, the hand of generosity opens. But when we are flush, we are worried about losing it, and so the hand closes up again.

Today’s Psalm gives us a broader idea of how we ought to approach wealth – both that of our own, and of others. Scrounging and scraping wealth from the dust, such as the wicked man in the Psalm, reveals only temporary wealth. But wealth from the Lord is enduring, and remains forever. The righteous man, by contrast, is always lending generously, and his children are a blessing, and never begging for their bread. (vv. 25-26)

If we take Lawson’s theory of human generosity, then the righteous man is actually poorer than the wicked man, because he is generous, and generosity is easier when one has less to give. But how much easier and happier is life when we have less to lose and can therefore give generously, and especially if we know that that generosity is blessed by the Lord!

We know that Christ became poor for our sake so that we may become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9) Our giving is so that others may be blessed, and also that it is not so that we may be burdened by our giving, but that all may share in the blessings of God. (2 Cor 8:1-15) Perhaps it is worth keeping a couple of notes in our pocket when we leave the house, just in case we pass one of God’s saints on the streets who could use the money more than we. Faithfulness is a much better friend than money.

Who is a better friend to you – your money, or your faithfulness? How might you grow your friendship with your faithfulness instead of your money?

Lord of all wealth, who gives all good things to your creation: bless our hearts in faithful generosity, that we may in turn be participants in your blessing upon the world.