Better Distance Vision

From Psalm 37 – 1 Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and whether as the green herb. 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit Your Way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and he shall bring it to pass. 6 he shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice 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 brings wicked schemes to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret – it only causes harm. 9 For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait for the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. 10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more.

Unusual circumstances yesterday brought me to abide in intergenerational company. As we waited together, it startled me to hear someone in the latter end of her middle years admit to a physical improvement as her age progressed. I haven't known this to be the norm.

She said specifically that as she has aged her distance vision has improved. The author of the 37th Psalm is attesting to something similar. He knows the tendency to fret, to be angry, to draw from wrath because people seem to unjustly prosper. He knows that tendency, but his distance vision is improving with his years. As a result, he is taking the long view, having seen that in God's sovereignty what is ill-gotten will not be long-held.

His long-distance vision is binocular. Not only is he able to see what those who fail to trust in the Lord won't keep. He can see the contrast in what grace will give the godly. He compares what some grab and can't keep with progress that God brings forth (verse six) under the noonday sun when other growth is withering. There is a beautiful emphasis on the sovereignty of God Who not only brings forth, but bequeaths to those who wait and inherit (verse 10).

An optometrist friend in our waiting company yesterday rooted the original analogy in present hope. If we can begin to see the improved distance vision of maturing years as an aspiration, we need not wait for it and excuse bitterness in the meantime. If the body is our picture of the way God matures the soul, and the eyes of the soul, then the optometrist assures me, "Our lenses change from the moment we are born until the moment we die." They will, then, grow clearer or more cloudy today. We will focus more on God's blessing or on what others have.

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