Summer 1998
Fret Not
Dr. Ronald Taylor
President of Pinecrest

"Do not fret ... trust in the Lord ... delight
yourself in the Lord ... commit your way to
the Lord ... and wait patiently for Him"

"Refrain from anger and turn from wrath. Do
not fret, it leads only to evil ... but
those who hope in the Lord will inherit
the land" Psalm 37:1-9 Selected.

Our fretting, or being anxious, is the breeding ground for anger and frustration. We cannot empty our minds of these things, but we can displace these thoughts. Therefore, a substitute is given - trust, delight, commitment, and patience.

Once, while preaching where the pulpit was in front of a window, I noticed that everyone seemed to be enjoying what I was saying. In fact, I was feeling pretty good - until I discovered that a dog was outside the window with his nose pressed against the glass. Everyone was responding to the dog, not to my preaching. The podium was moved so no one could be tempted to look outside during the message.

The temptation to distraction was removed so we could better direct our thoughts. Thus, we focus our attention, not by leaving a vacuum, but as David suggests, by filling our minds with good things. He lists four keys which will help us to do this.

1. Trust in the Lord. If we are actively trusting in the
Lord, we will not be fretting. If we are anxious, it
is a sign that our trust in the Lord should be increased.

2. Delight yourself in the Lord. If we are delighting
in the Lord, we will not say, "I am doing this only
because it is required it of me. This is better
than nothing, at least we are being obedient.

However, the Lord is both pleased and delighted, when
our attitude is, "I will really launch myself into
this with exuberance, because this is what the Lord
asked me to do, and I want to please Him."

3. Commit your way unto the Lord. The Septuagint version
renders "commit your way to the Lord" as "lay open your
way to the Lord." We are to make room for the Lord to
have input into our lives.

4. Wait patiently for Him. It would be unusual for any one
of us to receive a personal prophetic word that some great
thing is about to happen, and then patiently wait.

Have you noticed that whenever we pray for patience, we soon receive an opportunity to be patient? If we fail to exercise patience at this point, we will fail the test.

If we find ourselves fretting over circumstances, or becoming impatient and angry, perhaps one, or all four of these keys to a victory over fretting are lacking, and we need to make a correction.

Notice that this Scripture tells us to "refrain from anger and turn from wrath." We would not be told to refrain from something, if we had no part in the decision.

Therefore, we can "refrain" and "turn." This will not happen while we are casually indifferent. Instead, we are to replace our anger or wrath by proclaiming with resolution,

"I will trust in the Lord. I will commit my way to Him. I will delight myself in those things He has set before me. I will patiently wait for Him."

David tells us that the more we practice these four things the less we will fret.

There are two things to note here, the Lord's part and our part. If I do those things which the Lord tells me to do, then He will do the things that only He can do.

Psalm 37:5 tells us, "Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass."

The times I have been the most frustrated is when I stopped focusing on my part, and tried to do the Lord's part. If in any way, we feel that the Lord has abandoned us, or that His promises are not being fulfilled, we should carefully consider what is our part, and what is His part.

Trust, delight, commit, and then, wait. You will be pleased with the result. Our Lord is faithful and will do what He has promised.