Trouble the Seekers of Wealth

Meaning in Psalm 37

Alfred D. Byrd

ENVYING doers of wrong makes sense
If you see their success as destined to last.
The ones who care for themselves alone
Will do what it takes to get ahead.
They make their plans for gain and for ease
Without regard for truth and justice,
Troublesome concepts for seekers of wealth
Who want the world no matter what comes.
To them, the poor are no more than prey
That they hunt for the sake of a coin or two—
Enough of the poor, and the coins pile up.
The ones who speak of truth and justice
Trouble the seekers of wealth in their work
And become a target for lies and for laws
That favor the worldly ahead of the just.
The ones who want to get rich right now
Will borrow a bundle and scorn to pay back
A penny as long as evil prospers.

Anger arises within our hearts
When we see our neighbors do well from wrongness.
Anger at best can yield us redress
When we keep control of how we respond
To what has moved us to rise and do battle.
Anger, however, can be deceptive,
Leading the righteous to wrongs of their own.
The fire of anger within our hearts
Can burn out reason and lead us astray.
The counsel of anger seems strong and sure
To one who gives in to a fire of rage;
At last, however, that fire dies out,
And ashes alone may remain behind
To mock the one who trusted in feelings.
Often, one's anger destroys oneself.
To hold a grudge is to eat one's own heart
With envy and grief, the jaws of despair.

How little or much a person possesses
Matters far less than how one gets it.
Serving our God is why we are here.
To work with one's hands the thing that is right
And to share with others truly in need
Fulfills the will of the One Who made us.
Honor the light and work while it's day.
Although the world rewards the wicked,
Even the worst prefers to rely
On one who's faithful in doing one's job.
Our God has told us to give good value,
Never to slack, or renege on a debt,
And to pause at times to honor our Maker.
Doing our tasks as servants of truth,
We may hold without guilt whatever we earn.

In time, we'll see what comes of evil,
Pleasant without, but rotten within.
As it grows, it bears within it a seed
That will sprout to yield destruction and death.
How often the one who draws a sword
Will sheathe that sword within one's own heart.
The One Who designed and shaped the world
Has decreed for each act a return in kind:
In good for good; in evil for evil.
Briefly, wrongdoers may flout good counsel;
Finally, justice will have its day.
The fat that builds up from greed and from theft
Will burn at length in a fire of judgment;
Nothing but smoke will remain in the end
Of what one has done apart from our God.
The one who borrows and means to default
May laugh and dance in a time of grace,
But will mourn at the words, "Your payment is due!"

For those, however, who seek to do good,
Desire the truth, and bow to their God,
The road ahead will reach salvation.
Rescue will come from the Throne on high
To those who call on the One in faith.
The world is the work of the hands of our God,
Who retains the title to all that is,
Whatever voices of evil may claim.
Our God will give the wicked nothing—
Darkness and death, not life and light!
To others, however, humble and trusting,
Setting their Maker above all else,
Our God will give the status of heirs
Who share a world created for good.
If we trust our God amid the darkness,
Heaven will bless us at length with light.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.