Psalm 37:9 — For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the Lord, They shall inherit the earth.

Key Thought: God’s purpose is our greatest asset

Prayer: Teach me how to wait on what You are preparing

“Evildoers shall be cut off”
The Hebrew phrase “cut off” speaks of severance, removal, or loss of standing. In covenant language, “cut off” means exclusion from blessing. It does not necessarily mean death.

The focus of this text the unsustainability of evil. The history of the world has seen many evil persons, governments (such as Nazi Germany), and evil deeds. Along with the blessings of God we see the perils of life and people of bad will.

Biblically, “evildoers” are those who act unjustly, oppress others, prosper through wrongdoing, and benefit from manipulated systems. Evil involves willful participation in what harms others and dishonors God. Evildoers may flourish for a time, but their influence and works will not endure.

This is not something we can simply pray away. It is something we work on as Christ followers, communities, and citizens. Sometimes Jesus helped people just for the sake of helping people (such as feeding and healing others). He was not always “evangelizing,” because His motive was loving and serving people.

“Those who wait on the LORD”
The Hebrew word “wait” means more than time passing. It carries the idea of hope, expectancy, patience, and active faith in God.

We wait and expect because God’s power is greater than our power. Our faith is expressed through endurance and obedience to His instructions. Waiting on the Lord is the antidote to fretting. Instead of overreacting to evil, we remain anchored in God’s timing and character.

From this place of strength, we can gain wisdom to know what to do. When you are at the airport waiting for a flight, technicians are preparing the airplane and making sure there is nothing impeding your route. When you are waiting, God is working.

“They shall inherit the earth”
“Inherit” is a covenant word. Biblically, inheritance is connected to continuity, belonging, and stability. Jesus said, “I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it” (Revelation 3:8).

“To inherit the earth” is more than land ownership (which comes later). It is participation in God’s ordered world, living within His purposes and enjoying what He provides. These things can happen while we are living on this earth, even among evildoers.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). We do not want this earth in its present state forever. We want to make the best of the environments in which we live during our lifetimes.

When it is all said and done, there will be a new heaven and a new earth in which we will live and reign with Christ. But our focus now is to serve God’s purposes in our generation.

Reflection Question: In light of this Scripture and lesson, what does waiting on the Lord mean?

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Sermon Summary: “The God of Your Days”
Pastor Bryan Hudson, D.Min.

Psalm 37 is a psalm of wisdom, not lament. It instructs believers how to live faithfully when injustice and wickedness appear to prosper. God’s command to “do not fret” calls for courageous engagement without anxiety, fear, or spiritual distortion.

“The LORD knows the days of the upright” affirms God’s intimate involvement in every season of life—past, present, and future. God is the God of all our days, including times of joy, hardship, abundance, and loss.

God’s faithfulness extends across generations. Long before we were born, God was already at work, planting seeds through the faith, obedience, and integrity of those who came before us. Our true inheritance is not merely material but includes faith, character, courage, and purpose—things that outlast wealth and recognition.

Remembering and preserving inheritance is essential. Forgetting history weakens identity, while intentional storytelling strengthens future generations.

Above all, God Himself is our greatest inheritance. Unlike material possessions, what God gives cannot be lost, diminished, or destroyed. Because our hope is in Him—not in systems or people—we will not be ashamed in evil times.

God preserves His people through both trust and action. Faith works through obedience, wisdom, and responsibility. Even in seasons of famine—spiritual or natural—those who remain grounded in God’s Word will be satisfied.

Final Affirmation:
God is the God of our days.
He knows the days of the upright.
Our inheritance in Him is forever.
We will not be ashamed in evil times.
In days of famine, we will be satisfied.

Greetings! Today we begin our 21-day journey through Psalm 37!

Our theme is “Learning to Love God More.” We will go verse by verse and allow the Lord to speak to our hearts and minds. In addition to myself, other contributors include Patricia Hudson, Stacy Williams, Min. Bertha Fields, and Pastor Lee Rob. I will be writing the majority of the lessons, and I deeply appreciate the contributions of these fellow servants of God.

Lessons will be posted by 5:30AM each day. I encourage you to incorporate these brief lessons into your regular devotional rhythm.

Would also like to invite you to join New Covenant Church for Corporate Prayer on Zoom Wednesday evening at 7:30 PM (EST).  

If you'd like to do your own study in the book of Psalms 37, here are some resources:

Enduring Word

https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-37/

Bible Gateway; (The paid version has many more resources)

https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/

StudyLight

https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dsb.html#google_vignette

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Day 1 — Do Not Fret

Scripture: Psalm 37:1,
Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

Key Thought: Anxiety over evil drains the soul more than evil itself.

Prayer: “Lord, quiet my spirit and anchor my trust in You.”

It is no exaggeration to say that we are witnessing, in real time in our nation, workers of iniquity. This is not something new, but rarely has it been on full display at a national level among national political leaders. We are seeing despotism and dictatorial tactics in a nation where the Constitution says that “We The People” are the basis of our form of government—what Abraham Lincoln described as government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

I share this because we have to be very mindful of not allowing ourselves to fret when we consider what is going on. Here in our state of Indiana, we are seeing situations that are harmful to people, especially the most vulnerable among us.

As we are dealing with many grievous situations in our world, those of us who will not be silent must maintain balance. We must remain vigilant and active. At the same time, we must avoid strife or becoming obsessed with the deeds of evildoers.

The Scripture plainly says, “do not fret.” As a matter of fact, in Psalm 37 the words “do not fret” appear three times. The third mention, in verse 8, states: “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm.”

So while we who will not be silent, as many others are, must stay engaged. We also have to draw closer to God and keep our hearts clear of wrath, strife, and fretfulness.

One way to do that is what we are doing right now—spending time in the Word, in prayer, and allowing the Holy Spirit to minister peace to our hearts.

Jesus said in John 14:26–27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Through this peace, we can steady our troubled hearts, and we will not fear the actions of ungodly people.

REFLECTION QUESTION: "In what ways, specifically, do I need to stop fretting?"

Key insight I gained today:

Today’s action item based on insight:

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Sermon Summary: “Delight: Learning to Trust God More”

Pastor Bryan Hudson, D.Min.

www.BryanHudson.com / www.NewCovenant.org

This sermon introduces the spiritual theme of delight as both the 2026 vision emphasis and the foundation for a 21-day devotional journey through Psalm 37. Pastor Hudson teaches that delighting in the Lord is not passive emotion but an intentional, practiced orientation of life that results in deeper trust in God and fulfilled desires aligned with His will.

Foundational Scriptures

• Psalm 37:3–5, 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. 
• Psalm 90:12 – “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

These texts frame the message by connecting trust, delight, wisdom, and stewardship of life.

Numbering Our Days: Wisdom Through Awareness

Psalm 90:12 teaches that life has limits, and those limits are a gift. Recognizing limitation brings clarity and focus, helping believers invest energy in what truly matters.

Key insights:

• Limitation is not negative: It helps eliminate distractions and refocus purpose.
• Time is a stewardship: Time is non-renewable; once spent, it cannot be reclaimed.
• Wisdom values quality over quantity: As maturity grows, the goal shifts from “trying everything” to living intentionally.
• Awareness matters: Living “awake” to God’s activity helps believers avoid taking people, opportunities, or blessings for granted.

What Delight Really Means

Delight is a simple word with profound spiritual significance.

Delight reflects three things:

1. Desire – what you want
2. Disposition – your attitude and emotional posture
3. Direction – where your life is headed

Biblically, delight means to bend, incline, or shape. What a person delights in is what they are ultimately bent toward. Over time, delight forms character, priorities, and spiritual posture.

If someone dislikes what they see in their desires or direction, God’s grace allows for intentional change.

The Power of Choice and Obedience

God leads, but believers still choose. Personal power lies in decision-making aligned with God’s will.

Psalm 37 outlines repeated actions:

• Trust (in the Lord), Do (good), Dwell (in the land), Feed (on His faithfulness), Delight (yourself in the Lord), Commit (Your way to the Lord), Trust (in Him) 
• These are not one-time acts but repeated behaviors that train the heart.
• [WATCH VIDEO]

Parable of Spiritual Formation: Learning Changes the Brain

Using a scientific illustration of learning (neural pathways and muscle memory), Pastor Hudson explains that:

• Repetition creates pathways.
• Practice strengthens habits.
• What becomes “second nature” is the result of sustained discipline.

Spiritually, obedience works the same way. Prayer, worship, generosity, faithfulness, and trust are learned behaviors that shape a believer’s inner life over time.

Christian growth is not transactional (“pray once and move on”) but relational and transformational.

Delight Can Shape Us for Good—or Harm

Just as hearts can be shaped toward God, they can also be trained toward foolishness.

• Proverbs 1:22, “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.
• Culture often reinforces habits that produce spiritual immaturity.

The key question becomes: “How am I bent?”

What a person practices repeatedly eventually defines their nature.

Do Not Glory in Gifts—Glory in Knowing God

Jeremiah 9:23–24 warns against placing confidence in wisdom, strength, or wealth.

Important truths:

• Blessings can become burdens if they replace trust in God.
• Success without spiritual grounding leads to misplaced confidence.
• True delight is found in understanding and knowing the Lord.

Trusting God more requires trusting things less.

God Delights in His People

David’s testimony in 2 Samuel 22:19 shows that God delivered him because He delighted in him. Looking back over hardship reveals God’s faithful support and deliverance into “broad places” of freedom.

This echoes the old gospel lyric:

“I look back and wonder how I got over.”

God brings His people through—not because of perfection, but because of faithful relationship.

Seeking the Kingdom Is a Continual Practice

Jesus taught that seeking the Kingdom is ongoing, not occasional. Delight requires consistent alignment, shaping believers so God can bless them without the blessing overwhelming them.

Matthew 6:33, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

God: Shapes before He gives, Trains before He entrusts, Aligns before He expands

Blessings are meant to be enjoyed and shared, not idolized.

God’s Pleasure Is to Give

Luke 12:31, But seek [delight in] the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure [delight] to give you the kingdom.

There is:

• No begging
• No striving
• No manipulation

When hearts are aligned, desires become pure, motives mature, and requests reflect God’s will.

The Promise of Alignment

Isaiah 58:14 declares that those who delight in the Lord will:

• Ride on the “high places” of God’s purpose
• Walk in freedom
• Live unrestrained in God’s will

This is not about fame or excess, but about living fully in God’s intended design.

Conclusion

Delight is learned. Trust is cultivated. Faithfulness forms pathways in the heart.

As believers are trained, shaped, and bent toward God:

• Trust deepens
• Desires align
• Blessings become sustainable
• Life reflects God’s purpose

The prayer of the sermon:

“Lord, train me, shape me, and bend me into a form that pleases You. I am learning to trust You more.”

Matthew 18:1,  At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

God’s Word as the Calibration Standard
Psalm 119:105, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Life must be aligned to God’s Word to avoid drift, error, or distortion.

2 Corinthians 13:5, Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.
We don't need to make assumptions or just operate on our feelings. The Bible gives us objective standards.

Renewal of the Mind is like a Recalibration
Romans 12:2, Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The world introduces bias and noise; the mind must be recalibrated so perception and decision-making reflect God’s will.

Correction and Course Adjustment
Proverbs 3:5–6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart… He shall direct your paths.”

Serving
1 John 3:16–18, Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

TRANSCRIPT:

Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute – Talk #204

Topic: The Value of Struggle

Greetings and welcome to another Firm Foundation Inspiration Minute.
This is Talk #204, and our topic today is The Value of Struggle.

I’m going to spend a bit more time with this topic by reading from Genesis chapter 32, beginning at verse 24:

“Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now, when He saw that He could not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me.’ And He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Jacob.’ And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with man and have prevailed.’”

There are many lessons to learn from this text—not just what I’ve read, but the whole context. Today, we’re focusing on the lesson of the value of struggle.

Struggle as a Divine Encounter

We read that Jacob was alone with God.
The text calls Him a man, but we know this was a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus Christ. This struggle was designed to take Jacob to another level.

We sometimes perceive struggle as a hindrance, but the Apostle James made it clear that when trials and tests come, we should not think it strange.

James said:

“Do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you.”

He compared it to gold being refined in fire.

He also said:

“Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

And then he tells us that patience has a work—to make us complete and entire, lacking nothing.

So there is value in your struggle, but you have to frame it that way. You have to see it that way in the grace of God.

Persistence in the Pain

As Jacob and this Man wrestled until the breaking of day, when the Man saw He could not prevail against him, He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip. His hip went out of joint.

But even in the midst of Jacob’s hip being out of joint, he continued to wrestle until the Man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.”

Jacob replied, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”

One of the values we gain in struggle is not giving up—not quitting, not caving in, not making excuses. Because if you are in a struggle in the will of God, there is a purpose for it. God is doing something to elevate you.

Again, as James said:

“Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

So even though Jacob was in pain, even though his hip was out of joint, he kept wrestling until he prevailed.

Understanding Jacob’s Name

When the Man asked him, “What is your name?” he said, “My name is Jacob.”

We often think of Jacob as the supplanter and deceiver, but I believe the greater revelation is this:

When Jacob was born, he was the twin of his brother Esau. Esau came out first, and the Bible says Jacob had a hold of Esau’s heel. When they pulled Esau out, Jacob came with him, gripping his brother’s heel.

The name Jacob literally means “one who takes the heel.”

I’ve always considered this an attribute of Jacob—
the tenacity,
the sticking with it,
the not giving up,
the holding on to the heel.

So when God asked him, “What is your name?” it was as if he was saying,
“I am the one who takes hold of the heel and won’t let go.”

He proved his value and his purpose in that struggle.

From Jacob to Israel

Then the Man said:

“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Israel means “one who struggles with God” or “God strives.”
It is a name that represents the value of struggle.

The one who persevered—even sometimes to his own detriment—was elevated through struggle. God acknowledged him as one who struggles with God and prevails.

When the Bible says the Man could not overpower him, it was not that God was weak. God allowed resistance to test him and to grow him. This was not a power struggle—this was a relational struggle.

God wanted to elevate the relationship between Himself and Jacob, and that happened through struggle.

The Limp Was Repositioning, Not Punishment

Jacob’s limp was not punishment—it was repositioning.

He could no longer walk in self-sufficiency.
He could no longer identify as the one who “takes hold of the heel and won’t let go.”
That is self-sufficiency.

He had learned to trust God, to engage God, and to stay engaged with God.

One of the things about disability—or helping people with disability—is that it makes you recognize your need for help and assistance from others.

A Word for 2026

As we enter this new year, 2026, recognize the value of struggle—past, present, or future. Don’t look at it as something to hinder you. Realize that no matter what happens, God is elevating you, and you will not be the same after an encounter with God.

The most important lesson is this:

You will be less self-sufficient and more God-sufficient.

Ministry Update

As you may be aware, I am on a mini sabbatical for the month of January.

I invited Pastor Lee Robb to minister at New Covenant Church, and he brought a very important message entitled “Desires That Don’t Betray You.” Be sure to click the link in this blog to watch that message on YouTube and download the detailed summary.

I appreciate Pastor Robb for being such a blessing.

This coming Sunday, we will be blessed by the ministry of Jan Mitchell.

God bless. Have a great day, and be encouraged.

Ecclesiastes 10:10, If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but wisdom brings success.

Message from Sunday, December 28
Joy is Delight – Bent for God

Psalm 37:3, 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.

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Psalm 37:3, 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.

Dr. Bryan Hudson teaches that biblical joy is not dependent on circumstances but is a deep, settled gladness rooted in God’s presence, promises, and purposes. Joy is defined as delight—being “bent” toward God in devotion, obedience, and purpose—rather than temporary happiness that comes and goes.

Drawing from Luke 2, Psalm 37, Nehemiah, and Habakkuk, the message explains that true joy develops as believers delight themselves in the Lord, abide in Him daily, and remain committed to His will even in difficulty. Using Nehemiah’s example, Dr. Hudson shows that joy is strengthened when people refuse to become comfortable in complacency, stay aligned with God’s mission, and serve others faithfully. Ultimately, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” because a life bent toward God produces enduring resilience, purpose, and spiritual power.

Message from Sunday, December 21
"Good Tidings of Great Joy"

Luke 2:8, Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.