“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, 
and He delights in his way.
When he falls, he will not be hurled down, 
because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.
I have been young and now I am old, 
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his descendants begging for bread.  
All day long he is gracious and lends, 
and his descendants are a blessing.”
~~Psalm 37:23-26~~

This passage holds so much.   Let’s jump in!

GOD’S PLANS  

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord 
and He delights in his way.”  

The Hebrew word for steps <miṣʿāḏ> literally means a step, but in this verse it is used figuratively to mean, companionship or course of life.  The word established <kûn> means to be made erect or to be prepared by.  Now, consider what those two words put together mean. 

God has chosen to be my companion and has prepared my course of life!  The Creator of all, who has always existed (that truth still makes my head hurt trying to grasp it), the Lord of Hosts has done that for His own!  Just wow…

The second half of that verse tells us that God delights in our way.  The Hebrew word for delights <ḥāp̄ēṣ> means to take pleasure in, to be pleased with; to incline, to bend

PAUSE TO PONDER  What comes to mind when you think of “to incline, to bend”?  What comes to my mind is leaning into the person that you love.  You want to be close to them, so you bend/incline to get as close as possible.  This reminds me of when my hubby and I were dating.   To sit by the passenger door in the car was too far from him, so I scooted to the middle, or if we were at church, I would “bend” so that my shoulder was touching his.  It’s the same with God.  He wants no distance between us and Him.  That gives me the “feels”.  The God of the universe delights in me!  

<Dereḵ> is the Hebrew word for in his way and it means a road, as trodden; figuratively, a course of life or mode of action; an undertaking.  I looked trodden up in the dictionary and it means to step or walk over, to form a path by treading, to beat or press with the feet.  To me that denotes a habit and in conjunction with the “road”, it means the way you always take.  

PAUSE TO PONDER why God delights in the actions and undertakings of the kind of person this verse is referring to.  Because the person is walking the road the Lord designated for him to walk.  He is following God’s lead.  He’s following God’s plan.  

GOD’S PROTECTION 

“When he falls, he will not be hurled down 
because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.”

The first thing I noticed was, the word “when” was used, not the word “if”.   Just because we belong to God doesn’t mean that we won’t fall.  The phrase “he will not be hurled down” <ṭûl> denotes being hurled down headlong.  This brings to mind how God protected Job.  While Job experienced hardship and loss, God was protecting him by telling the evil one “this far and no further”.  God is in control of everything, good or bad, that comes into our lives.

PAUSE TO PONDER ”The Lord is the One who holds his hand.”  In Hebrew, holds <samak> means to support, to prop.  Reflexively, it means to lean upon or take hold of. 

God will prop me up as I lean into Him. 
His stability and strength is there,
but I have to humble myself and lean
into His support and strength and stability.  

GOD’S PROVISION

“I have been young and now I am old, 
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken 
or his descendants begging for bread.”   

Consider the two things addressed in this verse — the spiritual (“forsaken”) and the physical (“begging for bread”).  

The Hebrew word for forsaken <ʿāzaḇ> is in participle form (it’s an “-ing” word – God will never be forsaking us.) and it means to loosen; i.e. relinquish, permit.  The dictionary defines “forsake” as: to renounce or turn away from entirely; and relinquish as: to withdraw or retreat from; leave behind; to stop holding physically.   

“God has said … Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 
~~Hebrews 13:5~~

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
 no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
~~John 10:28~~

NEVER FORSAKEN!!  

NEVER TAKEN!!

We will never be forsaken, nor will God’s children be begging for bread.  God will always provide.  It may not be in the means or manner we expect, but He will provide!!  I think of the hungry, grumbling Israelites.  God provided both manna (they’d never seen such a thing before) and quail (the birds came to them versus them having to hunt).  Pretty unconventional means, but God provided!!!  

GOD’S PURPOSE

 “All day long he is gracious and lends, and his descendants are a blessing.”

The first thing I noticed here was how verses 25 and 26 go together.  While God indeed wants to bless the righteous, it’s not just for them, but it’s because God knows that the righteous heart is a giving heart. 

What God  blesses righteous people with 
flows “to” them, then “through” them to others.   

The Hebrew word for the phrase all day long <kol> means the whole, in every manner, and it speaks of time and manner.  What’s the significance of “time” AND “manner”?  Well, if I’m somewhere all day long that refers to a 24 hours period, where if I’m doing something all day long, it refers to the action of “doing”.  So, since <kol> is both, we know that every 24 hours of time God is doing something.  What is He doing?  

God faithfully provides and then the righteous person is then gracious <ḥānan> to others.  <Hānan> is an active, “-ing” word (a continual, ongoing action) that means to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior, i.e., the poor, needy, orphans, etc.

God owns everything we see.  The things in our possession have been lended to us by Him.  So the righteous person is willing to lend <lāvâ> (also an active, “-ing” word) to others.  <Lāvâ>means to twine; by implication to unite; causatively, to lend.  

God keeps on giving to us, we keep on lending to others.  

PAUSE TO PONDER the phrase “to twine”.  What happens when you twine two things?  When you twine two things together, they become stronger.  Also, “to twine” has been used to describe embracing, encircling or enfolding something, and to coil about a support.  That definition really matches the description of the early church in Acts 2:44-46.

“And all those who had believed [in Jesus as Savior] 
were together and had all things in common
[considering their possessions to belong to the group as a whole].  
And they began selling their property and possessions 
and were sharing the proceeds with all [the other believers], 
as anyone who had need.  
Day after day they continued to meet together
in the temple [area] continuing with one mind, 
and breaking bread in various private homes. 
They were eating their meals together with joy and generous hearts.”  
~~Acts 2:44-46~~

The group of believers in Acts surely were living out Psalm 37:23-26 as they experienced God’s plan, His protection, His provision, and His purpose.  We need to have the same heart as God does and strive to not let “self” get in the way of fulfilling His purposes.