“Turn from evil and do good so that you will dwell forever. 
For the LORD loves justice and does not abandon His godly ones;
They are protected forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be eliminated.
The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom and his tongue speaks justice.
The Law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.
The wicked spies upon the righteous and seeks to kill him.
The Lord will not leave him in his hand or let him be condemned when he is judged.
Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are eliminated, you will see it.”
~~Psalm 37:27-34~~

As I look at this last grouping of verses in Psalm 37, the first thought that comes to mind is, “what does ‘turn from evil and do good’ look like with skin on?”  Let’s begin by noting that both of these phrases – turn from evil – do good – are in the imperative. They’re commands, not suggestions.  

TURN FROM EVIL <sûr> literally means to turn off; depart from the way of; to come to an end; to be removed.  

PAUSE TO PONDER.  

• • What comes to mind when you think of “to turn off”?  For me a light switch comes to mind.  A switch is either on or it’s off.  There’s no inbetween.  
  • Consider the implication of “depart from the way of‘‘. It makes me think of how, when I have to be somewhere at a certain time and Waze tells me there are construction delays on the route I was going to take,  I “depart from the way” of the delays and choose an alternate path.  
  • When I ponder “to be removed”, what comes to mind is my friend who has breast cancer.  While she’s undergoing chemo right now, she is eventually going to have surgery to remove the cancer from her body.  Imagine how ridiculous it would be for the surgeon to come out of surgery and tell the family that he just removed a little of the cancer.   That would be unacceptable!  Cancer is something you want removed completely, so health and wholeness can be restored.  It’s the same way for us spiritually.  God just brought Hebrews 12:1  to mind.  

“…let us throw off everything that hinders 
and the sin that so easily entangles. 
And let us run with perseverance 
the race marked out for us,”
~~Hebrews 12:1~~

To “turn from evil”, we must decisively, intentionally, purposefully CHOOSE to “turn off the sin switch”.  We must avoid delays in arriving at “the place of obedience”.  We must do spiritual surgery to remove any cancerous sin from our spiritual lives.  

DO GOOD <ʿāśâ> means to do; to work at things – things that benefit  – things that will have an effect – things that are morally good.  Let’s break that down.  

• If I “do” something, it denotes getting off my blessed assurance and moving.  Complacency has no place in <ʿāśâ>. 
• If I have to “work at something”, that tells me that whatever I’m doing doesn’t come naturally.  
• When I consider doing “things that benefit”, what I picture is a gerbil on its wheel; while it is certainly busy “doing”, what it is doing isn’t getting him anywhere.  Think of the things in your life that you may be doing that aren’t producing any positive effect in your life or in the life of others.  Those things wouldn’t fit the definition of <ʿāśâ>.  They have to go.  Don’t waste your time and energy on things that aren’t going to be of benefit to anyone.  
• I think “morally good” is pretty self-explanatory.  Believers are to live to God’s standard of right and wrong.  The world’s standard is so contrary to God’s way.  In this world, up is down and down is up.  Have your focus and attention zeroed in on what pleases God, and Him alone.  And that segues right into the next phrase I’d like to examine.  

If we are going to “turn from evil and do good” as we are commanded to do, then we need help knowing the difference between the two.  Where does that help come from?  The answer is found in verse 31, “The Law of his God is in his heart”.  What’s on the inside comes out. 

Think of a sponge.  When squeezed, what it has absorbed is revealed.  

PAUSE TO PONDER.  

• • When the pressures of life give you a squeeze, what comes out of you?  Does your mouth say things that reflect that you are discerning and have the capacity for sound judgment? Or does it reflect that you are governed by your emotions and what you feel inside comes gushing out of your mouth?  Those two questions reflect the difference between the person who “responds” and the one who “reacts” to any given situation.  
  • When you are discussing things that are occurring in our world, do you give people your opinion, or God’s?  The person with God’s Word in their heart will advocate justice and will give an honest answer on things when asked.  1 Peter 3:15 comes to mind here.  “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”

The long and short of all this is that how you live begins and ends with what is in your heart.
It is the spring from which everything else in your life flows. 

If we are going to live in obedience to the command to “turn from evil” and “do good”, we must watch, guard, and keep our hearts like someone would their garden.  They would break up the hard soil.  They would rake the soil to eliminate the clumps.  They would plant good seeds.  They would put up a fence to guard it against predators. They would water it.  They would regularly pull the weeds so they didn’t take over the good plants.  And then after time, they would reap a harvest.  Just like you are proactive in tending a garden, we must be proactive in tending our hearts.  

I have thoroughly enjoyed studying through Psalm 37 with you.  I have learned so much, and I pray you have too.  Now let’s get out there and live out what we have learned!!!