Do Not Fret

“Do not fret…” (Psalm 37:1).

The psalmist here uses the little word fret; this is a word we should not forget. Let’s think about it. If you learned to play a guitar, you know what a fret is. A fret is the little lines on the neck of a guitar. You put your finger on a fret it makes the string shorter, so it makes the pitch higher. The further down you go down on the frets of a guitar, the higher the pitch goes. So if you are playing the guitar and you began to run your finger down the frets, it is going to go higher and higher because the string is getting tighter and tighter.

You can actually get the string too tight so that it pops. It can’t take the strain. That is what the psalmist is getting at here. Sometimes we allow our frets to build up greater and greater, causing our patience to get shorter and shorter while our nerves gets tighter and tighter which results in the pitch of our life getting higher and higher so that we can hardly stand it. This is not healthy. That is why the Bible instructs us:

“Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret…” (Psalm 37:1-7).

Do not forget what God’s word says about fret!                                                    

Devotedly yours,
Pastor Ron