Every day there is news of an atrocity, real or imagined. Everyone, it seems, is turned up to eleven. The atmosphere is frantic, charged with frenetic energy. Brothers fight one another. Brothers make fools of themselves. The body of Christ tears and bites at itself while surrounded by a world of turmoil, anger, and rage.

Psalm 37 speaks into this moment for us.

The church is called to be an ark in the midst of the world-destroying waters of a vengeful God. And to do this, we need Bible-eyes, ones that tell us the truth about the so-called evildoers who dominate our headlines and feeds. They are not permanent powers. They are grass and green herbs that will fade and wither. They are nothing.

The psalm trains us to loosen our grip, to relax, to laugh with Yahweh. It calls us to take a posture toward America and the nations marked not by panic but by meekness, because it is the warhorse meek who will inherit the land.

Over and over again, in the midst of all this damned chaos, Scripture calls us to fret not over evildoers (Psalm 37:1), but instead to trust the Lord, to do good, and to delight ourselves in Him. We must always be turning back to the basics.

Worship the Lord with gladness on the Lord’s Day. Let the frenzied neigh and scoff while we meet with the God of peace, who is our peace, who feeds us bread and wine and Word so that we never go hungry. Sing psalms that teach you to “still yourself before the Lord” (Psalm 37:7).

Breathe. Pray. Be still. Sing. Listen.

Fight in the sanctuary first, and only then learn how to wage war in the world like Jesus.

It's remarkable. In the wicked world Jesus inhabited, does He ever appear chaotic in the Gospels? Or does He move with authority, discipling like a lion, healing, teaching, rebuking as one who is firmly in charge?

This is meant to be true of His body as well. And yet our online habits, our constant reacting, posting, sharing, and flame-fanning, often make us indistinguishable from the swarm.

What we need is repentance. Real repentance. Repentance for being more delighted by endless brother-wars and hysterical leftism than by Yahweh Himself.

In the end, the whole thing is something like a cosmic joke. Instead of endlessly complaining about the world to each other, Scripture assumes the feverish world. Yahweh hears our complaints and then gives a command: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Full stop. (Psalm 37:4)