Good morning. Please open to Psalm 37. Continuing verse by verse through Psalm 37. Today we're gonna look at Psalm 37 verses 16 and 17. 16 and 17. A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. When we come to passages like this, we have to approach them with a question. What really matters in life? And I'm sure we've all thought about that sometime. What is your biggest priority? What are you willing to forsake all for? Is it things we possess? Is it the way others view us? Is it our reputation in the world's eyes? Is it what makes us feel good? And sometimes we have those temptations. Or is it something deeper? What if what really mattered in life at the end of the day was your spiritual health, your soul's steadfastness, your heart's peace, your inner man's or woman's grounding? What if inside was what mattered most rather than what's outside? A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked. Isn't it a treasure to have even something little that's real? Right? A little thing that God, you know God has given it. A little faith. A little work of the Holy Spirit's conviction. Just a little prayer. A little fear of God. Just a little hope. Even a little repentance. A little love. Even when little, even though little, these things are better than the riches of many wicked. For these come from God, don't they? And when lived out, they display a faith, not in ourselves, but in God. Jesus said, if you have faith as little as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you. Just a little faith. A little that a righteous has is better. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. I get the picture here that as we see the righteous rise up in power with their strong arms of kingdoms and armies, political agendas, maybe slaying Christians or throwing the vulnerable into slavery, these seemingly strong arms that are pushing and rebelling against God Those arms will be brought down and broken, won't they? But the righteous man, the righteous man has no armies of his own, does he? He has no political schema because he's busy cleaning the wounds of the saints. His hands are not lifted high to build his kingdom. Rather, he sees his inefficiencies and sins. He's standing afar off and does not so much even raise his eyes to heaven but beats his breast saying, oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. This is the man whom God upholds. The little that the righteous has is better. It's better, God says. So we need to be content in these little things God has given us because they are life. And not only do they display a trust in God, God will grow them in your life. He will take that little love you have and grow it, just like the mustard seed. So we must be very confident that He who began a good work in us is faithful to complete it. And don't believe the lies that by standing for truth, standing for righteousness, your life is somehow insignificant, or that you're missing something in this you only live once life that we have. No, you're the apple of His eye. You're upheld by him. For whoever has, to him more will be given and he will have an abundance. And the one who is faithful in him of very little is also faithful in much. Trust in God. This is how we can stand for righteousness. No matter what the world is saying, God will grow that little faith into much, that little prayer into your greatest delight, that little hope into a powerful, eternal communion with God, that little fear of God you have into a solid, strong, confident assurance and peace that nothing is impossible with our God. Be grateful for the little. For he who has given you little, he will give you more. Trust in God and look forward to that every day. Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up. He will uphold you. Now there's another way to look at this passage that you've probably thought of, and that's from kind of an outside, external-looking perspective. The righteous man may only appear to have a little physically, or in this world, in this temporary place. In his life, for the righteous man, if his life is viewed by the onlooker with a worldly eye, his life may seem simple or plain or colorless. Oh, but it's the righteous men and women that are truly rich. For it's the righteous who are upheld by God because they trust in him. Yet, what I want to leave you with is there's something more to trusting in God. God says here, it's better. The little is better. It's very against the American way, isn't it? Why is the little better? Because the righteous are content with their God. They trust their God to give them exactly what they need. A little bit of worldly possessions, but a lot of love, amen? As 1 Timothy 6, 6 exhorts us, now godliness with contentment is great gain. This is the result of trusting in God. Being content with little is great gain. It's better. And you hear this word little throughout scripture, don't you? I'm sure many of you know these. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure with trouble. Better is a little with righteousness than vast revenues without justice. Better is a dry morsel with quietness than a house full of feasting with strife. Because as we walk through this life, there's a pull, isn't there? There's a tug to crave more, the newest thing, the next big thing, we must have it, we must be part of it. But God says no. It's not for you. It's not who you are. It doesn't define you. Christ says you don't need more of that, you need more of me. Christ says you don't need to look at those things and be captivated by them, you need to fix your eyes upon me. For I am sufficient for all things. Sufficiency of Christ. I encourage you to meditate on that this week. The sufficiency of Christ in your very life. God loves us and he won't spoil us. He won't let us be the church of Laodicea that said, I'm rich, I've become wealthy, I have need of nothing. No, our Father gives us just what we need. For this is a matter of where our trust lies. I want to leave you with two questions as we go to our time of confession. Two questions to ponder. Do you see how the little that God's given you is so much better than all the world has to offer? And secondly, will you trust God that it's Him and His righteousness that will uphold you and not your righteousness? Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for the little that you have given the righteous. And we thank you that you uphold the righteous. And we thank you, God, that you even come and take that little faith and grow it. Take our little love and grow it and expand it. Just as your kingdom grows and expands, you do that expanding, strengthening work right here in our very hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit. Oh God, we confess to you that we miss this a lot of times as we pursue our own kingdom. Oh God, help us to see with eyes of faith and look to you and trust in the sufficiency of Christ for all things. Take a moment now to individually confess our sins to you.