John Calvin Commentary Psalms 37:34

"Wait for Jehovah, and keep his way, And he will exalt thee to inherit the land: When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it." — Psalms 37:34 (ASV)

Wait upon Jehovah, and keep his way. David again returns to the style of exhortation, so that the faithful, trusting in God’s promises and sustained by them, may not be drawn here and there by any temptations through devious and sinful ways, but may persevere steadfastly in the service of God.

In the first place, he exhorts them to hope and patience, as if he wanted them, amid the tumults and troubles of life, to trust in God and remain silent until he again shows them his countenance, which for a time he had hidden from them. From this arises, in the second place, another exhortation: that they should not turn aside from the way of the Lord. For wherever hope and patience prevail, they will so restrain the minds of men that they will not break out into anything unlawful and wicked.

Doubtless, it will be found that the reason why everyone endeavors to promote their own advantage by wicked practices is that no one depends upon God, or else that they think, if fortune does not quickly smile upon them, that it is vain for them to persevere in the practice of equity and uprightness.

Moreover, we can learn from this passage that if many, even of the good and the upright, are subjected to poverty and lead a life of protracted affliction and trial, they suffer their punishment justly, because, far from being firmly persuaded that it is God’s proper role not only to lift up his servants from the dunghill but also to bring them out even from their graves, scarcely one in a hundred of them patiently waits upon God and perseveres in the right course.

Nor is it without good reason that David uses the word exalt, so that we may know that God often stretches forth his hand to the faithful when they appear to be overwhelmed by the weight of their calamities. He then adds that the wicked shall perish before the eyes of the godly. If their end were not very different from that of the righteous, the state in which the reprobate now rejoice for a time would easily allure even the best of men to evil.

Indeed, God would daily cause us to behold such sights if we had eyes to behold his judgments. And yet, even if the whole world were blinded, God does not cease to render a just reward for the wickedness of men. But by punishing them in a more private manner, he withdraws from us that fruit of which our own dullness deprives us.