So I was reading in the Psalms this morning…Psalm 73 to be exact. I was struck with how much Asaph and I have in common. As we walk through this Psalm together, you’ll see what I mean; and perhaps you’ll find that you have something in common with us too!
“Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” (73:1)
Asaph starts off with the fact, “Surely God is good“. So to whom in Israel is God good? The “pure in heart“, and that phrase means: clear after being examined; select; to show yourself purified; cleansed. The definition of “pure in heart” is really important when we see what comes in the next verses…..
“But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.” (73:2)
Confession time for Asaph. He is saying that what he was seeing played out in the lives of others around him was causing him to struggle between fact and feeling. Notice that he wasn’t confessing a fall, he was confessing that he “nearly lost (his) foothold“. He admitted what he was feeling, but stopped his wrong thoughts dead in their tracks. This reminds me 2 Corinthians 10:5-6, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
The next several verses outline briefly what he was feeling in response to his observations of life.
“For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.
Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits.
They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.
Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.
Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.
They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?”
This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.” (73:3-12)
I kinda get what Asaph was feeling here. If we look at the happenings of the world around us, it does seem like the people who give no thought to God are doing better than those who are.
(One thing did strike me as I read through his description of these people. You know, regardless of how things appear to us we never really know what is going on in another person’s life. We may see them have a lot of things…nice houses, expensive cars, great jobs, etc., but we don’t know that they don’t have huge debt because of those things. Or how about the possibility that those things may have them vs. them having those things? I guess my point is that we just never know what the truth is concerning other people. We only see the surface.)
Ok, that was just a side note (haha), back on track now…
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED….
to Asaph’s Party (of the pity variety)…
“whine” will be served. Haha
“Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.
If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply” (73:13-16)
Here’s my paraphrase of the above verses. Do they strike a cord of familiarity for you like they do for me?? (sigh)
“God, keeping my heart pure has been a waste of effort (whine, whine, whine). Doing the right things has been for nothing (whine, whine, whine). ALL day I have been struck down and destroyed (afflicted) and every morning You correct me and refute what I’m thinking and feeling (bring new punishments). And God, I even kept my mouth shut…I kept my thoughts and feelings to myself, not allowing what I was feeling/thinking to affect anyone but myself! And I have TRIED to understand all this…it’s driven me crazy!“
“..till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.” (73:17)
After telling God all he’s “observed” around him, coupled with his “good” outward actions and reactions, he confesses that he didn’t understand why things seemed upside down. Bad people were prospering, good people were suffering. It made no sense to him. So he came into the presence of God. There he found that God views all things through the eyes of eternity. So Asaph’s understanding came from seeing today in light of eternity.
There was a shift from seeing things from a human perspective to viewing everything from God’s perspective. God opened Asaph’s eyes to the future of the arrogant and evil. Check it out…
“Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.” (73:18-20)
Have you ever tried walking on ice? It’s hard enough to stand, let alone walk. If you’re like me, you’re chuckling as you picture a “funniest home video” moment where someone is slipping and sliding, arms flailing, but that’s not the picture Asaph is painting here. The word “ruin” in Hebrew means: to rush over; a tempest which causes devastation; a strong storm. When I put that all together, I am getting the idea of God allowing these people to have what they have chosen, and what they’ve chosen isn’t Him. So when the storms come (and we all know life is full of storms), they find themselves standing on slippery ground with nothing solid to hold on to.
Everything they were holding onto for security gives way as life bowls them over. Verse 19 talks about how “suddenly” they are destroyed. The Hebrew word for “destroyed” carries with it the effect of being stunned or growing numb or being stupefied. That really fits when you consider how it is with folks who have put their trust in anything other than God. They’re going along thinking they’ve got the tiger by the tail, and then BAM! a storm hits, and they find themselves slipping down the slope of emotional turmoil, wondering what in the world happened, and why it’s rocking their world. It’s because they have chosen not to stand on the Rock of Ages, the only sure place to stand.
“When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.
Yet I am always with you; You hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, and
afterward You will take me into glory.” (73:21-24)
Asaph again states how he had been “feeling”, and how it made him appear before God. “Senseless and ignorant” in Hebrew carries the idea of falling away and lacking reverence and due respect for God, and “brute beast” describes a mute animal.
Wow…Asaph is really humbling himself here. He’s saying that his feelings made him fall away, not giving the respect and reverence that God deserves. He admits that in God’s eyes, he was no better than a cow who can’t even moo.
YET…I’m so glad there’s a “yet”. Despite his thoughts and feelings, God is holding him, guiding him through the fog of emotion til he sees the light of truth, which dispels the fog. When it appears the wicked are prospering, that is NOT how things will be in heaven.
That same truth that applied in Asaph’s day applies for us today! We live in a fallen world. Satan has home field advantage here on earth, maybe winning a game here or there; but at the “end of the season”, God wins; and those on God’s team will celebrate the victory throughout eternity! Woohoooo baby!!
“Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.” (73:25-26)
Asaph makes the commitment here to cling to God, come what may. Regardless of how he may “feel” from time to time, he knows that God will guide him into all truth and give him strength to keep going, even when things don’t look fair. God is the strength of our lives in the here and now; and He is our portion, our allotment…FOREVER!!
“Those who are far from You will perish;
You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.” (73:27-28)
I love how Asaph closes out this Psalm. He sees that in God’s presence is the only place he will find truth and peace. Regardless of how things appear, He knows that God is Sovereign, having everything under His control. He’s stoked that He can hide in God, come what may; and because of that assurance and peace, he chooses to testify of God’s goodness.
Life throws all sorts of curve balls our way. That’s a certainty. In John 16, Jesus was talking to his disciples about what was to come. He told them how they would be scattered. He told them that He would no longer be around, but they were not to worry; the Father would be with them. Jesus said that He was telling them what was to come to give them peace.
Well, despite what we see taking place in the world…the injustices, the evil, the wars, etc., God has told us what is to come. Jesus is coming back to take the church to be with Him!! Praise the Lord!! And in the meantime, we can rest in Jesus words.
“In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart! I have OVERCOME the world.”
~~ John 16:33~~