January 14
Reading: Psalm 73
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.
We begin book 3 of the Psalms. Each of the books of psalms is like a hymnal, a collection of poems and songs about God or to God. The third book of the psalms was compiled during the early part of exile to Babylon. It is comprised of seventeen psalms and is the shortest and darkest of the five collections. We see in it the rise of wickedness, God’s wrath against His people, and God’s comfort amid struggles.
Psalm 73 is a “Psalm of Asaph.” Book 3 of the Psalms begins with eleven psalms attributed to Asaph. Asaph was a Levite, a priest, that King David had assigned to lead the Tabernacle choir. In 2 Chronicles 29:30 Asaph is called a “seer” (a sort of prophet). Asaph and his relatives were assigned to minister before the Ark of the Covenant every day. His descendants were skillful musicians and authors of these psalms.
Psalm 73 reveals a struggle. It recalls some of the struggle of Job or Jeremiah. But the psalm moves past these questions to answers. This psalm follows a thought path from the struggle to the answer.
We read the struggle in verses 1-14. “I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” (vs. 3) Instantly we can relate. In this world it often seems like ungodly people succeed while those who are seeking to walk with God have all kinds of troubles. The danger for us is envy. It can consume and overwhelm us.
In verses 15-20 the psalmist finds refuge from his envy in worship in God’s sanctuary. It was then that he saw the result of the ungodly who seem to prosper. In verses 21-24 he realizes the sickness that envy in his heart had brought him. He learns to listen to God.
Finally, in verses 25-28 he speaks the absolute truth that transforms how he sees the world and the people in it. “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You I desire nothing on earth.” (vs. 25) God is better than all the stuff this world has to offer. When you learn this, everything else is put in its proper place.