Psalm 73: A Brutally Honest Poem
Notes
Transcript
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.
I struggled with finding a title for this sermon. So, I kept it simple:
Psalm 73: A Brutally Honest Poem
Psalm 73: A Brutally Honest Poem
Psalms, Volume 2 Orientation (73:1)
Asaph’s psalm is a poem of brutal honesty in which he does not hold back from expressing his complaint against Yahweh, his God
Here are the two basic questions Asaph is wrestling with...
Why do good things happen to bad people.
Why do bad things happen to good people.
This is why I love the bible. The bible is Brutally Honest!
The Bible doesn’t teach what most prosperity gospel preachers teach.
The reality is that when we look at this world with our eyes actually open we will see terrible terrible injustice.
We are left knowing there is something deeply deeply wrong.
So let’s be brutally honest about it for a moment.
Because our psalmist, Asaph is.
I found 6 truths that Asaph is brutally honest about.
Not all of them are bad. But some are...
First truth...
#1 God is Good
#1 God is Good
Specifically, God is good to His people!
Verse 1
1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
“Truly” = a note of certainty and strong affirmation.
You have to read the rest of this psalm with this anchor in mind.
GOD IS GOOD TO HIS PEOPLE
Psalms 73–150 1. Principle—The Just God Is Good to the Godly (73:1)
Through his personal journey the psalmist has learned that God is indeed good to his pious people. In this psalm he will extrapolate from his own experience to the wider audience for which it is also relevant. Rather than being merely an individual expression of faith, this psalm is a testimony that “exists to build up the community of faith
This is both a personal testimony of experience and a divine testimony from the authoritative Word of God.
Asaph, and God, are testifying to the fact that God is good.
We have to hold firm to this truth if we are going to make sense of this broken world. We have to believe that God is good when Satan uses sin, wickedness, corruption, and evil to tempt us to believe that God isn’t good.
Truth #1: God is Good
Second truth...
#2 We Tend to Forget Truth #1
#2 We Tend to Forget Truth #1
Verses 2-3
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.
“Nearly” = The psalmist experienced such a test of faith that he almost… almost… abandoned truth #1.
I mean, I have to say this… The worst thing you could do, christian, is to abandon truth #1. Basically, abandon faith in the good God who has saved you.
Essentially, to look away from Him.
For the psalmist, for a brief moment, his attention was diverted away from God.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
He looked at the arrogant and the wicked.
Here, the Asaph is speaking primarily of the wicked human rulers.
He looked away from Good God and was tempted to attribute the prosperity of the wicked as something “Gooder” than God.
The psalmist was essentially tempted to define “divine blessing” as being prosperity in this world.
This will come full circle at the end.
What is “divine blessing”?
You and I, because of our flesh and weakness, we are prone to forget that God is good. We become allured by the pleasures of the world. We are tempted to sin against our good God.
Second Truth, We tend to forget truth #1.
Third truth...
#3 Evil Flourishes in a Broken World
#3 Evil Flourishes in a Broken World
4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.
Pangs = struggles or bondage.
Fat and sleek = they have more than enough food.
5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Stricken = Afflicted or plagued.
Basically, all the things that weigh us down or keep us from health and rest seem to not touch the wicked.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.
They use their comfort and ease of life to commit atrocities against people like us. Because they feel untouchable, they go ahead and do terrible and unspeakable things to defenseless people.
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.
Essentially, they openly mock and hate God. They mock and hate those who love God. They do all that they can to steal glory from God.
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.
Basically, people who should be looking to God, are instead looking to the wicked for instruction and comfort.
In some cases, people might refuse to believe that the atrocities the wicked leaders do are real at all.
Surely our politicians aren’t making money from endless wars!
Surely the pharmaceutical companies aren’t creating diseases to profit from their cures!
Surely those actors, politicians, billionaires, and presidents had no idea what Jeffrey Epstein was doing even after he was charged as a sex offender!
In other cases, people know their wickedness, see the reward from their wickedness, and follow their wickedness.
Just look at this current ticktock generation.
SOUND OF FREEDOM MOVIE
Fourth truth to cling to...
#4 We Tend to Forget Truth #1
#4 We Tend to Forget Truth #1
Look again at verse 3
3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
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.
Psalms 73–150 2. Perspective—Injustice Makes Godliness Seem Futile (73:2–14)
To him it is deeply personal, because he feels beat up continually as he reflects on the dissonance between how the arrogant prosper and how he is stricken despite his purity of life. Every morning this pain greets him, and it continues all day long, taking over his life and dominating his attention. By lingering on the injustice of his experience, the psalmist drifts toward the brink of despair.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
The Psalmist is acknowledging that his pessimism is dangerous to his faith community.
A lack of trust in God can spread faster than covid.
This is where the psalmist begins to pivot back to where he should be...
Fifth truth to cling to...
#5 God is Good
#5 God is Good
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.
The psalmist needed to go to the one place he would be reminded of God’s goodness!
Basically, he needed to go to church!
Psalms 73–150 3. Perspective—The Just God Judges Wicked People (73:15–26)
As long as the psalmist focused on the prosperity of the wicked, he felt despair, but once he includes God in the picture his vision is transformed
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.
Sixth truth to hold to...
#6 God is Holding on to You
#6 God is Holding on to You
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.
Psalms 73–150 3. Perspective—The Just God Judges Wicked People (73:15–26)
God used this painful experience to bring him to greater maturity and wisdom.
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.
It’s not the prosperity of the wicked that is a divine blessing (verse 3)
It is nearness to God that is divine blessing.
Not wealth of the world with the riches of the world.
But wealth in heaven with the richness of knowing God.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalms 73–150 3. Perspective—The Just God Judges Wicked People (73:15–26)
He has come to realize the biblical truth that God created humans for relationship with him, and that relationship only can truly satisfy the human heart
It is better to have God holding on to you because God is the ultimate reward of life.
It has to be God holding onto you because you and I are prone to pursue what the wicked do.
Drugs can’t save you
Drink can’t save you
Anger can’t save you
Trump can’t save you
Only Jesus will save you. Only Jesus’ return will cure this broken world.