Psalm 73: When Life’s Not Fair

Scripture Reading

Psalm 121 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

Logan Waltrip passed the Monday before this sermon on September 1, 2025.

Intro

What do you do when life seems unfair?

What do you do when everything is broken… when everything is falling apart… when nothing seems right?

I try to follow God… I worship Him… I try to live a holy and godly life…

Where is He?

Why doesn’t God watch out for me?

Why doesn’t He make all things go well for me?

Why has He left me?

What is God doing?

Why doesn’t He care?

Every single one of us has had those thoughts one way or another.

We’ve questioned God’s providence.

We’ve wondered about His goodness and His righteousness in governing the world.

How is God good when He lets His people suffer so?…

That is the question of Psalm 73.

Psalm 73 is a Psalm of Asaph… A Leader of the Levites who David appointed to lead God’s people in worship (1 Chronicles 16:5, 1 Chronicles 24:30-25:1).

And in the Psalm Asaph asks a brutally honest question… How can the Lord be good in His providence and how He governs the world when the wicked prosper and God’s own people seem to suffer and languish?

That’s one of the reasons we love the Psalms… the Psalms pour out our heart and our questions before God.

Struggle of this Week

And I will tell you… this sermon has been a struggle to write and pray about this week.

How am I supposed to stand up here and tell you that the Lord is good!… when we have suffered such a horrible and terrifying tragedy in our own body this week?

Its nice and easy to say God is good when its a bad Tuesday… when stub your toe.

But what about those moments where food turns to sand in your mouth?

When life loses all joy… all flavor… all happiness.

When the Valley of the Shadow of Death stretches as far as the eye can see and there is no light at the end of the tunnel? (Psalm 23:4).

How is God good then?… in those heartbreak moments of life?

Almighty Heavenly Father

We call God our Almighty Heavenly Father.

But what about when God doesn’t seem Almighty and chaos rules the day?

Or it sure doesn’t seem like we have a Heavenly Father who loves us because why would a loving heavenly Father make me go through that?

“You tell me how the Lord is good.”

This is one of those Psalms that doesn’t just pour out our heart and our emotions to God… this is one of those Psalms that has to shape them.

Where we believe God’s Word more than our circumstances and what our eyes can see.

Faith is the Assurance of things hoped for… the conviction of things unseen (Hebrews 11:1).

All week I’ve been praying… and I’ve been praying for us…

Lord I believe that you are good… help my unbelief! (Mark 9:23-25).

That’s the grace we need today.

When life seems unfair the Lord is good and ever near to His people.

Psalm 73 answers the difficult question of trusting God even when we suffer…

How is God good and what difference does it make to follow Him when… from what our eyes can see… the wicked prosper and everything goes well for them while we… God’s own people… suffer and languish?

“Where is God?”

“He doesn’t seem to care at all about the things that happen in this world.”

The Psalm encourages us to patience under God’s sovereign providence trusting in His promises and His character and His care.

Trusting that He is good… that He is in control… That He is our heavenly Father who loves us and will not let one hair of our head perish without first passing through His sovereign… wise… and loving hand (Luke 21:18, Matthew 10:30, Luke 12:7).

The Psalm opens with verses 1-3…

Psalm 73:1–3 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

The first verse is the truth of the Psalm.

Truly God is good to Israel… God is good to His people… to those who are pure in heart.

But this is not some platitude.

Some nice words spoken off handedly… God is good!

These words come after a hard fought battle… a trial of faith.

The Psalmist says, “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.”

What made him so close to fall?

Verse 3…

For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

Another way to translate that is the peace of the wicked (LSB).

The envy is not of their sin… but how it all seems to go well for them.

It doesn’t seem like God cares about the righteous.

It doesn’t seem like He cares about anything at all!

If He did why does He let the wicked prosper?

Providence Definition

The temptation for the Psalmist.. where his feet had almost stumbled… where his steps had nearly slipped… was trusting in the Lord and His providence… What we call God’s government over the world.

How God reigns and rules over all things and sovereignly governs all things to perfectly fulfill His eternal plan.

As Ephesians 1:11 says He works all things according to the counsel of his will.

God’s providence active working in history to effectually bring about all that He has decreed in eternity past.

That God has sovereignly ordained all things to pass and that nothing can overcome God’s plan or is outside of His sovereign, wise, and loving control.

Job 42:2 I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

God accomplishes all that He has decreed and purposed.

But if that’s so… why do the righteous suffer and the wicked flourish?

Is God not Holy?

Is God not Good?

Does God not care?

How many even use the evil of the world to deny the existence of God.

A good and loving God would not allow this!

Look what the Psalmist says…

Psalm 73:4-9 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.

In other words… they want for nothing.

They are lavished in abundance.

Psalm 73:5–6 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.

Therefore pride is their necklace means they glory in their wickedness!…

They wear it like a diamond necklace.

And violence covers them as a garment means they take and they plunder and they abuse everyone else caring only for themselves.

They count others as nothing and take all that they want.

Psalm 73:7–9 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.

They loftily look down on others making themselves little gods over everyone.

They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.

They not only look down on other they raise themselves against God Himself.

They set their mouths against the heavens.

They blaspheme Him everywhere they go.

Their tongue struts through the earth.

Verses 10-11…

Psalm 73:10–12 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.

In other words the foolish follow after them in their wickedness.

And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

This is a picture of the wicked.

They mock God basically saying what is God going to do about it… no conviction… no remorse… no repentance of their sin.

And yet, they are always at ease and they increase in riches.

God doesn’t seem to care.

God doesn’t seem to notice.

And if He does… He doesn’t seem to do anything about it.

Meanwhile… the righteous suffer.

How is God good?

That’s the struggle within the Psalmist as he wrestles with that question.

Psalm 73:13–15 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

Not only did he suffer… He suffered in silence knowing to question God and to question God’s providence would have led other people to question their faith.

And basically he says, “God… what’s the point?”

What’s the point of following you?… Living for you?… Worshiping you?

You don’t seem to care!

You don’t seem to do anything about it!

This is where His feet had almost slipped.

Trusting in God.

Patient in suffering.

Waiting on the Lord.

Verse 16…

Psalm 73:16–17 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

Here’s what I love.

Earlier the Psalmist suffered alone… If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children (Psalm 73:15).

But here He doesn’t suffer alone… He draws near to God.

I went into the sanctuary… the place of God’s presence and grace.

When we suffer and we wrestle with the hard things of life… we don’t have to suffer alone.

We can draw near to the Lord to the place He promises He can always be found.

God said I will never leave you or forsake you.

And The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18).

When you are in the Valley of the Shadow of Death you are never alone.

God is always near.

The Good Shepherd will never leave you or abandon you.

He will walk with you and guide you all the way through.

Man of Sorrows

Jesus left glories of heaven to walk in our shoes.

He took upon Himself human flesh with all of its infirmities and weaknesses, yet without sin (1689 8:2).

The Bible says Jesus was A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3).

Jesus knew suffering… and pain… and a bitter life.

He was hated… lied about… misunderstood.

He was betrayed by one of His own disciples and all of His friends abandoned Him at His greatest hour of need.

And He tasted the bitterness and sting of death.

When Lazarus died Jesus wept (John 11:35).

And Jesus didn’t just taste death from a distance… He tasted it first hand.

He died mocked and ridiculed on the cross with His own mother watching on.

And when Jesus died He died unjustly… even one the thieves on the cross said, “We are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41).

Jesus was sinless and innocent and He suffered and died to cover our sins (Hebrews 2:9).

When we suffer we don’t have a God who is far off… untouched from the suffering and trials we endure.

We have a Great High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

One who draws near to the broken hearted and Psalm 147:3 binds up their wounds.

Jesus is near to us in our suffering and pains and therefore we can draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Heavenly Eyes

Going back to the Psalm… the Psalmist went into the sanctuary and then discerned the wicked’s end.

He didn’t just focus on his pain or his circumstances… looking at what only his eyes could see.

He lifted His eyes to heaven and set His mind on things above… He went to the Lord and sought foe heavenly wisdom.

This is what we need to do in our own suffering.

Look beyond our circumstances… set our mind on things above and take every thought captive and make it submit to the will of Christ (Colossians 3:2, 2 Corinthians 10:5).

We need to trust God’s Word and God’s promises more than our circumstances.

I’m not saying this is easy… Lord know’s its not… but we need to face the pain of life… the questions and confusion… with heavenly eyes.

To trust with faith.

Without that faith… without that anchor… our feet are on slippery places like the Psalmist said at the beginning of the Psalm.

My feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped.

The Anchor… the Rock… is the Lord and trusting His plan and His goodness.

From what our physical eyes can see… nothing makes sense… it all seems so pointless.

But with spiritual eyes… God is good… God is in control… God loves us…

And we might not understand His plan or secret providence, but we can trust Him.

Its all going according to His perfect plan… and will turn out for His glory and our good.

Your life is not chaos… God will accomplish all His purpose… and that whole time you are in His sovereign and loving hands.

From an earthly perspective… God was unfair.

The wicked appeared to get off scot-free… no pain… no consequences.

But nothing could be further from the truth.

Psalm 73:18–22 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.

The whole point here… in the background of the Psalm… is that God is good… God is righteous…

He is not absent or uncaring and in the end all things will be made right.

The wicked may appear to prosper for a time but truly God has set them in slippery places.

They will fall into ruin and become a desolation.

Whether in this life or the next… they will fall and no one will be there to lift them back up.

God is good even when we don’t see it.

God is not up there just arbitrarily running the world.

His ways are simply higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

We don’t see the whole plan.

We don’t see the whole picture.

When you’re in the midst of suffering… you barely see that next step.

But God does.

The question is do we trust Him?

Doubt

The whole context of the Psalm is doubt.

Doubt in God’s goodness.

Doubt in God’s providence.

Doubt in God’s plan.

Doubt in God’s love and care in the midst of our circumstances and what our eyes can see.

And in that doubt… the Psalmist says… we act as beasts…

We act as less then men.

The Psalmist says I was brutish and ignorant.

Foolish to question God’s love and goodness.

His character is never in question.

In Him there is no shadow or variation due to change. (James 1:17).

God is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

In a world that is constantly changing… in a life that is constantly moving up and down… God is the one true constant.

The only thing we can trust in hope.

Now this doesn’t mean you can’t go to God and pour out your heart to Him.

That you can’t say, “God, why?”

“God, Where are you?”

That you can’t cry out to with your doubts asking for help.

What it means is that when we cry out… we cry out God in faith.

God I don’t understand.

I don’t see…

I’m broken and I’m hurting and I don’t know where you are or what your doing.

But I trust in you.

You are my only hope.

Will please help me?

Will you please comfort me?

Will you please save me and give me peace?

And the comfort for the Christian is that God is there.

When we fall… when we suffer… when we struggle and languish… we will not be utterly swept away like the wicked.

The storms and winds may rage… but God holds on to us…

He will never abandon us.

He will never let us fall… both in this life and in the one to come.

John 10:28–29 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

You and I might be plagued by terrors on every side.

Tears might be our food day and night (Psalm 42:3).

Our hearts might be pricked and our souls embittered within us.

But God still has us.

We are safe in the almighty hands of Almighty God.

That’s why the Psalmist says in verse 23…

Psalm 73:23–24 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.

I want you to notice God’s grace here…. and God’s kindness to us in our weakness.

The Psalmist had just said he was foolish and ignorant and like a beast before God…

But Nevertheless, I am continually with you.

God never left Him.

He still had a firm grip on him.

You hold my right hand.

The sense here is that I am forever with you.

You hold my right hand… I am with you now.

You guide me with your counsel… I will lead you in the future with whatever comes into your life.

And you will receive me to glory… I will keep you and preserve you to the end… You will never fall away… You will not be lost… I will bring you to glory.

The great promise here… the great grace… is that even in the midst of affliction… Even in the middle of the Valley of the Shadow of death… God is near.

Its like the Lord is saying, “I am continually with you always and at all of the time.”

I will never leave you…

I will never forsake you.

I will never forget you…

I will keep you…

I will be with you…

And I promise one day I will dry every one of your tears (Revelation 21:4).

When Life seems unfair God is still with you.

You are not alone.

Whatever pain… whatever loss… whatever heartbreak… God is there.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me… (Psalm 23:4).

This is a turning point in the Psalm.

The whole time he’s looked at the prosperity of the wicked.

Life’s not fair… They are rich, always at ease… and God’s own people suffer.

But here… the Psalmist sees that even in the midst of adversity… even in the midst of his suffering… even in the midst of his pain… he has true wealth.

The same wealth that all who trust in the Lord have… the treasure of God Himself.

Psalm 73:25–28 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 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.

The Psalmist takes his suffering and he takes his pain… and he gives all of it to the Lord.

He puts all His faith… all His trust… all His hope in Him.

He casts his the whole weight of his soul upon Him with all its pain and all its troubles.

As Jesus said Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).

We could lose everything… everything!…but we would still have God.

He is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

We can never lose Him.

The Psalmist says but for me it is good to be near God… I have made the Lord God my refuge.

This is faith.

He is my hope… my good… and my peace.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is my strength.

Who God Is

The Bible says that God is the God of all comfort and Father of mercies who comforts us in all our affliction (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Whenever we have troubled hearts we can always run to Him.

He is our comfort and security and strength.

Listen to what the Bible says we have in the LORD.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe (Proverbs 18:10)

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:2).

The LORD is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. (Psalm 46:1–2).

This is who God is to all who trust in Him.

This is who God is for you in your trouble and affliction.

The Lord upholds the righteous and Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord… for they will not be moved (Jeremiah 17:7, Psalm 125:1).(Psalm 37:17).

In all things the Lord is good and ever near to His people.

This is the truth we need in the depth of our pain.

When our whole world falls away.

And I’m not saying this is easy.

I will say that this will be the hardest thing you could ever do in the Christian life… trusting God in the midst of your pain and in the midst of your suffering when there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

When food turns to gravel in your mouth and there is no hope for the pain.

But God is always gracious.

Look at Lamentations 3.

This is the rubber meets the road kind of faith.

This is the I believe… help my unbelief.

We all love the Lord’s mercies are new every morning, but we forget all that’s around it.

Lamentations 3:15–26 He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.”

NEW SLIDE

Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

What is that?

What is that promise that can give us hope?

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

The Lord’s mercies are new every morning.

Everyday… for every new trouble… the Lord gives new mercies.

I will never leave you or forsake you.

But there may be a day you say… I can’t do this.

I can’t walk through this.

My strength and my heart they fail.

I’m not strong enough… I’m not sufficient for this.

But God says My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

God’s Goodness Proved

And how you can know that God will always be there give you the grace and give you the mercy to help you walk through whatever Valley of the Shadow of Death He has you go through is because God has already proven His grace, goodness and mercy in sending His only beloved Son.

God sent His Son to die for you.

And as Paul says, He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

Are you afraid?

Are you anxious?

Do you need Help… Comfort… or Peace?

Wisdom?

Faith?

Trust?

Do you need Strength to face the day and to even have a hope for tomorrow?

How will He not also graciously give us all things?

Conclusion

God is good and ever near to His people.

Truly God is good to Israel.

This is the truth we have in this Psalm.

When life’s not fair… God is good and He is always with us.

God promises His presence… and His power… and His grace sustain us and carry us through the most terrifying and difficult human circumstances.

Jesus said, Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. (Matthew 6:34).

None of us knows what tomorrow will bring.

Our life is a vapor.

None of us are sovereign over any one aspect of our life (James 4:14, Psalm 102:3, Job 7:7).

All of our life is in God’s sovereign hands.

And God says Trust me.

Trust me for tomorrow…

Trust me with what you will eat… what you will drink… with what you will wear.

Trust me with your whole entire life… the good and the bad…

The highs and the lows…

How you will die…

When you will die…

How I will take care of everyone after you…

Trust me with your life and for your future…

Trust I am working all things for my glory and your good (Romans 8:28).

Your suffering is not just meaningless pain.

There is a plan… there is a purpose… their is a hope for your suffering.

Truly the Lord is good to Israel in all things and in all circumstances.

He is all-loving and always good and always in control.

God has ordained all things… including our suffering… according to His infinite and perfect wisdom.

He never gets it wrong.

He never second guesses His plan.

He never gains new information that makes him say I wish I would have known that before hand.

He governs all things perfectly in perfect love for all His elect.

There is a great comfort in that.

Not single one thing comes into our life that did not first pass through His infinitely wise… loving… and sovereign hand.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10:19-30).

Let’s Pray