Psalm 73

A Psalm of^(A) Asaph.

¹Truly God is good to^(B) Israel,
to those who are^(C) pure in heart.
²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
^3(D) For I was^(E) envious of the arrogant
when I saw the^(F) prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
⁵They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not^(G) stricken like the rest of mankind.
⁶Therefore pride is^(H) their necklace;
violence covers them as^(I) a garment.
⁷Their^(J) eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
⁸They scoff and^(K) speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
⁹They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
¹⁰Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find^(L) no fault in them.^[a]
11And they say,^(M) "How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
¹²Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they^(N) increase in riches.
¹³All in vain have I^(O) kept my heart clean
and^(P) washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴For all the day long I have been^(Q) stricken
and^(R) rebuked^(S) every morning.
¹⁵If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed^(T) the generation of your children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me^(U) a wearisome task,
¹⁷until I went into^(V) the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their^(W) end.

¹⁸Truly you set them in^(X) slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
¹⁹How they are destroyed^(Y) in a moment,
swept away utterly by^(Z) terrors!
²⁰Like^(AA) a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when^(AB) you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
²¹When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
²²I was^(AC) brutish and ignorant;
I was like^(AD) a beast toward you.

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you^(AE) hold my right hand.
²⁴You^(AF) guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will^(AG) receive me to glory.
^25(AH) Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
^26(AI) My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is^(AJ) the strength^[b] of my heart and my^(AK) portion^(AL) forever.

²⁷For behold, those who are^(AM) far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is^(AN) unfaithful to you.
²⁸But for me it is good to^(AO) be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my^(AP) refuge,
that I may^(AQ) tell of all your works.


I have struggled so much to make sense of all that has happened these last couple of months, but in truth this last year as well. I have struggled like I have never struggled before, and I have sought God like I have never before. There have been times, especially the weeks before we went out for vacation that I was "like a beast before Him". I have stomped my foot, I have pleaded, and I have turned my back from Him. I have looked around me and seen the 'unrighteous' living a life free from the turmoil my soul struggled with, free from the suffering I have endured, they don't have to look to some fickle God to decide what their future will be, they just decide it, yet we are slaves to Christ to who of late has felt like has been pulling my strings. I read this Psalm from Asaph and I was convicted. How my words have flown from my mouth to our Father, and how like a beast I have behaved. I've also thought of the last days of our Savior and how when the first real test of standing up for Him, with out Him beside them, many were afraid and ashamed and denied Him. This is me. Is my life really that hard? No. Have I really faced all that much struggle? No. Yet, I feel like Asaph that I have some sort of entitlement to my life going well, because I am a servant of the Most High God. I have worn the Promises of God like an amulet around my neck to ward off all evil. Where does it guarantee that I will not experience the evils of all evils (in our human mind)... suffering? In fact it promises I will. I have dived into my own heart and sought out what resides there and it has not been pretty. But like Asaph I entered the courts and my mind was cleared. We have no answer but to remain faithful to Him. We are in fact slaves for Him. For what are we without Him? Beasts.
So now that I have figured this out will I be healed? Probably not, in fact I say No. But now I can walk with a greater confidence that I will not continue to deny God through my struggle. I am not weak, I am not a failure, my body has failed us, not me. And yet My God is still My God, He is not weak, and He has not failed us.

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 (emphasis on 7-9)
I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, ⁵ that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, ⁶ even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, ⁷ so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

We aren't expected to be great successes for Christ, to be someone who leads thousands of others to Christ, or live a life in perfectness... but I am expected to be blameless because of the faithfulness of Christ for me, I am expected to be given every gift I need to see this through to the end, and I can stay faithful to Him because He is faithful to give me the strength to do so.
This is what I have learned. This is what I hope to achieve with Him.