Psalm 73

The Pure in Heart-
         Strength that Will Never Fail

My flesh and my heart may fail, 

but God is my portion forever.

Psalm 73:26

A psalm of Asaph

¹     Surely God is good to Israel, and to those who are pure in heart.

²     But as for me, my feet had almost slipped—I had nearly lost my foothold.

³     For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴     They have no struggles—their bodies are healthy and strong. 

⁵     They are free from the burdens common to man, they are not plagued by human ills.

⁶     Therefore pride is their necklace—they clothe themselves with violence.

⁷     From their callous hearts comes iniquity.   The evil conceits of their minds know no limits.

⁸     They scoff, and speak with malice—in their arrogance they threaten oppression.

⁹     Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.

¹⁰    Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.

¹¹     They say, “How can God know?   Does the Most High have knowledge?” 

¹²     This is what the wicked are like— always carefree, they increase in wealth.

¹³     Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure, in vain have I washed my hands in innocence?

¹⁴     All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.

¹⁵     If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed your children.

¹⁶     When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me—till I entered the sanctuary of God;

        Then I understood their final destiny.

¹⁸     Surely you place them on slippery ground.  You cast them down to ruin.

¹⁹     How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!

²⁰    As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord—

        You will despise them as fantasies.

²¹     When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,

²²     I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.

²³     Yet I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand.

²⁴     You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.

²⁵     Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing 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     Those who are far from you will perish—you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

²⁸     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.

At one time or another, don’t we all feel this kind of envy towards others?  Those who seem to prosper— who seem to have a better life than we do?  But the way of life without God will bring out many evils in the heart of ever man— [verse 11, 12].     

Here in this psalm is Asaph’s insight on the problem of "the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous"…

Prosperity of the wicked is short-lived and their doom is eternal, but the blessings of the godly are eternal, and their trials are short-lived.

THE PROBLEM OF THE WICKED PROSPERING AND THE GODLY SUFFERING IS A MATTER OF THE HEART

The psalmist says, “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart!” [God’s covenant people]. There is a difference between being a member of a church and having a personal, heart-relationship with God. God knows our hearts and it is on the heart level that we must deal with Him.

ENVY IS AT THE ROOT

“For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (73:3). Asaph looked at his own lack of material goods and at his own trouble, compared himself with the finer lifestyle of the rich and powerful he saw around him.

This desires to get rich, thinking that money will solve our problems—never works in the long run. Instead we start to develop a whole new kind of stressful situation. 

IN THE “LIFE ISN'T FAIR” COMPLAINT ARE GOD’S GOODNESS AND HIS SOVEREIGNTY IN THE WAY HE DEALS WITH ALL PEOPLE

Satan attacks God’s goodness when he makes us think God is withholding something good from us.  [That is good in our eyes!]   Satan has used that same ploy down through the centuries. When you begin to doubt either God’s goodness or His sovereignty over bad things that happen, you’re on the slippery slope toward doubt and sin.

WHEN WE THINK THAT GOD ISN'T FAIR, IT LEADS US TO QUESTION THE BENEFITS OF FOLLOWING GOD

Asaph lamented that he had followed the Lord in vain, because in spite of his efforts to keep both his inner and outer life pure (his heart and his hands), all he had experienced was trouble (73:13-14). He wasn't viewing his trouble by faith in God’s loving discipline, rather by sight in comparison with the “good life” of the wealthy wicked. As Charles Spurgeon put it, “Poor Asaph! He questions the value of holiness when its wages are paid in the coin of affliction.”

FACE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS A BELIEVER TO BE A GOOD WITNESS TO OTHERS

“If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’ behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.” He means, if he had stopped at verse 14 and had gone around telling everyone what he had been thinking about the prosperity of the wicked and the trials of the godly, he would have betrayed God’s children. He turned from his self-centered focus (73:3, 13) and faced up to his responsibility as a believer to his fellow believers.

We are responsible, not only to God, but also to one another.  To grumble about God in the hearing of our children, we may turn them against following the Lord.

 RECOGNIZE THAT GOD IS YOUR CHIEF TREASURE FOR TIME AND ETERNITY

When the psalmist recovered his perspective, that God is truly good to His people, he realized that God had been with him through the whole ordeal, holding on to his hand (73:23). The fact that he got through it was not due to his grip on God, but to God’s strong grip on him.

Early in the psalm, Asaph noted we can following God for what He could give us.  He then saw the disillusion and realized this was following God in vain.  He comes to see that God Himself is enough. God is the treasure. If you have Him as the strength of your heart and your portion forever, you have it all.