Sunday 7 January - 6:30pm service
Psalm 73
Introduction & Background
Before we look at the text of the Psalm itself, I wanted to explore a little bit of the background of this Psalm.
Who was Asaph?
Along with Heman and Ethan, he was one of 3 men David put in charge of music. (1 Chron 6). Their job, as we’re told in 1 Chron was to “minister with music before the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting…they performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them.” These three guys were the first appointed worship leaders. If you like, they were the Redman, Hughes & Layzell of their day!
We can assume that part of their job description, like a lot of worship leaders today, was song writing, and Asaph is credited as having written a number of Psalms, particularly Psalm 50, then 73 through to 83.
Psalm 73 in relation to the book of Psalms
The Book of Psalms is divided into five books, and Psalm 73 is the start of Book III. So it is a linkage between Books II and III, but also between the two halves of the Psalms, being practically the midpoint of the book.
What is interesting with Psalm 73 is that it follows the same typical pattern within itself, as the Psalms do in the order with which they appear in the book. Let me explain…
Psalm 1: If we do what God wants, He will be good to us and bless us.
Books I & II: That’s too simple. Life doesn’t work like that. But also a sense that despite that, God will be good to his people
Final Psalms: These give a climax of praise and worship: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” is the end verse of the final Psalm.
Compare this to the overall structure of Psalm 73:
Verse 1: God is good to the pure in heart.
Verses 2-12: “Painful candour” (Brueggemann). God isn’t good to the pure in heart. His people suffer, and the wicked prosper.
Verses 13-17: This is where things now become to be seen from God’s perspective
Verses 18-26: Grateful hope
Verses 26-28: “It is good to be near God. I have made the sovereign LORD my refuge”
Psalm 73 is often referred to as a “wisdom psalm” – one that almost belongs with the proverbs. It gives teaching or instruction. There’s a parallel to Proverbs 23:17-18:
“Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you and your hope will not be cut off.”
I don’t know what was going through your mind as Julie read this psalm but you might have been reminded of the Book of Job. One commentator has described Psalm 73 as “the book of Job in a nutshell.”
There’s three words that I’d like to focus on this evening: Faith. Justice. Hope.
Faith
Verse 1 of the Psalm is a bit like a rhetorical question. Its like the Psalmist is saying “I know its true really, but I’m just checking.” We then get all the reasons for his questions and doubts. He talks about experiences he’s had…what he’s seen. And he’s finding it hard to make a correlation between his experiences and what he knows to be true. Ultimately, he’s saying “its not fair!”
How many of us think like that? Who’s thought to themselves at some point “how do they get away with it?” or “why do they always land on their feet?” We may even have directed anger at God. Lord, how can you bless them? How come they have so much when I want what they’ve got?”
On a bigger scale we can ask questions about suffering. Why did God let the earthquake in Haiti happen? Why are so many children in the world starving?
The psalmist had the same doubts and questions. It’s not that his faith was slipping into unbelief. “Doubt is something only a believer can experience, for you can only doubt what you believe. Doubt is to unbelief what temptation is to sing. A test, but not yet a surrender.
We will all experience doubts and questions about our faith. The challenge for us is in how we respond.
We live in a world of tension where we things go wrong, and there are so many hurting people. Yet we believe in a God who loves us, who cares for us and who wants to bring healing, who wants to make us strong. God allows us to come close to him in prayer. He is our rock, and our solid foundation.
We experience uncertainty in our lives too. There may be uncertainty over jobs, finances, relationships. Yet still He’s our solid rock and our foundation. We can put our trust in him.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Philip Yancey: “Faith means believing in advance what only makes sense in reverse.”
But sometimes things just don’t happen in the way we want. We’ve prayed for healing for people and they’re not healed. We don’t know why. We don’t know the mind of our creator.
Jesus speaks against the idea that bad things only happen to bad people in Luke 13. The Romans killed some Galileans while they were offering sacrifices, and people were telling Jesus about what had happened.
Lk 13:2-3 “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners because they suffered this way? I tell you no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Jesus doesn’t say why these people died. But what He does say is that everyone is a sinner, and anyone who doesn’t repent faces a fearful end. The psalmist realises this too in verses 18-20:
“Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.”
Justice
What changes the psalmists view? As he entered into worship in the sanctuary he understood. The penny dropped. He realises that despite the perceived success of the wicked people, at the end of the day, God is their judge. And what He has to offer is much better than any thing we can experience on earth.
The psalmist recognises that those who turn to God will be taken into glory. That God will never leave them. (v23-24).
The wicked in this psalm are those who do not accept God’s authority over their lives – v11 “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”
James 4:12 says “There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.” And its here we come back to faith. Because God has promised that He will save those who turn to Jesus. (Jn 3:16)
The standards by which God judges are so different to the world’s view. Having money, possessions, good health, isn’t necessarily a sign of God’s blessing. Yes, of course we can ask God to provide for us. We can ask him to heal the sick. But that might not be God’s plan. In the bigger picture outside of time and space, that might not be what is best.
In the same way that Jesus said those Galileans didn’t suffer because they were the worst sinners, the reverse is also true – just because some people seem to have a great life doesn’t mean God’s ok with what they’re doing!
Its impossible to achieve the perfection that God demands. No one can do it. As the psalmist writes in verse 26 “My flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever”
Imagine that everything we’ve ever done could be written on an index card in God’s heavenly filing system. And when we become a Christian, when we give our life to Him, it like Jesus signs the back of our card. He’s the one taking responsibility for us. So when we get to heaven, and standing at the gates, St Peter pulls out our card, he might read the front and see all the stuff we’ve done, and say there’s no way we can get in to heaven. And we’re standing there thinking turn it over, read the back…
Eph 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”
It makes absolutely no sense from where we are today. And that’s why it takes faith. Again “faith means believing in advance what only makes sense in reverse.”
Hope
God is a God of justice, and that means he will honour his promises. When we doubt, when we can’t understand why certain things happen, when we can’t get our minds around it, the faith which God gives us to trust in his justice means we can have hope for the future.
The psalmist ends by summarising probably what he already knew at the beginning. Verses 27-28:
“Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
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.”
Our hope comes from having God as our refuge. From having him as our place of safety. If we put our hope in material things, or even in our health, or our friends or family, those things may go wrong. There is no guarantee that they will stay around forever.
1 Tim 6:17: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
Faith. Justice. Hope.
Whatever point you’re at tonight, if you’re doubting, if you’re questioning then that’s fine. God’s ok with that. He knows what we don’t know. For the psalmist, it was when he worshipped, when he entered into God’s presence with God’s people that his eyes were opened, and his questions were answered.
If you’re having trouble understanding God’s justice, if you’re saying “its not fair”, why is that happening, remember that God sees the bigger picture. We cannot know the mind of our creator.
And if you’re feeling like everything’s been taken away from you, and you don’t know where to turn, then one thing to can know that we can put our hope in God. He wants the best for us, and even if we can’t see it at the time, He will use our situations to bring him glory.
