Psalms 73

LEVITICUS SECTIONDarkness and Dawn (Sanctuary in View)Psalms 73-89As I said in the beginning, we are dividing the Book of Psalms according to the Pentateuch. The first forty-one psalms we call the Genesis section. Psalms 42-72 are known as the Exodus section. Now we come to Psalms 73 which brings us to the beginning of the Leviticus section. It corresponds to the Book of Leviticus because in this sectioneven in Psalms 73the sanctuary is prominent. You see, the Book of Leviticus is the book of worship for the tabernacle and later for the temple.

It is one of the greatest books in the Bible. Now as we come to this Leviticus section of the Book of Psalms, we find the emphasis upon the sanctuary and, in particular, on two aspects of the house of God. The Book of Leviticus emphasizes two things: that God is holy and that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sinsthe key words are holiness and sacrifice. These two words will also figure largely in this Leviticus section of the Book of Psalms. Psalms 73THEME: Perplexity about prosperityIn this section are very wonderful psalms, and we begin with psalms of Asaph. Like David, this man was a musician. The first series of eleven psalms (73-83) was written by Asaph.

Psalms 73:1

Immediately our attention is drawn to the fact that “God is good to Israel.” Does that mean that He is good to every Israelite? No! His goodness is limited to those who are of a clean heart. Who would they be? Those who have come with their sacrifices, those who have a desire to serve God and walk with Him. My friend, if you are saved, you want to walk with God and fellowship with him.

You want to have a clean heart. That follows just as day follows night. You cannot come to Christ and accept Him as your Savior, and continue to live as you did before. If you do, I cannot believe that you were saved in the first place. That is the explanation, and I feel that we need to hold to that rather tenaciously in our day. We are in the presence of God on the basis that He has cleaned us up.

When we receive Christ, we have forgiveness of sins; we are washedit is a washing of water by the Word of God. We are not only washed by the blood of Christ, but we are washed by the Word of God. The Word of God sanctifies us, and then we want to walk well-pleasing to Him. Now this man Asaph who came into God’s presence and could say, “God is good to Israel,” had a problem. I think his problem may be your problem alsoit certainly has been mine. The problem is this: “Why does God permit the prosperity of the wicked? Why is it that God’s people seem to suffer more?” Many times, as a pastor, I found myself puzzled. I saw God’s people tried. I saw God’s people suffer. I saw the prosperity of the wicked, and it was hard for me to understand it. It was brought home to me when our first child was born. In the hospital God took that child. I only heard the cry of that little one. All she ever did in her life was cry. I shall never forget the day she died. Across the hall from where my wife was, there was a very wealthy couple who had a baby boy, and their rich friends came to celebrate with them.

As I drove into the parking lot in my old beat-up Chevrolet, they all drove up in Cadillacs. They went into the hospital with their champagne and celebrated the birth of the little boy. He was a precious looking little babyall they desired, I guess. I shall never forget that night. It was summertime, and I went out on a balcony that was there and cried out to God. To be honest with you, I don’t know to this good day why God took our baby and left the baby across the hall.

They have money, and, boy, they live it up! I have seen write-ups about them, and they have been in trouble several times. Their little boy is now an adult, as my daughter would be. After all these years, I still don’t have the answer. You may be thinking, You are a minister, and you don’t have the answer? No, I don’t have the answer.

Then how can you comfort others? Well, I’ll tell you how. Although I don’t have the answer, I know the One who does, and He has told me to walk with him by faith. He tests me by putting me in the dark. Then I’ll reach out my hand and take his. In His Word He tells me that I can trust Him.

Someday He will explain the whys of life to me. Asaph had a problem like that. Asaph has already said that God is good to Israelthat believing remnant of which he was a partbut this question really bothered him.

Psalms 73:2

Asaph said, “I looked around me at my nation, and I noticed that the wicked among my people were the ones prospering, and the godly were not.”

Psalms 73:4

“There are no bands in their death"there are no pangs or pains in their death.

Psalms 73:5

I think again of the wealthy couple with the little boy baby; oh, how arrogant they were and filled with pride!

Psalms 73:7

These folk have everything. As I think of it, I don’t think they have had the fun that I have had in this life, because when I got a new something or other, it sure was a joy to me. It wasn’t a joy to them because they had it all along. “Their eyes stand out with fatness"I hadn’t thought of that until I studied this psalm. They had puffs under their eyesthey had been drinking too much and had too much night life. The mother of that little fellow would have been beautiful if her face had not shown so much sign of dissipation.

Psalms 73:8

They don’t mind walking on the poor. They insist that our children have to go to integrated schools, but their children do not. Everyone else must obey the law, but they somehow are exempt. As you look around you, this is something that can make you bitter.

Psalms 73:9

My, listen to these rich people on television today. They are the ones who make the news. “Their tongue walketh through the earth,” and I know of nothing that enables it to walk better than television.

Psalms 73:10

God’s people are taxed to death. We are told that some rich folk pay no taxes at all. My, they really have it made!

Psalms 73:11

They are not interested in God, and they don’t think He knows anything about them.

Psalms 73:12

Does that ever bother you? It bothers me.

Psalms 73:13

Asaph says, “I have attempted to live for God, and it looks like it does not pay.”

Psalms 73:14

This problem worried Asaph. It gave him sleepless nights. Why do the wicked prosper? Now we come to the answer:

Psalms 73:17

When Asaph went into the temple of God, he understood the “end” of the wicked. He gained insight into the end reserved for the wicked. This is the reason the Lord Jesus gave a parable about a rich man and a poor man to illustrate afterlife. It is recorded in Luk_16:19-31. It tells us that the day is going to come when God will judge the rich. That rich fellow ended up in a place of torment even though the liberal preacher pushed him right into heaven at the funeral.

Nice things were said about him. They praised him for his gifts of charity, but his end was a place of torment. The poor man wasn’t even given a decent burialhis body was thrown onto a dump heap. But God’s pallbearers were waiting for himthey were angelsand they took him right into Abraham’s bosom. You have to stay close to God today, friend, or you will become bitter and cynical as you see the injustice in the world. Asaph found his answer in the sanctuary.

I don’t know the answer to your question because I don’t know the answer to mine, but I know Someone who does. He didn’t say He would tell me right now. He said, “You trust Me. I’ve got the answer.” Someday in His presence He is going to explain it all to us. Also I know that He is going to show me that what He did was best. I don’t understand that either, but that is what He is going to do. Until then

Psalms 73:23

I told you that He will take your hand. He took mine when my little girl died. He said, “Walk with me.” That is the lesson I learned, and this is the lesson the psalmist learned.

Psalms 73:24

I am with Him today. My life verse is Php_1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Don’t tell me that He won’t, because He will; and that is the message of this psalm. “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” I can’t ask for anything better than that. So, no matter what happens, whether I understand it or not, I will simply trust Him; and, if you don’t mind, I will go on with Him.