Psalm 73 - God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

0:00Psalm 73, a psalm of Asaph. 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. For they have no pangs until death, their bodies are fat and sleek, 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, their eyes swell out through fatness, their hearts overflow with follies, they scoff and speak with mellus, loftily they threaten no pressure, they set their mouths against the heavens and their tongue struts through the earth, therefore his people turn back to them and find no fault in them. 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.

1:03All 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. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a weary some task. Until I went into the sanctuary of God. When I discern their end, truly, you set them in slippery places, you make them falter ruin, how they are destroyed in a moment swept away utterly by terrors, like a dream when one wakes, oh 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. 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. Whom have I in heaven but you?

2:04And 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. This psalm written by ASAF expresses dismay at the prospering of the wicked. How can those who pursue such cruelty and shameless evil enjoy such richness of life? It is only when ASAF lifts his eyes to God that he sees the total picture. In the final destruction of the wicked is considered, their present prosperity takes on new proportions. It is seen to be brief, fleeting. The evil are prospering today, then snuffed out after a few seconds of this short life's existence. Yet we are still stuck in the present, watching day after day as the wicked flourish, how do

3:06we survive emotionally? This psalm gives us the beautiful solution, 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. How would you put this in your own words? Consider what ASAF is saying. With God, you are invincible. Nothing can touch you. Your greatest enjoyment, God, can never be taken away from you. In heaven, God is all you want and need. On earth, God is all you want and need. In death or in life, in sickness or in health, even as your body wastes away toward the grave, God is all you want and need. Be at peace. Your true happiness is beyond the reach of any evil this life can bring.