But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. Psalm 73:2
One of my favorite elements of the Psalms is the vulnerability and candor of the psalmists who wrote them. Though the collection is inspired by God, it lays bare the full spectrum of human emotions: joy, fear, anxiety, anger, hatred, love, etc. In the process, it shows us how to approach God honestly, humbly, and openly in whatever condition our heart may be at the time. While always coming with reverence, we are blessed to come to Him candidly to receive the help we need in our time of need, a privilege brought to full bloom through the atoning work of Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16).
In Psalm 73, Asaph confessed to God of a time he almost lost faith (73:2). What prompted this near-death experience for Asaph? Though he knew God is good to the faithful, what he saw in his world seemed to contradict his understanding of how God’s world operated, particularly regarding the seeming ease in which the wicked lived.
In verses 3-14, he laid bare his perception of the inequity that was leading him to envy the wicked and question the merits of his faithfulness to God. As he saw it, they were more prosperous (vs. 3), living lives of ease (vv. 4-5), proudly scoffing at God and His intended order while paying no apparent price for doing so (vv. 6-11), and ultimately living it up as their riches steadily increased (vs. 12). Meanwhile, it appeared to him he was maintaining his purity before God for naught, being stricken and rebuked daily, and struggling to understand why this was so (vv. 13-14, 16). I am sure many of us can sympathize with Asaph in this vein as it is often the worst amongst us who live the easiest lives with the most advantages. What are we to do when we grapple with this same sentiment? As the nature of the world has never changed, neither has the solution to this age-old problem.
Asaph had to remember that things are not always as they appear at first glance. We are painfully limited in our perception of the world, only seeing our tiny sliver of the big picture. God on the other hand, knows all things (1 John 3:20).
While pondering the world with Solomon’s “under the sun” view (cf. Ecclesiastes 1:9, 14, etc.), Asaph only saw the current prosperity of the wicked and became embittered (vv. 21-22). He gained clarity only after he “…went into the sanctuary of God” (vs. 17). Like Asaph, it is only when we draw near to God that life makes sense, and the adversary is forced to relent in his pursuit of our destruction (James 4:7-8; Psalms 73:27-28). The reality Asaph previously failed to see is that, though temporal ease may come to the wicked as God blesses everyone on the earth (cf. Matthew 5:43-48), their end is disastrous if they refuse God’s call until the end (vv. 18-20; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Romans 2:5-11; Acts 17:30; 2 Corinthians 5:10).
On the other hand, the righteous who stay near to the Lord have the assurance of His continued presence and provision (vv. 23-28). As Jesus put it, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you… I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 14:27; 16:33). May we draw near to God, trusting in His provision regardless of the seeming prosperity of the wicked, knowing in the end He will put everything right (1 Corinthians 15:50-58).