Psalm 73 Part 2  August 1, 1999

A New Perspective

A retired sailor purchased a computer and began to learn all about computing. Being a sailor, he was used to addressing his ships as "She" or "Her." But was unsure what was proper for computers. To solve his dilemma, he found two groups of computer experts: one group was male, and the other group was female.

The group of women reported that computers should be referred to as "HE" because:

1. They have a lot of data but are still clueless.

2. In order to get their attention you have to turn them on.

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems but half the time they are the problem.

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have had a newer and better model.

The group of men reported that computers should be referred to as "SHE" because:

1. No one but the creator understands their logic.

2. The language they use to talk to other computers is incomprehensible to anyone else.

3. Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for later retrieval.

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

We all know that men and women look at life very differently. That is what puts the spark in marriage. Now that spark can either ignite the warm glow of love or be a raging inferno. The difference boils down to whether each marriage partner can see the perspective of the other. Seeing a problem from another perspective will change the way you view the problem. A different point of view is what is often needed when troubles come. That is what the writer of Psalm 73 had to learn the hard way. As we delve into Psalm 73 once again this morning, we will see how, when Asaph changed his perspective, his problem of faith became a triumph of grace.

1. Surely God is good to Israel, 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

17. 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.

There is often a conflict between our faith and our experience. We believe God punishes the wicked and protects His own. But our eyes tells us something very different - the wicked get away with murder. But when faith and experience collide the problem is one of perspective. The way we view the problem of good and evil, of a loving God in a world of sin will affect our response to our God. Asaph in Psalm 73 moves from protest to praise. What changed his outlook? The answer is summed up in one word—worship. This psalm begins on the issue of theodicy and ends with a credo of God’s eternal presence, begins with the problem of God’s justice and concludes with the answer of God’s grace. How does the psalmist change his perspective?

The Perspective of God’s Sanctuary Changes our Mind - verses 16-17

As long as Asaph tried to reason his way out of his troubled perception apart from God he would hit his head against the wall. Trying to make sense of the triumph of evil by only allowing the tangible evidence of this world produces frustration. The problem of wicked people having a carefree life, of the apparent stupidity of trying to be good only to see the immoral advance can not be solved by the light of nature. The envy he had of the wicked (verse 3) was like blinders to his eyes. He could only see their immediate pleasure.

The trouble with his perspective up to this point is that he has become the judge; his perception was centered on self, on his feelings, his emotional response to his own circumstances. When that happens, our range of vision is narrowed down to only those factors that are troubling us. You cannot think beyond them. When our feelings govern us they always limit us, make us biased. That is what prejudice is, a narrow limited range of vision that has only one fact in view.

It is like trying to put together a kid’s bike on Christmas Eve without the directions. You’ve got the parts in front of you, but you don’t have a clue what goes where. What is worse, you’ve already thrown out the box, so you don’t even know what it should look like. That would be oppressive.

The psalmist finds relief in worship. Everything changed, his perspective was altered when he added a third part to the equation: God’s point of view. God’s point of view was understood when God was worshipped in the sanctuary.

In the sanctuary God was his focus, not his problems. There he was reminded of God’s attributes, character and power. He could see both God’s judgment of sin as well as God’s solution offered to sinners. It is in worship that his perspective was altered.

Worship may appear an overly simplistic method of settling a troubled mind, but the change of perspective comes when we focus our minds on God’s holiness and mercy. What takes place in worship is not leaving behind your life, but bringing before God what’s been plaguing you at work, the turmoil you may have at home, the thoughts which won’t give you rest and seeing them as God sees them.

What was immediately seen in that sanctuary? Eternity.

Eternity places the problem of pain and pleasure in perspective. Knowing what happens not only in this life but in the next gives us the necessary understanding how we are to live in light of the future. Without the facts our minds fill in the missing gaps. But now, considering the perspective God has on the situation, he is no longer in doubt. The envy of the prosperity and peace of the wicked melts into a holy horror of both their impending doom and of their present guilt.

The Perspective of God’s Sovereignty Confirms Their End  - verses 18-20

It is easy to be jealous of the peace and prosperity of people who thumb their noses at God, but God seems to reward them. But when we see God’s common grace given now, but withheld later, then we can only stand in awe. Notice what happens to these seemingly successful people.

Their prosperity is a tenuous place. "Slippery ground" originally referred to a piece of polished marble or burnished brass. It was used of smooth talk, flattering words which set someone up for a quick downfall. They enjoy their sin for a time, perhaps from a human perspective for a lifetime. But from the perspective of eternity, from the point of view in worship, there is a quick ride to the bottom.

It's like trying to cross a stream by stepping on moss covered rocks. We may think we are standing on something firm and steady, but its security is illusionary. Like black ice on a January day in Wisconsin, we don’t realize the precarious ground on which we travel.

During the Battle of the Wilderness in the Civil War, Union general John Sedgwick was inspecting his troops. At one point he came to a parapet, over which he gazed out in the direction of the enemy. His officers suggested that this was unwise and perhaps he ought to duck while passing the fortification. "Nonsense," snapped the general. "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist--." With that Sedgwick fell to the ground, fatally wounded. He thought he was safe, secure.

What is more they are cast down to ruin.

This is not just a temporal catastrophe here. Remember in verse 4 Asaph complained that the wicked have no struggles, meaning they have an easy death. Peace follows them to the grave. So the ruin he sees is in their final destiny. What he sees is their eternal punishment in Hell.

The devastation of the wicked is one of desolation. The word "ruin" is used of a desert or an area decimated by a storm. The pictures of tornado aftermath conjures up the imagery of this word. Nothing is left standing when God’s judgment comes.

You’ve seen the news coverage of hurricanes such as Mitch, Andrew or Hugo as they come ashore, how solid homes are crushed like toothpicks, beaches eroded and disappear. What once was firmly established is consumed by the waves and is gone. That is the image of the wicked. PBS recently ran a series called "The Savage Seas." One segment told of the devastation of a 1972 cyclone which came out of the Bay of Bengal. The seas rose a hundred feet and converged on the flat lands of Bangladesh, killing a half million people in a few short hours. This picture of hell is one of complete destruction.

What is more their judgment is not imaginary but real. They think that Hell is the illusion and their happiness is reality, but present existence is the shadow. We picture the life to come as some nether world, a formless existence and that substance is here and now. But the psalmist with the perspective of worship knows that what we live in now is the dream and a much more firm reality comes in eternity.

We often don’t know how to handle this truth of eternal destruction, of Hell. We like to sugar coat the awful truth of eternal punishment. We want the positive spin to ease the pain.

We are like the Smiths who were proud of their family tradition. Their ancestors had come to America on the Mayflower; they included Senators and Wall Street wizards. They decided to compile a family history, a legacy for their children and grandchildren. They hired a fine author. Only one problem arose - how to handle that great-uncle who was executed in the electric chair. The author said he could handle that chapter of their history tactfully.

The book appeared. It said that "Great-uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution, was attached to his position by the strongest of ties and his death came as a real shock."

But we can’t run from the eternal perspective. We must never whitewash the reality of eternity without God. Without this perspective, God’s justice is a joke. But having come to worship, he recognized their end, he saw that the momentary pleasures of sin can never be compared to eternal riches in Christ.

Asaph doesn’t just see that they too will die or even that God will get them later. Rather God is intimately involved with their destruction. Who placed the wicked on that slippery slope? Who made them prosperous in the first place? Who casts them down?

Their prosperity has no firm footing because it is not built on God’s favor or promise. It is not just that they suffer the natural outcome of their self-centered lifestyle. It is not enough to say they reap what they sow, that since they are ignorant of the God who made them, that they now must suffer their just desserts. Rather, God is actively involved in their destruction. He takes the lead in dooming them.

There are times the wicked will appear to be so firmly entrenched that they are a mighty monolith, a towering steel structure unmoveable by any force. But with the eternal perspective they are like the dandelion that blooms in the morning and by afternoon is a puff ball. The first wind that comes along will blow it away.

Nothing is more comforting than God’s sovereignty. While many portray this truth as incidental at best or at worst some form of fatalism, the perspective of Scripture says that God’s overarching governance of His creation is the only means by which we can deal with the problem of the success of evil and the seeming failure of goodness. The only way we can make sense out of suffering is to know that God, the ultimate good, is also ultimately in control. To deny sovereignty is to deny comfort.

Think of the well meaning but misguided counselor who, at the death of a loved one, says, "God certainly never intended for this to happen." With that advice, he/she condemns the person to never making sense of the universe and not having a loving and powerful God to worship. The universe makes little sense; goodness suffers while evil triumphs.

The Perspective of God’s Security Counsels us to Confess - verses 21-28

Worship also gave Asaph a new perspective on himself. It dissolved false pride and brought about a penitent spirit. Underlying Asaph’s protest in verses 1-14 was a faulty assumption—that while the wealthy were wicked, he was righteous. Only a man who thought himself righteous could reason: "Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; In vain have I washed my hands in innocence" (v. 13).

The fallacy of Rabbi Kushner’s book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People is that there are no "good" people; none of us is innocent. We, like Asaph, must drop the self-righteous posturing when examining evil. The solution is found in a new perspective discovered in worship that we are wicked ourselves, we deserve the destruction described in verses 18-20.

With an new perspective found in worship, Asaph responds to worship by first admitting his sin. But one would think that just describing God’s destruction of the wicked would make one refuse to admit his own wickedness. But Asaph knows the only solution is found in acknowledging the problem.

Sin is first described as a boiling venom.

The word "grieved" is used in a neutral fashion for yeast, describing the bubbling, expanding nature of leaven in bread. It is the word for vinegar, so here it describes his sour attitude. In this context, the ever expanding nature of his own complaint against God for allowing the wicked to succeed took over his every thought.

In parallel fashion, he says his spirit is embittered. Literally, this translates: "my kidneys were sharp." To the Hebrew the kidneys were the seat of the emotions. The word "sharp" comes from the word "tooth" and was used for arrow points. When we focus on the injustice in the world apart from God’s perspective it is like chewing on glass; our stomachs seethe with acid. PepcidAC won’t stop this churning stomach

His sinful response is next described as a bull in a china shop.

When controlled by his own bitterness, he behaved like an instinctual animal. He could only understand the here and now. He uses a term for a grazing animal who lives with his head hunched down, seeing only the grass and never the sky. Unable to see God’s justice and grace the only response left is anger and frustration.

We can confess our sin, knowing that God’s grace will protect us (verses 23-24).

The minute he came to this low place before God there comes an instant reassurance. He realizes that God still loves him, God has not cast him aside. All the marvel of the grace of God is poured into that one word, "Yet…" Suddenly there comes to his understanding the fact that though he is confessing his stupidity and his ignorance before God, God has not cast him away; He is still with him, He still loves him, He still holds him and supports him.

All those who commit themselves to God shall be guided with His counsel, with the counsel both of His word and of His Spirit, the best counselors. Before, Asaph counseled himself with his own emotions and acted like an idiot. Now, God reminds him of what it means to be adopted by God. So now, counseled by God he knows that his position is secure. He is no longer on slippery ground, but with God’s perspective, he knows he is secure. He is secure that he will not be destroyed, but will spend eternity with a loving Father.

The Chinese Christian writer, Watchman Nee, tells about a new convert who came in deep distress to see him. "No matter how much I pray, no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot seem to be faithful to my Lord. I think I'm losing my salvation." Nee said, "Do you see this dog here? He is my dog. He is house-trained; he never makes a mess; he is obedient; he is a pure delight to me. Out in the kitchen I have a son, a baby son. He makes a mess, he throws his food around, he fouls his clothes, he is a total mess. But who is going to inherit what is mine? Not my dog; my son is my heir. You are Jesus Christ's heir because it is for you that He died." We are Christ's heirs, not through our perfection but by means of His grace.

This certainty comes because he trusts not in himself, but in God’s strength (verses 25-26).

In his repentance he not only acknowledges his sinful attitudes before in envying the wicked, but he also expresses a tremendous affection for God; his entire satisfaction is found in God and God alone. What he envied in the wicked was their prosperity, ease in this life. But with an eternal perspective he sees there is nothing which this world offers that can compare to God.

With that as his greatest desire, no matter what happens, when his body finally gives way, when sickness, age and death come, he will not be swept away by terrors; God will not despise him. But God’s favor does not rest on him for any reason other than God’s grace.

With tremendous assurance, we can admit we will fail. Our flesh can not go on forever; our hearts give way to fear, envy, despair. Then comes that wonderful "but" - God’s strength is more than enough for us. God used the sufferings of the righteous and the prosperity of the wicked for the single purpose of drawing Asaph to Himself. He knows now even more that God will be sufficient for his every need. God will be his portion, his inheritance.

So Asaph concludes where he began in this Psalm.

God’s goodness to his own is reaffirmed, God’s protection is certain. But there is more

Before Asaph worshipped he drew a conclusion. He was certain that his striving to be good was useless. What is more, his envy meant there was nothing he could say. If he had opened his mouth and told others his cynical conclusion, he would have only harmed others' faith.

Do you notice what his envy did? As long as he kept his attention focused on his problems, as long as he was discontented with what God was doing, he could say nothing beneficial at all. Envy is the enemy of evangelism.

But the second half of the Psalm has a different conclusion. Once he sees the destruction of the wicked he no longer craves what they have. What is more, now he can speak. His mouth can be opened.

Think of the people who live and work and shop near you. Where will they be when the finality of God’s reign lands on them with a thud? That nice young woman who works for you, what will happen to her? That sharp, energetic couple next door, what will become of them? That elderly friend who has led such a decent life but hasn’t yet been introduced to Jesus — what about him or her? That person in school who seems so put together and accomplished — and thoroughly secular — what about that soul? Verse 19 says: "How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!"

When our perspective is challenged and changed, we have only one valid response: we can’t keep quiet. We must speak. There is a world of hurt out there, and much, much more to come — and a whole lot of it is cleverly disguised as success. We dare not envy those who in truth need rescue. We must arise from complacent —sometimes wistful— lethargy and be bold with a message of good news. People are dying out there in the world, and we’ve got the antidote! We cannot sit on the good news here in the comfort of our holy huddle. We must, we must share Jesus with those on slippery places who will fall into ruin.

I know. It takes a paradigm shift in our thinking. Those we may have secretly longed to join, we must rescue. But as long as we think they’re basically okay and could maybe just use a little religion tacked onto their life for some finishing zest, we’ll never open our mouths and say a word. We need a new perspective to see them as God does: on the brink of ruin. Then and only then will we care enough to stick our necks out to say or do something strategic in their lives. That’s the new perspective.