Summer of Psalms: Part 1 - From Confusion to Clarity
PSALM 73
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
So happy to be here today. When they asked me what Psalm I wanted, you might've thought this was an odd choice, right? When we started reading it, were you like, "Oh no, what is this?" It's really long. It's bizarre. I don't get it. But this is one of my favorite Psalms, and I'm going to tell you why. There are so many great Psalms. I never really had much use for the Psalms when I was younger. I kind of liked the stories of the Old Testament. Then I'd skip through and read the New Testament, the poetry, and all that stuff. I just didn't really have time for it until I got to a really dark season in my life, and nothing else spoke to me. The writings of everyone else—I mean, I'd flip from the Old, I'd flip to the New. I couldn't relate to anything. And then I found the Psalms again, and found that the people who recorded these things had very human emotions, very much like I did. And they said things out loud that I was either ashamed or embarrassed to say out loud, or didn't have words to say out loud, or didn't want to admit I felt. And Psalm 73 is one of those for me. I love it because the psalmist is just gut-level honest; he just cuts to the chase.
So I have a handout that I made for you. If you don't have one, would you slip your hand up? I know the guys will get you one. On the front, I'm going to read these things to you. If you're a fill-in-the-blanker, I'm going to give them all three right now. It's the silent contract. Silent contract. It's a sobering confrontation. And it's a sure conclusion. So contract, confrontation, conclusion. That's how this psalm reads to me, and that's kind of the outline, I would say, of the psalm. And then as we read through, the bullet points are kind of going to be on the inside, the way I see it and the way God shows it to me. So you can follow along with that. All right, here we go.
This psalmist, Asaph, starts out with his main truth. All right. And this verse is his main truth: "Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart." And we hear that and we're like, yes, God is good. God's good to Israel. God's good to those who are pure in heart. Okay. So he's got agreement, general agreement from his readers on that. And then he goes into, "But as for me, my feet had almost slipped. I had nearly lost my foothold." Now this can be much less like a sermon and much more like a Bible study because I want you to think through what he's saying here. What kind of journey are you on if you're worried about your feet slipping and losing your foothold? Where are you? When I think about losing my foothold, I think of being on kind of a steep path or even maybe rock climbing, where you have to watch it like every second and you do not want to slip, not even a little bit, and you certainly don't want to lose your foothold, right? He's telling us this main truth up here that God is good. I almost stopped believing that. And here's why. And I love verse three because he's kind of slipping into like, "Gather round, children. Let me tell you about my story, right?" In this part, he's reflecting back on what happened to him. So verse three, he diagnoses his problem: "I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." I was jealous. I was envious. These wicked people are doing whatever they care to do, and they're doing great, and I'm keeping the rules, and I'm doing terrible, and I'm jealous. I love that he has the guts to admit that, and it's written down in the Bible, like it's going to happen to us. They put it in their songbook so they could sing about it. It's such a universal truth.
So I put in your handout the wicked; these first bullets. These are the first few things that he notices about the wicked. We'll start with verse four. They have no struggles. Their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens. They're not plagued by human ills. Don't we think that sometimes? We watch the news. We watch social media. We see people out there who have complete disregard. They have no problems because they can buy their way out of anything. It seems like their lives and our lives are not parallel. They have such advantage. Therefore, pride is their necklace. They clothe themselves with violence. Because they can. They can act like they have it all because they do. They can be violent because who's going to stop them? From their callous hearts come iniquity. Their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff, speak with malice. With arrogance, they threaten oppression. That bullet point, I just said, they talk tough. They talk down. They speak to hurt others. They use their strength to threaten others. Don't we see this? We see it in our government. We see it in world governments. We see it everywhere that people who have no regard for God are just out there grabbing and doing it with no consequence, and it can rankle us, right? And you would think if someone had a heart like that, if someone was talking like that, people would be like, "Hey, we don't need association." But you know what happens? Instead, they gather others who are just like them, right? Their mouths lay claim to heaven and their tongues take possession of the earth. "I'll go grab whatever I want." Therefore, their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say, "How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?" This is what the wicked are like. Always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Have you ever looked at people and made that judgment? You're pretty quiet, so probably not. Well, I'm a little more sinful than y'all. I'm a little less holy. I'm so sorry to let you know that before you stand, it's a big, fat sinner. And there are all kinds of feelings I have, and there are all kinds of times where I'm just fed up. I am fed up. I am freaked out. I need to put my phone away for 100 years and never look at it again. There are just a lot of times where I go through this very same emotion. And especially this hits me in verse 13: "Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence." You know the way that that reads in The Message? It says, "I've been stupid to play by the rules. What has it gotten me?" You cannot tell me as a Christian you have not thought that from time to time. You have not. You cannot tell me that you haven't thought, "I'm trying to do everything right. I'm trying to be faithful. I'm trying to raise my kids right. I'm trying to do the good things. I'm trying to stop the bad things. I'm trying, God. I'm trying." Verse 14: "And all day long I've been afflicted. Every morning brings new punishment." It's like, if it's not one thing, it's another. This stuff just keeps happening to me. I don't understand it, God. I don't understand it.
That's what the silent contract is all about. This first part of this passage, that's what the silent contract is all about. You know, when we get saved, we give our lives to the Lord. We're so grateful. He really does so much work in us. He forgives us. He justifies us. He makes us stand guiltless before God. He's sanctifying us. He's actually changing us day by day, bit by bit. Our character, he's trying to grow it. He's given us spiritual gifts. He's preparing a place in heaven for us. He's giving us spiritual gifts. He's set us apart for a calling and a purpose. He gives us a reason to get up in the morning. But man, after you're climbing that rock face for a while, you get tired. And you get weak. And you start to look around at where is everybody else and what are they doing? And how come their lives look better than mine? And this is not where I expected to be at this point in my life. I thought by now I would have [blank]. I thought by now I would be somewhere different. I thought by now I'd be married. I never thought I'd be divorced. I never thought I'd have a health issue that was debilitating and it was going to change my life. I didn't realize the economy was going to go crooked. On and on and on. We start looking at our lives and we all of a sudden pull out this contract that we made with God. And we said, "Hey, look, this is the things I've been doing for you. And you owe me." None of us would ever think that we have that contract with God. Like, because I'm doing this, you owe me this. But let me ask you a question. The last time something terrible happened to you or to someone you love, what was one of your first questions? Why? Why? How? How could you allow this? And there's something in us that thinks like, "You're supposed to be protecting me. You're supposed to be... I'm not supposed to go through this. I thought these problems that happen to everyone else... I thought we had a deal. Like I'm trying to be a good person, so you need to be good to me." We have a silent contract with God whether we realize it or not, and it comes out in times of trouble. So now the narrator, there's a question to ask ourselves right there too. I think it's a good time to ask like, is there something that's making me lose my foothold right now in my life? Like, is there something that makes it harder for me to believe that God is good and that he's being good to me? That's a good thing to think about, good thing to answer.
Now, Asaph's going to interrupt his own story with like a little reflection. And he says in verse 15, "If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children." I think what he means by that is this was all going on in my own head. I never said anything to anybody. But this is what I'm dealing with on the inside of my mind. These are the thoughts and questions I'm having on the inside of my mind. And I couldn't even say that kind of stuff out loud because it doesn't sound right. It might not be accepted. People might think, like, what would people think? Right? I think it's so important when we're struggling with a big concept like the goodness of God. Is God good? That's a big question. And if we are struggling with that question, man, we need to get in the Word, and we also need to talk about it with a trusted counselor or friend or pastor. Like, "Here's where I'm struggling. Help me see. Help me see." Okay, now he's back in the story. "When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply." And of course it did. You know what rumination is, right? Where you just kind of your thoughts are in this loop and they just kind of, you only have to start right here and then you know where it's going to go. And then all day long, you're kind of thinking the same old thing. You're just thinking the same old thing. And we're not going to think our way out of this. As human beings, we're not going to think our way out of it. You're still going to have that financial issue. You're still going to have that problem tomorrow if you have a health issue, most likely. You're going to have that relational issue that's been difficult for you. Whatever it is, we can't think our way out of it. So he was very troubled. Verse 17: "Until I entered the sanctuary of God." I had to get in God's very, very presence to get this thing figured out. That's what he's saying here. It wasn't, "And then I went to church and all was well. The end." Don't we kind of treat it like that sometimes? Like, "I'm really having a tough week. I'm really struggling with this issue. I'm really having a problem, but I'll just go to church and get my spirits lifted a little, and then I'll go out and try to fight it all over again." It's great to come to church. I'm glad you're here; you should come to church. All the time. You should come. But coming to church is one thing. Entering God's presence is another. If we come to church with closed hearts, if we even do our devotions at home, if we're even reading the Bible with a closed heart, I don't know about you. I really believe in holy habits. And sometimes my holy habits come back to me. Because I have read a whole portion of Scripture and I shut my book. And if you asked me what I just read, I could not tell you. Because I wasn't doing it to connect with God. I was sort of doing it to check it off my list and move on with my day. Right? Totally different. Totally different approach than the days where I go in and I'm like, "Okay, God, I am poor and needy. I'm going to be searching this thing to find out what you have for me in this reading today. I'm ready for it. Let me know what it is, and I'll think about it." Right? There's a huge difference there. So anyway, "I didn't understand until I entered the sanctuary of God, and then I understood their final destiny." This is where the sober confrontation happens, is in the presence of God. Sometimes we don't want to get in the presence of God because we don't want him to know how ugly we are on the inside. Or that we are doubting him or that we're not the good girl, the good guy that he thinks we are. I don't know if anyone's told you this, but he already knows. It's pretty obvious to him, right? It's pretty obvious to him. So we have to have this sober confrontation.
Now, on the inside, we're going to show how God sees the wicked. We're looking at the outward stuff. We're like, "Yeah, and you went on that great vacation, and you bought that yacht, and you're problem-free, and you grab that business, and you squash this thing, and you're rising in power and in status, and I'm over here suffering and having all these problems." That's kind of how our minds said it is. Now look at how God sees them. "Surely you place them on slippery ground. You cast them down to ruin." All of a sudden, if I shift to an eternal perspective, everything changes. Everything changes. What I think is important changes. What I want for my life changes. What I want for my kids' lives changes. It goes from possessions and position and power to you. I mean, ultimately, God is saying, "You're not the one on slippery ground. It's over here. It's the people who think this is all there is, and they're grabbing all of it while they can." I have news for you. This is all the goodness they're ever going to get. "How suddenly they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors. They're like a dream when one awakes. When you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies." That means their lives amount to nothing and they disappear like this and be done. Right? Again, now he's going back into narrator mode, these next two verses. After he's realized, like, "What do I want all this for? It's going to burn up." How many of you are old enough to remember when Star Wars, the movie, came out, the first one? So young people over here, sorry, you're probably not born. It was pretty amazing for that time. It still is pretty amazing. But now they're making the prequels, right? They've been making the prequels, the story before the story that we all know. You guys, we're living in the prequel. We're in the prequel of the epic story. This life is just this life. It has a finite beginning. It has a finite ending, and it is done. And whatever you accumulate, whatever power you get, whatever position you get, however comfortable you want to live, however hard you climb that ladder to scratch and claw and get what's yours, it's gone. It's done. In a heartbeat, in a moment, in an instant. When you receive Christ Jesus as your Lord, your real life started at that moment, at that instant. And you have to live through the prequel, but then you get to go live the real story. That is our life. And that is where we fix our eyes. And that's where our hope is found. And that is what the Lord who sees everything looks at. That's how he's looking at the wicked. That's how he's looking at us. He's like, "Think for a second about what I'm giving you. That's going to go far, far beyond this little thing we're experiencing now." So he says, "When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant." He's realizing. He's realizing. I'm sorry, God, I forgot. I forgot. I forgot what you've done for me. I forgot that I was a dead man walking and you brought me to life. I forgot. I forgot that I was headed toward hell, and you reached out and you snatched me out of the fire. I forgot. I forgot how good you've been to me. I forgot the things you've given me. I forgot that you're speaking to me. I forgot that you're leading me. I forgot that we're on this journey together. I started to feel like it was just me. But even then, even when I was senseless and ignorant and acting like a fool, "Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand." You ever had a child you had to drag out of Disneyland? I mean, it's that kind of thing. You're like, you've got this screaming child, and you love them with all your heart, even though you sort of... I'm not going to say what you'd like to do, but you want this to stop. But you've got them by the right hand, or you're not going to let them go. And you know, in the ancient world, the right hand is your fighting hand. It's the hand you have your sword in. So if God's got your right hand, he's got the sword in his. So he's the one that's fighting our battles when we're out here acting a fool, embittered, with our hearts grieved.
All right, well, the simple conclusion. Where do I need to keep my focus? What keeps me content despite what I'm going through? We're shifting to the eternal perspective here; that's what's doing it. "You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory." On here, you're always with me. You hold me by my right hand. You're guiding me with your wise words and your personal advice. There is so much in the Scripture. When I was... I could have made this message six hours long. You're welcome that I didn't. Because I had so... there's so many Scriptures to bring in and to show you like, "Oh, here's how Jesus was speaking about what our life is going to look like once... Oh, here's how the disciples... here's what they're like... Oh, here's the whole book of Acts and what was going on with the early church and the trials and tribulations that they went through... Oh, here's Paul's letter from prison encouraging us to fight the good fight and do all this..." Here's all of these things that we have forgotten because we live in such a cushy American world and we want what everybody else has. And if we don't have it, by goodness, right? No, no, no, no, no. Look at how God is good to us. He's always with us. He's holding me by my right hand. He's guiding me with his wise words and advice. "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you." That should be circled in our Bibles with a little star and an arrow next to it. God, give me this attitude that you're enough for me. That you're enough for me. That if I lose everything, and I might. I might. And if I do, you're still enough for me. "My flesh and my heart may fail. Yes, it may. First we had a fire, now we have a pickup." All right. My flesh and my heart may fail. You know, I may be back here again next week, honestly. I may be back in this position. I can't always keep, I don't always stay aligned where God wants me to stay aligned. Left to my own devices, the road gets a little slippery, and I can lose my way. My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is a strength in my heart. Guess what? He's not going to let me. He's not even going to leave me when I act the fool and accuse him of things that aren't his problem. God is the strength of my heart and he's my portion forever. You know, when they wrote "my portion," do you guys remember when God was giving out land to the Israelites after they crossed into the promised land? Moses is telling the 12 tribes, God said, "You guys get from this river to that mountain range, and you guys get from here to there, and you guys get there to there," and he's going through all the tribes, right? And he gets to the Levites, who are the keepers of the temple and the people who work and do all the temple service, and he said, "You guys don't get any land. I'm your portion." What if that's what God is saying? Can we handle that? Even if we don't get what we think we need and deserve and require? If God says, "You know what? I've settled my heart on this matter. And you're not going to get that. But you are going to get me." Would that be enough for us? Verse 27, we're wrapping up here. He's just reiterating, like, "Okay, you showed me all this stuff. I'm going to boil it down." "Those who are far from you will perish. You're going to destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it's good to be near God. It's good to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge." That's where I'm going to run. That's where I'm going to turn. That's what I'm going to trust. And I'm going to tell people about it. I'm going to tell people of your good deeds. For them and for me.
So I just want to run you through these questions again. Just give us a few minutes of quiet to just ask yourselves, what, if anything, is making me or almost about to make me lose my foothold right now? Is there a situation at work that's just so unfair and they're not going to change it? Ever? Is there financial difficulties that just get harder and harder as the months go by? And you're tired of it and you're stretched thin and you're at your wit's end. Is there relational difficulty? What is it? What is making me lose my foothold? What's making me doubt God's goodness? Is there something that is? If there is, you could write your own psalm. And you should. You should have it out with God because he can take it, and when you're honest with him, he's honest with you, and it's a good thing, sometimes a humbling thing, but it's a good thing. Always have that confrontation. I think one of the toughest things is to figure out what works for you to move into the presence of God to get your heart really ready to hear. It's probably not Fox News or CNN; that's just a tip. It's probably not you know those guys at the office or on the job who always have terrible things to say. It's probably not there. But where is it for you? Can you get away? Can you go to a park? Can you sit and look at a sunset for a minute? Can you talk to God and can you just say like, "I need to know you're here. I need it. I need to know. Help me in the next few days to find you wherever you are. I'll be looking. I'll be looking." And then the sure conclusion: where must I keep my focus? Man, if we don't keep our focus on eternity and what's coming, we're going to be blown about like waves in the wind. We're going to have so many ups and so many downs. We're going to feel like we're in a hurricane that we can't get out of. And I'm not saying don't know what's going on in the world. I'm not saying disregard all the problems in your life. You just suck it up and think about eternity. I'm not saying that. You have to figure stuff out. I'm saying, go to the Lord about it. Seek his face. He loves you. He's good to you. He has good plans for you. He's got your hand, holding you through whatever you're going through. He's not letting go. He'll never let go. I wrote down a few of my favorite scriptures. These were all the ones I was going to print and try to insert in here somewhere. If you need help with this this week, look some of these up. Just look some of these scriptures up and give them a read.
Let's bow our heads. Lord, surely you are good. Surely you are good to Israel. Surely you're good to your people. Surely you've been good to us. God, we can get so caught up in our problems that we lose complete perspective. And it doesn't take much. Doesn't take much time connecting with you to start to see our perspective shift a little bit, and see that we have to make the most of this short time you've given us to become more and more like Jesus, because we're going to enjoy you forever. We're going to be with you. We're going to have everything we need. No more problems, no more tears, no more struggles. But until that time, God, we've got to get through this. And this can be really hard. So I just ask that you would help us remember that you're here, that you're present, that you're holding us, that you're encouraging us, that you're leading us, that you're for us, not against us. Help us not to judge ourselves too harshly. We are fallible, frail human beings. But help us cling to our faith, and help us to grow more and more like you. All God's people said, Amen.