Psalm 73

Verse 1 of this psalm

"Surely God is good to Israel,

Even to such as are pure in heart,"

might quite suitably have been written at the close of the psalm, for it is the conclusion drawn by Asaph as he weighed in the balance of his mind what he saw as a brutish, ignorant and natural man, and what he saw in the sanctuary of God. There are ever two points of view from which we may see men and matters, God's and men's. The Scriptures give God's point of view, and men's point of view is that of the superficial sight of their own eyes. Men look, as God said to Samuel, on the outward appearance, and both men and things are not always what they seem to be.

It has been remarked by many that Asaph's words in verse 1 come to us suddenly without any introduction. God was good to Israel, that is, to that part of Israel that were pure in heart, for it was ever true, that "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel" (Romans 9.6). The true Israel and true Israelites were such as were pure in heart. Nathaniel was a specimen: "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" (John 1. 47). Said the Lord in that beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matthew 5.8). Wisdom and purity of heart go well together, for "the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated (yielding), full of mercy and good fruits, without variance (impartial), without hypocrisy (unfeigned)" (James 3.17); but cunning, crafty, scheming people live in a very dark heart where little light is allowed to enter lest their plots should be revealed.

Verses 2-14 of this psalm give us an outline of the thoughts of Asaph as he considered the prosperity of the wicked and the proud. The natural view he took almost resulted in spiritual disaster.

My feet were almost gone;

My steps had well nigh slipped."

With some of God's children, alas, it is not "almost" but "altogether." Some have looked abroad and have seen the prosperity of the wicked, of men of this world whose portion is in this life, men such as are described in Psalm 49.10-20, and have descended to politics to give assistance to such as would fleece the rich and distribute wealth amongst the working classes. This world has become the heaven of such; their whole time and attention are given to what they deem is the right distribution of material wealth in its relation to bodily needs, to what men shall eat and drink, and how they shall be clothed and housed, but the need of the soul in relation to things moral, spiritual and eternal, is left as a matter of apparently small moment.

Did Christ come as a social reformer to make the streams of wealth to flow into the pockets of the poor instead of into those of the rich? Did He come to lift the masses and to dispossess the privileged classes? No, He did not! We know that when He comes to earth again,

"He shall have pity on the poor and needy,

And the souls of the needy He shall save" (Psalm 72.18).

When He regenerates human society at His coming as Son of Man (Matthew 19.28) there will be a complete change in the social system, but that millennial day is not now, and neither we nor man in general need to think that puny men can bring about a millennium apart from Him, for it just cannot be done.

Christ came to deal with sin, to put it away by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9.27), not to deal with and punish sinners. He came to regenerate the human soul (John 1.11-13; 3.8; 1 John 5.1), not to regenerate human society. He came to save sinners from hell (Acts 16.30, 81), not to save them from tribulation (John 16.33). This world is the place of the Christian's sorrow and tribulation, the next the place of his peace and joy, though in this world he has peace and joy in Christ. This world is the place of the prosperity of many wicked people, but, alas, for them in that which is to come, their sorrow and woe there will be unending.

If we simply judge things as natural men we may well be disturbed in the unequal share-out of material things, and in what seems to be the prosperous ease of the wicked.

"There are no bands (or pangs) in their death:

Their strength is firm (or fat).

They are not in trouble as other men (or in the trouble of man).

Their eyes stand out with fatness:

They have more than heart could wish.

They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression:

They speak loftily.

Therefore His people return hither:

And waters of a full cup are wrung out by them.

Behold, these are the wicked;

And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches."

In contrast to the wicked the portion of the righteous man is described thus

"'Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart,

And washed my hands in innocency (see Psalm 26. 6.8);

For all the day long have I been plagued, And chastened every morning."

It was well that Asaph did not express the bitterness of his heart until he saw things from God's side. Then he could correctly express balanced thought and give the correct view, for to judge things as men do is to judge from the animal part of man, not from the elevated thought of the illuminated human spirit. So the writer says of his own thoughts :- "So brutish was I and ignorant;

I was as a beast before Thee."

Asaph said that if he had spoken his own mind and judgement about the prosperity of the wicked and his own troubles,

"Behold, I had dealt treacherously with the generation of Thy children."

It would have been sowing discontent and discord amongst God's children. We cannot be too careful about what we say. The apostle Paul gives wise counsel on the use of words when he says,

"Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear" (Ephesians 4.29).

"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer each one" (Colossians 4.6).

And James says,

" If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man" (James 3 2).

When Asaph went into the sanctuary of God, and considered the latter end of the wicked, it was then that in God's light he saw light. He saw the wicked in slippery places and cast down ~o destruction, In a moment they became desolate and terrors consumed them, and, worst of all, God despised their image or shadow, for it is so unlike that image or shadow in which man was originally created (Genesis 1. 27).

How sweet are the words of verses 23-26, and how often we have read and repeated them to ourselves!

"Nevertheless I am continually with Thee:

Thou hast holden my right hand.

Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel,

And afterward receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but Thee?

And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.

My flesh and my heart faileth:

But God is the strength (or rock) of my heart and my portion for ever."

Could there be a portion better than this-God's presence and counsel for the journey now and glory at the end of the road? What is the abundance of the wicked and what are their material comforts now compared with this? To have God as our strength in this present life in which both flesh and heart fail us, and to have Him as our eternal portion, no earthly estate can compare with this.

The psalm closes by Asaph drawing a sharp contrast between those that are far from God and such as go astray from Him on the one hand, and on the other those, like Asaph, who find their good 4n the nearness of God and who know Him as their refuge; They are secure who know His keeping power, but such as go in a path of their own choice are courting destruction.

unknown | Sept 1954
General