Psalm 73:1-14 NKJV
73 Truly God is good to Israel,
To such as are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
My steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the boastful,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pangs in their death,
But their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride serves as their necklace;
Violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge with abundance;
They have more than heart could wish.
8 They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression;
They speak loftily.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens,
And their tongue walks through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return here,
And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
11 And they say, “How does God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the ungodly,
Who are always at ease;
They increase in riches.
13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain,
And washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all day long I have been plagued,
And chastened every morning.
While many of the psalms can be viewed as composed for public worship, Psalm 73 is one of those showing signs of a more personal origin, taking its rise in the intimate reflections of the pondering heart. This psalm reflects the same struggles in the conscious as Job and Habakkuk: “With God being almighty and just, why does so much injustice seem to prevail?”
Psalm 72 stands radically at odds with much of our present popular philosophy which has a basic sentiment of hope, expecting goodness and justice to prevail over evil and injustices. Many thinkers today, not viewing the universe in fixed (God-created) moral terms, would find no reason for surprise at the apparent prevalence of evil. For modern man, justice is only what a given culture determines justice to be. Thus, there is no way for injustice for prevail, for if a society approves or prefers a certain kind of behavior, then the latter conduct automatically becomes just. Can you sense the danger in that?
Psalm 73, however, identifies the world’s Creator and Author of the moral law, which then reveals how the prevalence of evil in the world is the stuff of crisis. First, the moral problem — the prosperity of the wicked, in contrast to the suffering of the just. Second, there’s the temptation to envy the wicked. Third, the believer becomes aware of being tempted. Forth, the believer takes stock of his thoughts by entering into a deeper presence of God. Fifth, the believer reflects on the judgments of God, who knows how to deal with the unjust, and will, on the Last Day. And finally, the believer commits his own destiny to God, who will never abandon him, ever-be with him, and, at the end, receive him into glory!
Let us pray: O God, our Maker and Redeemer, You wonderfully created us and in the incarnation of Your Son yet more wondrously restored our human nature. Grant that we may ever be alive in Him who made Himself to be like us. Amen.