“Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” Psalm 73:1-3
Asaph wrote 12 of the Psalms in the Bible. Yet even in his “special” role of service for the Lord, Asaph lived in a world that did not always make sense to him. He knew God, believed in God, trusted God but
when he looked around him what he saw did not always align with
what Gods word said. Just like us, he struggled with that seeming
inconsistency and Asaph realized this doubt bordered on sin.
Psalm 73 was written to describe such a struggle. In fact, it is a very
personal battle. In this Psalm he confesses his stupidity and folly in
order to teach others about the danger of being trapped in the same snare.
Truly God is good to Israel Asaph starts off by stating what God’s word says and what he knows is true. He starts where a believer should always begin – with the character of God. He is god, kind and gracious to His people.
To such as are pure in heart Asaph repeats what he might have heard from David. God looks on the heart. He desires a heart that is pore and innocent before Him. Here he makes an important point. There is a difference between being a member of God’s people and an individual with a personal relationship with God.
But as for me Asaph now takes us to his personal struggle. With all his heart he wants to be one of those with a pure heart before God. He wants God to bless his ministry and be pleased with him. Yet Asaph knows his heart and He knows that is not his condition. He battles a fierce temptation in his life. My feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped Asaph describes where he was. He struggles with accepting God’s truth and he knows it. Time after time this temptation attacked him and he knows he has come very close to yielding to it. He uses the word foot as a symbol of his journey or path he is walking in life. He has almost stumbled by accepting this lie as truth. The word slipped means to pour out like a liquid in sacrifice. He almost made this temptation the object of his life, his affection, – it almost became what he worshipped. Likely he trembles as he thinks about how close he came to leaving his love for God.
For I was envious of the boastful What was his temptation? Asaph looked at his own lack of material goods and at his own needs. He compared himself to the wicked rich and prosperous people he saw around him, and his heart wanted what they had. The word envious means to be jealous. Boastful means conceited. These people are not serving God yet they are doing well. Asaph gave God his all and it feels like he is losing out.
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked Asaph tells us where his eyes are focused. The word saw means inspected. Asaph looked very closely at what others had. He saw their prosperity – their shalom. He saw the absence of conflict, the presence of positive blessings such as health, safety, and prosperity. He saw the harmonious relationships with others. They did not struggle at all.
What can we learn? In Psalm 73 we find a dedicated servant of God who is struggling. This should not surprise us for no matter how closely we walk with God and want to serve Him, Satan will attack us. He knows mankind’s weaknesses and he will throw every temptation he can at us until he finds the sin that we struggle with then he will attack us relentlessly in that area. For Asaph, he struggles with the prosperity or the lack of it. The wicked seem to be doing well in this life and he is not. We don’t know what the specific struggles are but he or his family lacks in some material or relationship way that causes him to envy the wicked. He is in danger of coveting what those who do not love God have on this earth in violation of God’s commandment
Notice the pronouns in this psalm. We start off in verses 1 through 3 with a heavy emphasis on the personal pronouns – I and me. Asaph focuses intently at what he has (or doesn’t have). While he knows it is
true that God is good, it doesn’t seem to be working out in his life. .How is that fair? A man of God is struggling/