Anatomy of a Doubt-- Psalm 73

An Asaphic psalm.

When David established the ark of God as the center of Israel and Judah’s worship, he appointed a group of singers and the worship leader was called Asaph. Even after Asaph had died, his style of writing and singing became well known in Judah, and many song writers named their songs after him.

God is surely good to Israel
To those who are pure in heart
As for me, my feet had almost stumbled
My steps had almost slipped.
For I was envious of the boastful
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
The psalmist acknowledges that God is good and just—that He reward those of His people who are right and just in his mind, who then act out this justice to others. But the psalmist almost immediately admits that his mind has not been pure. That he has considered doubt and despair—he was thinking that it was injustice that truly reigned. And this because of those who were evil, everyone knew of their evil, and yet they were successful in this life. This caused the psalmist a faith crisis, for the most basic justice requires that the evil be punished and the good be rewarded. Yet, this is not the case on the earth.

There are no pangs at their death,
And their body is healthy.
They do not share in human suffering
And are not afflicted like others.
Therefore pride is their necklace
The garment of violence covers them.
Their eyes are huge from their fatness
The desires of their heart are without limit.
They mock and plot their oppression
From their high place they are scornful.
They set their mouth against heaven
And their tongue struts through the earth.
The psalmist then describes those who are causing this crisis of faith, the Donald Trumps of all ages. They are wicked, clearly evil, but they do not suffer at all—not even from guilt! They live their whole lives doing evil, stealing from the needy, yet they remain healthy and even when they die, it is a pleasant death. The suffering that is common on earth, they don’t experience. So they think they are better than everyone else, simply because of their luck. They are very prosperous, and so they then think that all things belong to them, and whatever they desire, they get. They take no thought of others in need, but take from them without remorse, even making elaborate plots to steal from the needy and just. And finally, they speak against God, rejecting God’s morality and power to whoever will listen to them.

Thus do His people return to them
And the fullness of waters is drained from them.
They say, "How could God know?
Does the Most High truly have knowledge?"
See, these are the wicked
And always at ease, they have obtained wealth.
Because of their success, many others gather around them, wishing to know the secrets of their prosperity. So they teach them to steal, to plot, to enact evil on the earth. And they also repeat their atheism, that God is powerless to stop them, and God’s morality is for weaklings.

Surely in vain I have been pure in heart
And washed my hands in innocence
I am afflicted all day long
And rebuked every morning.
If I said, "This is the way it is"
I would have betrayed the generation of Your children
When I pondered to understand this,
It was burdensome in my sight.
Now the psalmist returns to his doubt. He sees these openly wicked kings and CEO’s of our earth, and they just seem so correct. That the way to get ahead in the world is to ignore God’s morality and build a power base to take wealth from others. And what does the righteous receive? Rebukes, claims of idiocy, and speeches of hatred. The psalmist is concerned, because if he had left his doubts alone and communicated it to God’s people, then God’s people would have been doubtful and the psalmist would have been to blame.

Until I arrived at God's sanctuary
Then I understood their end
You placed them on slippery paths,
You cast them down to ruin.
They are destroyed in a moment!
Completely swept away by terrors!
Like one awakes after a nightmare
So will you, Lord, rouse yourself to despise their form
But then the psalmist arrived at God’s place, and realized that “how the world works” isn’t reality. God’s truth is reality. And God’s reality is that the wicked will be punished. If not in this life, then in the next. Yes, this life seems like a nightmare, especially to the poor and oppressed. But it will end in a moment and the good will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished. Justice will prevail.

When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within
I was empty of knowledge and understanding
I was like a beast before You
Yet I was always with You
You have taken hold of my right hand.
With Your counsel you will guide me
And afterward receive me to glory
The problem, the psalmist realizes, is not God, but himself. We humans are so weak and so filled with doubts. We often ignore in our daily lives that which is so clear in God’s presence. We can be so stupid when faced with one reality, forgetting that a greater Reality exists. The psalmist admits that God had never left him, that He was there the whole time, helping him through his doubts and despair.

Whom have I in heaven?
On earth there is nothing I desire but You.
My body and mind may end
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
See, those who are far from You, You will destroy.
You have destroyed all who play the harlot.
As for me, the nearness of God is good for me.
I have made Yahweh my God my shelter.
That I may relate all of your works.
As opposed to the wicked, who sees everything they want on earth and obtain it by their greed, the psalmist is not greedy. He doesn’t want the things of earth. Rather, he only wants God. Inheritances fail, economics falter, oppression reigns, and all of life ends. But if we are in God, in God’s goodness and justice, it will never end. God will cause us to live forever, if we make Him our security. God alone is enough. We need have nothing else.

Despite out Doubts, God is Still With Us