Read
BOOK III
(Psalms 73–89)
(A psalm by Asaph.)
God Is Good
1God is truly good to Israel,
especially to everyone
with a pure heart.
2But I almost stumbled and fell,
3because it made me jealous
to see proud and evil people
and to watch them prosper.
4They never have to suffer,
they stay healthy,
5and they don't have troubles
like everyone else.
6Their pride is like a necklace,
and they commit sin more often
than they dress themselves.
7Their eyes bulge with fat,
and their minds are flooded
with foolish thoughts.
8They sneer and say cruel things,
and because of their pride,
they make violent threats.
9They dare to speak against God
and to order others around.
10God will bring his people back,
and they will drink the water
he so freely gives.
11Only evil people would say,
“God Most High cannot
know everything!”
12Yet all goes well for them,
and they live in peace.
13What good did it do me
to keep my thoughts pure
and refuse to do wrong?
14I am sick all day,
and I am punished
each morning.
15If I had said evil things,
I would not have been loyal
to your people.
16It was hard for me
to understand all this!
17Then I went to your temple,
and there I understood
what will happen
to my enemies.
18You will make them stumble,
never to get up again.
19They will be terrified,
suddenly swept away
and no longer there.
20They will disappear, Lord,
despised like a bad dream
the morning after.
21Once I was bitter
and brokenhearted.
22I was stupid and ignorant,
and I treated you
as a wild animal would.
23But I never really left you,
and you hold my right hand.
24Your advice has been my guide,
and later you will welcome me
in glory.
25In heaven I have only you,
and on this earth
you are all I want.
26My body and mind may fail,
but you are my strength
and my choice forever.
27All-Powerful Lord God,
those who stay far from you
will be lost,
and you will destroy those
who are unfaithful.
28It is good for me
to be near you.
I choose you as my protector,
and I will tell about
your wonderful deeds.
Reflect
The psalmist begins by affirming God’s goodness to his faithful followers (v 1), but he didn’t always feel that way. After all, as he looked around his world, he observed evil people thriving, while he, one of God’s devoted people, struggled. At some point or other in our lives, we have all dealt with these feelings of envy and the sense that God is not fair.
What brought the psalmist back from his sense of unfairness, his feeling that God treated wicked people better than he treated those who dedicated their lives to God?
Quite simply, he entered into a deeper relationship with God by coming into his presence. He went to the temple, the place where God made his presence known in a special way during the Old Testament period, and there he came to a truer understanding of the situation. Perhaps most importantly, he came to realize that the most meaningful thing in life was not wealth or possessions, but rather a vibrant relationship with God, something the wicked did not have.
He also came to the realization that, while the wicked appeared to have it all together at the moment, the reality was that their long-term prospects were troubling. After all, the material prosperity that the wicked enjoyed was, in the grand scheme of things, short-lived. Indeed, their very lives would come to an end.
But as for the psalmist, he now knew that his true worth was found in his relationship with God. He states this outright in v 25: “In heaven I have only you, and on this earth you are all I want.”
As Christians, we don’t have to go to a place like the temple in order to be in God’s presence. The Gospel of John tells us that in Jesus, “The Word became a human being and lived here with us.” And like the psalmist, we too can rest in the knowledge that God will “will welcome me in glory” (v 24).
Respond
O Lord, you make your presence known to us in your Son Jesus and through the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts. We ask that you will help us to get our priorities straight and to keep us from envy. In that way we can live in joy before you no matter what our circumstances. We pray this in the name of your son. Amen.
Tremper Longman III
Dr. Tremper Longman III (B.A. Ohio Wesleyan University; M.Div. Westminster Theological Seminary; M.Phil. and Ph.D. Yale University) is Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Westmont College. He has written over 30 books which have been translated into seventeen different languages. In addition, as a Hebrew scholar, he is one of the main translators of the popular New Living Translation of the Bible. His most recent book is How to Read Daniel. Tremper and Alice currently reside in Alexandria, VA and have three sons (Tremper IV, Timothy, Andrew) and four granddaughters (Gabrielle, Mia, Ava, and Emerson). For exercise, he enjoys playing squash.