Psalm 73

Pastor Don preached through Psalm 73 last night at church and it was eye-opening. I would encourage you to read this Psalm because it is very good, very God-centered. Several things struck me last night as Don was preaching. The summary of my thoughts had to do with wondering how living here long-term will affect (in a positive way, I think) my life when I do go back home to Louisville. As Pastor Don was speaking of the storm and talking about the unbelievable reality that everyone in this community lost everything, this fact seemed to hit me in a different way last night. I began to think of the difference in the way I live here compared to Louisville. I know that the conditions here are 100 times better now than they were even 1 year ago, not to mention right after the hurricane, and I do not mean to demean that truth in any way. For me, though, this way of life is much more 'rustic' in some ways than my life in Louisville and I began to imagine how it will be when I return there. How will my views of what's important and 'needed' in life have changed? Will I be able to hold on to my material possessions and ideas of what the right way to live is with a looser grip than I did when I first arrived here? I pray, by the Lord's grace, that I will.

This idea links perfectly into Psalm 73 because in this Psalm Asaph spends the first half of it saying how envious he was of the prosperity of the wicked. While this idea isn't specifically related to what I was saying, the conclusion that Asaph comes to in the last half of the Psalm is. After going on through all the seeming benefits that the wicked have in this life, the tone of the passage changes dramatically. This change all hinges on v.17. Asaph says that it wasn't until he 'went into the sanctuary of God' that he was able to discern their end. Pastor Don explained that 'sanctuary of God' in this passage means being in the presence of God, so Asaph could have been thinking of physically going to the temple, but it was more that merely being in that place. It could also be applied as being in the presence of God as under the teaching of His Word. The bottom line is that the Word of God is what we need to conform our minds to think rightly about issues in life. After this verse, Asaph begins to speak truth about the wicked, that they are despised by the Lord, not favored. The last several verses of the Psalm are spent recounting the truths of God concerning the righteous, specifically Asaph himself. He says that God is his only hope, the only thing he has to hold on to in heaven or on earth. Don was quick to point out that having and caring about houses and our things is not bad, but that when compared to the supreme value of Christ in our lives, those things become, as Paul said, rubbish. May this truth typify my life (and yours as well) and color our view of what it means to live 'a good life.' I pray it would be so for us, brothers and sisters, and that God would be glorified for it.