Psalm 73
In the 73rd Psalm we have a Jewish scene. The nation of Israel is before us, and the remnant in that nation are speaking and telling out the experiences of their hearts.
We find much in it, however, that is parallel to what the Christian passes through experimentally as he goes on in this wilderness and finds himself rejected by the world. I am sure that many of us have read this Psalm a good many times as expressing the distress we find in our hearts at different times. It is the plaint of the suffering saint as he views the prosperity of the ungodly around him.
Does God really take knowledge of what is going on? Does He really understand what I am passing through, and, if He does, why does He remain so painfully silent and let me suffer thus? The problem of the suffering of God's faithful people, and at the same time prosperity of those that are lifted up with pride, is most vividly portrayed in this Psalm.
This is intended to be an address to young people. I do not know how far, with your enthusiasm of youth, you may have gone in like experiences, but I do know this definitely, you have not much farther to go on in your life before you are going to get a taste of it. If the Lord leaves you here, you will need soon to be prepared for it.
"But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped." 0 child of God, has not that been your experience at times? Yes, this suffering remnant here tell how they tried out of an honest heart to please God. They tried to go on in honesty and integrity; they remind God that they have sought to maintain a heart free from offense; they would not allow evil in their lives; they were making God their hope and refuge.
The psalmist then writes, I looked around and saw the wicked getting on fine; but what about himself? Oh, "almost gone... well-nigh slipped." You know it is better to "well-nigh" slip than to really slip, and I suppose all have done both. We are just on the edge, and then God in His wondrous grace and goodness slips that arm around us and recovers us; and that is a blessed experience. You may be sure if He does allow us to slip, it is because He sees self-confidence there that needs a fall. It would not be His first choice.
I believe that God has a first and a second way for every one of us. His first is the happy choice, but then if we refuse the first, God in His wisdom and in His faithfulness has a second far us; and that is for our good too, but not in the same sense as the first one. The first would have spared us suffering and humiliation, but the second is in order that we may be spared further sorrow, shame, and trouble; and so in faithfulness God gives it to us mingled with His discipline.
This man saw the prosperity of the wicked. "For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm." What a picture of the ungodly! Often times the most ungodly, those who have no place for God in their thoughts, seem to thrive; and they get along splendidly. They have good positions; perhaps they are the heads of large business enterprises, and their names are constantly appearing in the headlines of the news. They are influential men of the world; yet, "There is no fear of God before their eyes"! Rom. 3:1818There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:18). God does not enter into their thoughts; they are living godless lives. They live in beautiful homes, drive fine cars, and have all the pleasures their hearts desire; everything seems to go on lovely.
On the other hand, there is a poor, faithful, saint of God who is doing the very best he can to make his way. He has a wife and family, and has tried out of an honest heart to provide for them. He wants to "Provide things honest in the sight of all men" (Rom. 12:1717Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. (Romans 12:17)). He knows that Scripture says, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"; and he knows that "If any provide not for his own," he "is worse than an infidel" (1 Tim. 5:88But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. (1 Timothy 5:8)). But he finds himself out of a position; he has no work; the rent is due, and the children are hungry; sometimes they want for the necessary clothing to keep them warm. Satan now comes and forces home the contrast: What is God doing for you? Nothing but trouble; what are you getting, what has it brought you? What are you realizing? Satan knows how to hammer that home to the soul as with a hot iron. Satan knows how to take advantage of all this.
Have you had any experience like that? Do you know what it is to have wranglings in your soul, to have compared your life with those who are not Christians at all, or worldly minded Christians who do not seem much interested in the things of God? That is what the man who wrote this Psalm knew about.
Let us read further. "They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth."
What tremendous thoughts! What great talk! What a high place they take! They are not even satisfied to discuss matters of earth, but they invade the heavens. They discuss things beyond them, spewing out their thoughts of infidelity. What boasting, what vanity! Was there ever an age when this spirit was more manifested than it is today? They are not ashamed to publish things that once would have caused men to have a care as to what they put in print, as to that under which they sign their name. Now they do it boldly and spew out their infidel thoughts. Pick up any of the current magazines, those we usually call the better class, and I dare say you will hardly find a one but what has some of these infidel articles. They glibly discuss God; the origin of all things; creation; speak of the progress and history of man, millions of years backward or forward. "Great swelling words." "They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth."
What about God? What about God's people? "Therefore His people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How Both God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches."
There are the two things- the prosperity of the ungodly in the world, and the trial of the godly saint. Does God know? Has God forgotten? That is the question that has been raised thousands of times in the experience of God's people in this world. Does God really know the trial I am 'passing through; and if He does, why does He remain silent? From outward experience, it looks as though a premium were put on ungodliness and vanity, for the ungodly seem to get along better than the one who lets God into his life.
"Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the daylong have I been plagued, and chastened every morning." The experiences are too painful for words. One stands aghast at the experiences that some of the saints have to pass through in this world. It makes one gasp.
I have been impressed with the fact that many saints are unusually tried at the present time, and I wonder if it is an effort of the Spirit of God to loosen our hold on things down here, so that there will be a longing for His coming? The Lord's people are a tried people at the present time. The testings are various, but a tested people they are. You can go into hardly a home of the people of God today, and get into the inner life of their home, but what you will find burdened hearts. You will find hearts that are weighed down with care. That tells us that the people of God are a tried people now.
"For all the daylong have I been plagued, and chastened every morning." Now a little light begins to break in on the problem. "If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of Thy children." In other words, that is a very poor way for believers to talk.
"When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end." There is the place to get the answer to those unbelieving questions that raise themselves in our hearts. There is a place to get the answer; it is in the sanctuary of God, getting into God's presence. The one who is speaking here went into God's presence about this thing; and then he says, "Then understood I their end." Then I began to understand. It may not be always that we get the full explanation, but it sets our poor reasoning hearts at rest, and they are at rest in silence.
The psalmist in the 119th Psalm, in connection with his pathway of affliction, uttered these beautiful words: "Thou art good, and doest good." That was a wonderful thing to be able to say. It was in connection with affliction too. The heart in submission bows and says, "Thou art good, and doest good."
Dear young Christian, that is real fruit—something that is precious in the sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is fruit—"Herein is My Father glorified," etc. When a soul bows in affliction and trial, and justifies God and says, "Thou art good," it is a wonderful thing. The natural heart will not do that. The natural heart says, Why? If God is good, Why? Faith says, "Thou art good, and doest good," and that is very precious to the heart of Christ; and it is a blessed experience for your soul and mine, if we reach that place through grace where we can actually say that.
He went into the sanctuary and got light on the end of these folks. "Then understood I their end." You and I will never spend five seconds envying the ungodly if we just get one awful view five seconds long of what their end is-of what awaits them. God sometimes lifts the veil at the end, and lets people see what is coming to them in the next world.
The writer goes on to say, "Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places: Thou castedst them down into destruction." Is not that true? How many are suddenly cut off! Remember, the very next step that they take, they may be in eternity. So many are suddenly stricken in these days- meet with violent deaths—how quick it is!
"How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors." All suddenly coming to an end! What must fill his mind? How different from one who knows Christ- a child of God who faces this life and the next with a calm confidence, knowing the Lord has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." We do not need to envy those that prosper, and wish we had their possessions. Just slip into God's presence. Let us get His viewpoint in the situation, and then there will not be any envy, but a deep sense of thankfulness in our souls that we are not numbered among them. We have something infinitely better.
"As a dream when one awaketh; so O Lord, when Thou awakest, Thou shalt despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before Thee."
This is repentance on the part of the child of God for these reasonings in which he had been indulging. When we make an acknowledgment to God of our failures, it is a good thing to make a completely clean-breasted acknowledgment. When I was indulging in those thoughts, I was foolish, etc. He was tried, and reasoned it out from just what one sees, not taking God into account in His way—perfection, love, goodness, etc.
"Nevertheless I am continually with Thee: Thou hast holden me by my right hand." Yes, dear child of God, that is the One you have, the Lord. Do not worry about the prosperity of the ungodly; you have THE LORD. What intimacy, love, consideration, confidence that comes to you, and the preciousness of the Lord right by your side! That is the only way to be happy in this world—companionship with Christ—and you can have that. But let me tell you, if you want to enter upon a certain pathway of sorrow, just attempt to get your enjoyment the way the ungodly are getting it; and I promise you, you will have a full cup of bitterness before the end comes. You have heard too much truth, have had too much blessed ministry, you know too much of the way, to ever find your portion of happiness in the pathway of the ungodly in this world. True joy and happiness are found in companionship with Christ.
"Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." Dear fellow-Christian, do you not feel that you need the dependable, guiding counsel of the Lord for your soul? What a day in which to live, with pitfalls on every side! If you are going to escape, the only place to get the needed wisdom is in the Word of God. It gives dependable counsel for your soul. If you want to be happy and to be guided through this scene, saved from many a heartache, heed the Word of God. If you despise it, you will have to reap sorrow.
Everything you need to guide you through this world in a moral and spiritual way, blessed, dependable counsel to your soul, is found in the Word of God. The way to be happy is to walk with God; the way to be miserable is to attempt to find your happiness in the world.
"Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." Dear young soul, if that is the language of your heart, I will tell you, you are on the road to happiness. Yes, you are happy, for that is happiness. "WHOM H AVE I?" Do you want something beside Christ? Do you want something more than Christ?—something that Christ has not given you? If you are satisfied with what He gives you, you are not only satisfied, but you will learn the secret of happiness. If we could only realize it, God wants us to be happy, and intends us to be; but the only way to be happy is in the pathway of obedience. Every time we step aside from that pathway, lured by something else, we are courting unhappiness through sorrow; and sooner or later we will reap what we sow.
"My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. For, lo, they that are far from Thee shall perish: Thou halt destroyed all them that go a whoring from Thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Thy works."
Take the pathway of obedience then. Before you can do that consistently, there must be the appreciation in your own soul of the mighty fact that God is for you, and intends only happiness for your soul. Learn to justify God in every circumstance, and calm peace will be yours.