We want to believe that God is good to the righteous, but we are constantly inundated with the extravagant exploits of the wicked.
Read: Psalm 73
I was twenty-one. I had taken a year off between my sophomore and junior year of college to serve on a ministry team. It was a singing group. We traveled throughout the United States calling people to commit their lives into Christian service. But there was a problem: I wasn’t sure I wanted to serve God anymore. I was exhausted. I was discouraged. I was ready to throw in the towel.
I remember writing in my journal, “I feel like every time I get a drop of water in my cup, I have to spoon it out and give it to someone else.” I went on, “If this is ministry, I don’t want any part of it.”
Have you ever felt like that before? Have you ever questioned the goodness of God? Maybe you thought you were all alone. It’s not something we are quick to admit. Instead, we keep our questions to ourselves and put a smile on our faces as we pretend that the darkness in our hearts isn’t consuming us.
Fortunately, there's comfort when we turn to the Psalms. The songbook of the Bible addresses every emotion and helps us process our feelings in an appropriate way.
Psalms that Preach
Psalm 73 was written by Asaph, a levitical priest who led worship in the temple. He was one of three soloists, appointed by King David, to sing before the Ark of the Covenant. This was an incredible honor, yet it wasn’t enough to keep Asaph from feeling like God had forgotten him.
This psalm opens up Book Three of the Psalms, of which all, except for one, were written by priests. I like to call this book, “Psalms that Preach.” These songs come from those who were serving in ministry. As a pastor, their unique position gives them a perspective that resonates with me. There is a shared sense of responsibility and accountability among those who shepherd the flock of God.
Perhaps, in his position of leadership, Asaph had observed the hypocrisy that Jesus saw as He watched the rich people leave large sums of money in the offering plate, while a poor widow gave only two coins (Mark 12:41-44). Perhaps Asaph had grown weary in proclaiming the blessings of God to others when he felt like his own cup had run dry. Perhaps he was just tired of calling people to repent when they saw no reason to turn to God.
Either way, Asaph is asking a relevant question. It’s a question that has come across each of our minds at one point in time or another. We want to believe that God is good to the righteous, but we are constantly inundated with the extravagant exploits of the wicked. How can God be good when the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?
When the Wicked Prosper
This is a stumbling block, even for a seasoned priest like Asaph. He has clearly spent a good deal of time considering this because the longest section of this psalm is given to a list of how the wicked get away with evil and flaunt their promiscuous lifestyle.
The wicked live in the moment. They’re led by their desires. They prosper because they don’t have to play by the same set of rules as everyone else. They lie, cheat, and steal and at the end of the day they are praised by the people for their ingenuity. They act as though God doesn’t exist. They do whatever they want without a care in the world.
As a priest, Asaph would have repeatedly proclaimed the goodness of God and heralded the warnings of judgment for sin. Yet, anecdotally, he would have watched as the righteous struggled and the wicked prospered. More specifically, he had seen it in his own life. He had struggled to maintain clean hands and a clean heart while the wicked were living in the moment. How do we begin to make sense of such a contradiction?
Where Asaph Went Wrong
Asaph admits that he was envious of the wicked. By pointing out their sins, however, he was incriminating himself. He questions whether he had served God in vain and kept his heart and hands clean for no good reason. Could he have indulged in sin and gotten away with it?
These thoughts consumed Asaph’s mind. He considered them every morning. How we start our day has a direct correlation with how our day will go. When we focus on something negative, we end up meditating on that throughout the day. It permeates every thought and shapes our perspective of the events that surround us. Aspah’s mornings were full of thoughts of how the wicked were prospering. It made him weary and drove him to the brink of stumbling.
It is actually a grace of God that He would intervene on our behalf and discipline us when we are wrong. Asaph’s foot had almost slipped. But God allowed him to see the errors of his ways. By correcting His children, God is sparing us from the greater consequences of our sin.
How to Get Back on Track
A week after I had written in my journal that I was ready to leave the ministry, a woman who had worked with our team, announced that she was leaving to go back home. I berated her, “How can you even think about leaving? Where is there a better place to serve God than right here?” I had confronted her with the very thing that had been tormenting my own soul.
Without hesitation, she answered me, “God did not say that He is a rewarder of those who diligently serve Him.”
That hit me right between the eyes. I had been complaining to God that He had somehow owed me a blessing for all the work that I had done in His name. I hadn’t been serving God. I was expecting God to serve me. When I didn’t get what I felt I deserved, I grew bitter with God.
It wasn’t until Asaph got alone with God and started to worship that everything became clear. He had to get away from the distractions and focus on the LORD in order to see the truth. The wicked may prosper in the moment, but they will slip and stumble into ruin. God will not catch them when they fall. Their treasures are an illusion that can be taken away in a moment.
Asaph recognized that he was on thin ice before it was too late. He confessed his bitterness, ignorance, and brutish behavior toward God. He surrendered his life over to God’s care. In the end, he acknowledged that God is our greatest treasure. He drew near to God and made Him his refuge and strength. As a result, he was able to proclaim the goodness of God to others.
What Asaph Teaches Us
Spoiler alert. I didn’t give up on ministry. My negative emotions in the moment eventually faded. I’ve had plenty of ups and downs since that experience, but one thing is constantly true: God is faithful.
It is easy to be tempted by evil when we are focused on the things of this world. That is what makes us “prone to wander…prone to leave the God (we) love.” Instead, we must “turn (our) eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. Then the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Drawing near to God is not always easy, but it is its own reward. It does not provide us with all of the pleasures of the world, but it certainly protects us from the consequences of living for our fleshly desires.
Asaph began his days by thinking about the injustices of the world. That shaped his thoughts for the rest of the day. What we consider as the first thing in the morning sets our trajectory. That is why it is so important to begin each day with the Word of God and prayer. We need to hold our thoughts captive in obedience to Christ (II Corinthians 10:5). We need to meditate on Scripture. Hide God’s word in your heart, so that you won’t sin against God (Psalm 119:11) We need to start our day by preaching the gospel to ourselves, lest we forget to acknowledge the glory of God, our hope in Christ, and the joy of our salvation.
Adam Miller is the President and host of Songtime Radio and serves as the pastor of South Chatham Community Church.
You can hear his teaching on our daily broadcast on the radio or online, watch his preaching live on Facebook, and read his articles right here on our website.