Tuesday
Let’s look a little closer at Psalm 73 today (you will also see similarities in 77 and 78). Our psalmist seems pretty bitter that the wicked are getting all the wealth. Ever felt that way?
Ever looked around and thought everyone but you is getting ahead? They are acquiring new things, buying new cars while you are patching up the old one hoping it’ll get you through another year. They remodel their houses and go on expensive vacations to exotic places, while you stay home. Well, you are not alone, because our psalmist is thinking the same thing. He also says the wicked are free from care, they just go on amassing wealth. Let me back up a little to say, that in ancient times, it was their belief that God blessed the righteous and he punished the wicked. So for a wicked person to prosper, just didn’t seem right, because that would mean that God was blessing them. To our psalmist this belief just doesn’t seem to make sense to him. He is faithful, and pure, but he also has afflictions, while at the same time he notices the people who have turned their backs on God – “What does God know?” are getting richer.
Then he says in verse 16 -17, “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply
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till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”
Their lives and lifestyles were bothering him because his focus was on the “rich and famous”, so what changed…. He entered the sanctuary of God. He put his focus back on God. So who cares that they have all this wealth now, it will not be their final destiny. Without faith in God, eternity is not going to be enjoyable. Jesus tells us to store up treasures in heaven, where rust and moth cannot destroy. What wealth we gain here on this earth – won’t matter when we are dead. What will matter is that we lived a life pleasing to Christ.
Giving my all to Christ,
Pastor Kathy