I Finally Understood – Psalm 73 Part 5

Scripture: Psalm 73 (Click Link)

17 Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. 18 Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. 19 In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors. 20 When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning. (Psalm 73:17-20 NLT)

When Asaph started this lament, this honest song about the wrong and injustice he saw, about how it affected him he said, “…As for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.” (Psalm 73:2). We’ve followed him down into the dark canyon of doubt and despair to the point he even questions whether it’s worth it to try to do right, to keep his heart pure. And then a wonderful thing happened, something that made all the difference for Asaph, even though his circumstances remained the same!

Asaph had a God-encounter! He went into God’s sanctuary, and in God’s presence, he saw everything from a different perspective! Instead of seeing it all from a temporal perspective, his eyes focused on eternity. He understood that what happens now is brief and temporary, and that God is at work even in the dark, and that morning’s coming! Asaph went to church and met with God! He went to church in the depth of his honest questions and doubts and God met him there. This doesn’t mean that if you just show up at church on Sunday, everything will be just fine and dandy. It means that like Asaph, we go into the “sanctuary” with an expectation that God will respond to an honest, determined, seeking heart! And we won’t give up until God shows up!

For Asaph, it was being completely honest with God. It was writing a song about it. It was pressing in and encountering God in the environment Asaph was familiar with. For Moses it was the desert, for Gideon it was the threshing floor, for Elijah it was a mountain cave. For me it was standing in the mud in a Vietnam jungle in 1967 (Click Link). Where will your God-encounter take place? God will meet with you, and like Asaph, you’ll find things begin to make sense.

But friends, you must take some initiative! From an honest heart, you tell God what you see, how you feel, and you ask God some hard questions. Asaph “went” into God’s sanctuary. Where will you go to make a place to meet with God?

Prayer:

Father, As we open our honest hearts to you, may we find understanding in your presence. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!