Wisdom From God When God Is All You Need

Psalm 73 – A Contrast Identified as a Psalm of Asaph A “progressive” psalm, whereby the faith of the psalmist develops and increases through the course of the psalm. A psalm that explores the ultimate end for the righteous and the wicked and contrasts those ends. A psalm that develops the theme of the sufficiency of relationship with God.

Don’t You Just Hate Arrogant Rich People? The near stumbling of the psalmist Vs. 2: “But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped.” Ever experienced a near fall?

What Caused The Near Stumbling? Verse 3-4 – “For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, and their body is fat.” Psalmist is jealous of the rich because it seems they don’t suffer and so they are more arrogant.

Terms Expressing Class Hatred Verse 5 – “…not in trouble…nor are they plagued like mankind.” Verse 6 – “…pride is their necklace; the garment of violence covers them….” Verse 7 – “Their eye bulges from fatness… Verse 9 – “…their tongue parades through the earth…”

Why Does This Bother The Psalmist? Verse 13-14: “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence; for I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning.” Question: Why do I, as a child of God, suffer so much hardship and trouble in my life, while these lousy, no good, arrogant, sinful, fat cat rich people never seem to suffer and have things so easy?

Should That Make Me Hate The Rich? A sad tendency to: Stereotype all the rich as arrogant Assume they all were born with a silver spoon in their mouths Assume they are greedy, exploitative, unfair, thieves, uncompassionate – and therefore worthy of our hatred.

Is This Really So? The poor see themselves as “stricken all day long and chastened every morning.” So the psalmist, “…pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight….” Verse 16

Seeing Things In A Different Light Verse 17-18 – “…Until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction.” GOD WILL JUDGE “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” Romans 12:19

The Trouble With Such Envy Verse 21-22 – “When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a best before You.” Don’t let envy and hatred make you a fool before God.

When God Is All You Need Whether we are rich or poor in material things on this earth is NOT our primary concern. True, poverty is no fun! True the rich can afford to do almost anything they want, but is that necessarily a GOOD thing? What is MOST important?

So the psalmist grows up…. Verse 25: “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.” So said the apostle Paul also in Phil. 3:8-9 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ….”

What Is TRULY Valuable? God’s economy is different from that of the world. Verse 26 – “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” God is my PORTION? What does that mean?

Investing Everything In God Verse 23 – “…I am continually with You….” Verse 24 – “With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory….” Verse 28 – “…the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.”

So what about the wicked rich? “For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.”

The Blessing Of Contentment Hebrews 13:5 – “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being contend with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.’” A good prayer: “Lord, please fix my WANTER.” Be content with God.