This is the introduction and conclusion of Sam Storms’ (Enjoying God Ministries) commentary on Psalm 73. (Like an Oreo cookie, the middle is the best part, but it was too long to include the whole here.)
Some Christians would like us to believe that their faith in God is invulnerable to challenges from without. They act and talk as if their faith has never suffered a crisis of any sort, never been stretched or strained almost to the point of breaking. My opinion of such folk is that they are either pathetically naïve, dangerously dishonest, or perfect.
You simply can’t live long in this world and not experience crises in spiritual confidence every once in a while. Even the most mature believers will tell you that occasionally they have their doubts about God and his ability to run things the way the Bible says he does.
Challenges to faith come in all shapes and sizes: the devastation of a hurricane, the death of a child, genocide in Darfur, an unexpected bankruptcy; . . . need I go on?
Yet another challenge to faith is when good things happen to bad people. Are you ever bothered when the wicked become even more wealthy, when perverts prosper, or when atheists live long and fruitful lives? Is it unsettling to your faith when those who hate Jesus triumph and those who love him endure unspeakable tragedy?
It bothered Asaph. It got under his skin and was a thorn in his side and threatened to turn his soul sour. In fact, it got so bad that he was tempted to jump ship, to abandon his faith in God, to chuck it all in and join the other side.
Asaph, author of Psalm 73, was deeply disturbed and perturbed by the prosperity of the wicked and the oppression of the righteous. It led him to question God’s goodness and greatness. It stirred him to wonder if the pursuit of godliness was really the wisest path to follow.
His problem wasn’t with the traditional problem of evil. Asaph’s struggle was with why it so often seemed that those who do deserve to suffer don’t and those who don’t deserve to suffer do. The problem wasn’t whether or not God existed, but whether or not God was just…..
….”Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you [not even the opulence and apparent success of the wicked!]. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (vv. 23-26).
What is all the wealth of the world compared with the spiritual riches of God’s presence? Can the power and prestige of earthly fame trump the assurance and peace of God’s grip on our lives? Our having him and his having us is simply unparalleled, unsurpassed, and unfathomable. Intimacy with the Almighty transcends all earthly pleasure.
What it all comes down to, then, is a matter of perspective. So I close with these insightful words of D. A. Carson. Everything, says Carson,
“depends on where you start. If you begin by envying the prosperity of the wicked, the human mind can ‘interpret’ the data so as to rule God out, to charge him with unfairness, to make piety and purity look silly. But if you begin with genuine delight in God, both in this world and in the world to come, you can put up with ‘flesh and heart failing,’ and be absolutely confident that, far from being the victim of injustice, you are in the best possible position: near to the good (v. 1) and sovereign (v. 28) God” (How Long, O Lord? 143).
Sam
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 