November 12, 2016

Tom Lowe

 

PSALM 73

 

 

Title: The Deceitfulness of Riches

 

 

Theme: Perplexity about prosperity

 

 

Psalm 73 (KJV)

 

1 Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.

They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.

Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.

They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

10 Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.

11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?

12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.

14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

15 If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.

16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;

17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.

18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

20 As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.

22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.

24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.

28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.

 

 

 

Introduction to Psalm 73

 

Psalm 73 begins the third book of psalms—psalms which have to do mostly with the sanctuary.  This is one of the psalms written by Asaph, who wrote a dozen psalms.  He wrote Psalm 50 in Book Two and the first eleven psalms in the Book Three (Psalms 73-83).

Asaph was a Levite of the family of Gershom and one of the three chief musicians appointed by David to preside over the choral services of the sanctuary (1 Chronicles 16:5).  He was selected by the Levites to lead the music when David brought the ark up to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16).  Asaph’s name has gone down in sacred history as an honored prophet as well as a gifted singer (2 Chronicles 29:30; 35:15; 1 Chronicles 25:5).

We see that Asaph was a spiritually minded man, gifted in praise and prophecy, whose impact upon his own family lasted down through the centuries.  The psalms which bear his name partake of his character.  They are, for the most part, national in character, devoted to intercession and thanksgiving, laced with warning and instruction, and conspicuous for the prophetic character which pervades them.

In Psalm 73 the psalmist returns to the problem which troubled David in Psalm 37 and which puzzled the anonymous author of Psalm 49.  It is the age long problem of the seeming prosperity of the wicked and the equally perplexing and parallel problem of the suffering of the godly.  The problem is taken up in each of the first three books of Psalms.  Here it is finally resolved.

In psalm 37 the emphasis can be summed up in the word wait.  God says, “Have patience and faith.  The triumph of the wicked will be short-lived.” In Psalm 49 the emphasis is on the word watch. God says, “Money is powerless to save, and the advantages it secures are fleeting.” In Psalm 73 the emphasis is on the word worship.  It is better to have your hand in the hand of God than to have it in the pocket of some rich sinner.  In psalm 73 the essential truth for a righteous man is that it is all-right with Him really, that is, the true test of one’s well-being consists not in the power and riches of this world, but in personal relationship with God. 

As you read this psalm bear in mind that it was written as if Asaph is speaking.

 

 

Commentary

 

 

  1. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

Psalm 73 asks the question, “How do we square God’s moral government of the world with the obvious fact of the prosperity of the wicked?”  The answer is, “We affirm that God is good and that He is omnipotent.”  This is how the psalmist sees it: The prosperity of wicked man and the seeming triumph on this planet of all manner of evil lead some to the conclusion that if God is good then He is not omnipotent, and if He is omnipotent then He is not good.

“Truly”; or, nevertheless, or surely it is so.  The beginning is abrupt, and to a great degree suggests that he had a powerful conflict going on within himself about this matter, and that many doubts and objections were raised in his mind concerning it.  But at last he breaks forth like the sun out of a cloud, and having by God’s grace silenced and conquered his sense of right and wrong, he lays down the following conclusion, which cannot be shaken; “God is good to Israel.” He is good to the nation Israel; but he is particularly good to those pious Israelites who are not merely ceremonially clean, but have a clean heart and mind as well.  He knew that the Lord had made a covenant with Israel that promised blessings if the people obeyed Him (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28-30). Though He may sometimes seem negligent of, and harsh and severe to His people, yet, if all things are considered, it is certain that on another day it will be made obvious that God is really and incomparably good.  Does that mean that He is good to every Israelite?  No!  His goodness is limited to those who have a clean heart.  Who would they be?  They are those who have come with their sacrifices and those who have a desire to serve God and walked with Him.  My friend, if you are saved, you want to walk with God and fellowship with Him.  You want to have a clean heart.  That follows just as day follows night.  You cannot come to Christ and accept Him as your Savior, and continue to live as you did before.  If you do, I cannot believe that you were saved in the first place.

The fight has already been fought and won.  The psalmist is going back over the problem, but it is no longer troubling him.  He begins, then, with the confidence that God is good to Israel and to all whose hearts are pure.  Those with a “clean heart” (other translations have “pure in heart.”) will receive a very wonderful blessing when they enter Heaven; “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). All the seeming evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, this is the position he takes after thoughtful, prayerful consideration.  God is on the throne and He is a good God.

The phrase “a clean (pure) heart” doesn’t mean not sinless, but rather, a total commitment to the Lord, the opposite of verse 27.  (See 24:4 and Matthew 5:8)

Note: This verse could just as easily been the last verse, because it is the conclusion reached by the psalmist after considering what he says in the rest of the psalm.

2. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

The problem had been so worrisome, so seemingly unanswerable, that he had almost lost his faith and almost decided that wickedness pays, had almost lost his faith in God’s promises and providence, and He was almost ready to repent of his piety (13), and to follow the example of ungodly men.  This was the great stumbling block of saints of old, and it may be just as great a stumbling block today.

There are many slippery places in life, and it is best to stay away from them.  This is especially true of secular philosophy (what Paul calls in Colossians “intellectualism and high-sounding nonsense”).  Many a young person has gone off to college and been swept off his feet by the sneering comments of a godless professor.  In this psalm the psalmist deals with one area such intellectuals like to attack.

The more he measured his situation against that of the ungodly, the more he began to slip from his firm foundation.  There is a difference between doubt and unbelief.  Doubt comes from a struggling mind, while unbelief comes from a stubborn will that refuses to surrender to God (7).  The unbelieving person will not believe, while the doubting person struggles to believe, but cannot

3. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

“The foolish” is the genetic title of all who are wicked.  They are arrogant, vain, boasters, and proud.  By their flamboyance they invite envy, and Asaph had fallen prey. But because he was envious of the life style of the “foolish rich” (This is a common temptation, which has tried the graces of many saints.), he almost lost his footing on the firm ground of faith, for he resented and murmured against it even though he had a secrete desire to partake of their activities.  So, there it is; we have the problem stated—SEEMINGLY, THE WICKED PROSPER.

Psalm 73 demonstrates the difference one’s acknowledgment of God can make in his or her spiritual outlook.  The psalmist is surprisingly honest in describing his envy of prosperous people. The fact that they are also arrogant and wicked only intensifies his confusion.

4. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.

He underlines two extraordinary facts; one in verse 4 and one in verse 5.  The ungodly seem to be free from the terrors of death. “There are no bands in their death”—there are no pangs or pains in their death.  They are not dragged off to their death by the police kicking and screaming, which they in all reality deserve; not by any lingering and grievous torment of mind or body, which is the case with many good men; but they enjoy a sweet and quiet death, dropping into the grave, like ripe fruit from the tree, without any violence used against them.  (Compare Job 5:26; 21:13.) Often the wicked are not frightened, either by the remembrance of their sins, or the prospect of their misery, and they die without terror. The notion was very prevalent in the Ancient Near East that a quiet death meant a happy life thereafter.

This problem is compounded today by books dealing with so-called “life after life.” The studies appear to show that those who have been given up for dead by medical men but who have been brought back to life again have wonderful stories to tell of rest, peace, and happiness, of soft lights, sweet music, and angelic forms.  It seems to make no difference whether people were good or bad, believers or unbelievers.  They report the same sensation.

In the light of God’s Word, these people, if unsaved, have been deceived.  What happens at true death is quite a different story.  These people might have experienced clinical death, but the fact that they were resuscitated is evidence that they had not experienced final and irrevocable death.  Still, the psalmist’s complaint holds good.  All too often wicked people do die easily, seemingly free from all the terrors of death.  That does not mean that they have escaped those terrors.  It only seems that they have.

“But their strength is firm,” that is, their strength is sound and good, which is usually the case with good men.  They do by a secret and favorable providence of God escape even common calamities.

5. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

They also seem to be free from the troubles of life.  Their money, of course, their influence, and their power buy them immunity from many of the plagues of the poor.  This is one reason, surely, why Jesus entered human life in the home of a poor peasant, why He was raised in a despised provincial town, why He came at a time when his homeland was ground down under the iron heel of an invader.  He was not born the pampered son of a proud aristocratic family or a member of the influential moneyed class.  He came as a poor person, tasting the trials and troubles of the poor.

According to verses 4-9, the psalmist had paid close attention to those people who are rich and ungodly.  Based on his observations, they are healthy, strong and worry-free.  They have little in common with the average person, so they tend to be proud, insensitive, and self-centered.  They have a sense of entitlement that surpasses earthly bounds and leads them to lay claim to Heaven as well.

Based on his observations, they are healthy, strong, and worry-free.  They have little in common with the average person, so they tend to be proud, insensitive, and self-centered.  They have a sense of entitlement that surpasses earthly bounds and leads them to lay claim to Heaven as well.  Since it appears that the proud and selfish people are held accountable for their actions, others become enamored and even tempted to join their ranks (73:10-11). 

Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.

“Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain.” This phrase notes both the extent of their pride, which appears on every side of them—in their facial expressions, conversations, gestures, and so forth—and their glorying in it.

“Violence covereth them as a garment.” Claiming divine and human authority, they degrade others and live the good life (10).  Having no fear of God, they believe that he has no idea what they are doing (11). Vanity!  Violence!  The sinful behavior of the arrogant rich troubled the psalmist. Vanity and violence are the hallmarks of the unregenerate, unrighteous rich.  So it seemed to this Hebrew singer long ago.

Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

The meaning is, they live with and enjoy great plenty and prosperity, and they gloat over the luxuries around them as they survey their possessions. Good health, money in the bank, influence where it counts, children in college; everything the heart could wish for.  Like King Midas of old, all that they touch turns to gold.  Their beady eyes bulge from fat faces, a sign of their lethargic gluttony.  Their minds pass on from plot to plot.  They are derisive, and they speak maliciously.  They proudly talk—that is, from what they think to be a secure position—about extortion.  They set their minds against Heaven itself.  And their tongue babbles through the earth.  It is because of their aura of success and their readiness with words that people are attracted to them and can see no defect in them. 

The psalmist looks at them and a touch of envy pollutes his soul.  There seems to be not a single cloud in their sky.  He thinks of their crooked business dealings, always aimed at those unable to retaliate.  He thinks of the trail of sorrow and unhappiness they leave behind—broken homes, broken hearts.  Still the sun smiles down on them as though they were the favored of Heaven itself.

They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.

In verses 8 and 9, the psalmist continues his description of the God-haters, the spiritually lost, the very rich. “They are corrupt,” or think only of doing that which brings them pleasure. They “speak wickedly concerning oppression”; cruelly boasting of their oppressions; either of what they have done, or of what they intend to do. “They speak loftily,” arrogantly presuming upon their own strength, and despising both God and man. The thought that there might be a God in Heaven who will call them to account seems ridiculous to them.  But what a picture the psalmist paints as he points out their haughty bearing, their eyes and their speech, and the imaginations of their evil heart overflowing.  They blaspheme God in heaven, and wander through the earth in search of garbage.

Thus the psalmist computes the perplexity of the problem.  He adds up the component parts.

They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

They are “Against the heavens,” that is to say, against God—since they have no fear of Him—blaspheming His name, denying or deriding His providence, reviling His saints and servants.  They “Walketh through the earth”; using all manner of liberty, introducing and reproaching all sorts of persons, not caring whom they displease or hurt by it.  The insolent speech of the wicked can be heard anywhere one goes. 

My, just listen to those rich people on television today.  They are the ones who make the news.  “Their tongue walketh through the earth,”and I know of nothing that enables it to walk better than television.

(73:10-16) Compounding its Perplexity. He gives some attention to the scornful, boastful words of the arrogant wealthy.

  1. What the wicked said (73:10-11)
  2. What the writer said (73:12-16)

10 Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.

[“His people” are the followers and imitators of the wicked man.] We can do little more here than outline and summarize the things the psalmist records. He talks about their bad influence and their bold presumption: “Waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.” They get the very last drop of pleasure out of life.  Since it appears that such people aren’t held accountable for their actions, others become enamored and even tempted to join their ranks.  The tears of the righteous, however, flow freely when the uninhabited blasphemies of the wicked are allowed to continue unchecked.  It’s a fact that is demonstrated around the world; those who associate with the wicked person “drink in” everything he declares (Psalm 1).

11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?

We need to constantly ask ourselves, who is he talking about; who are “they?” “They” are either, 1. The godly.  Or rather, 2.  Those wicked ones, whose words and actions he has been describing, or the people associated with them.  For these and people like them, their opinions are often ascribed to the wicked in Scripture, but never, as far as I know, to any good man.  And Job, though he used many intemperate speeches, and though some similar expressions were thrown at him by his friends (Job 22:13), yet he utterly disowned them.

“They say, How does God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?” When the psalmist sees that these cursed and impudent blasphemers of God, and enemies of all goodness, are crowned with so many blessings, how is it credible that there is a God who sees and orders the affairs of this lower world?  For if God did know these things, certainly He neither could nor would He allow them to be managed in this manner. That is, if there is a God, He must be blind and deaf, dumb and impotent.

12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.

14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

(73:12-14).Again we can only summarize.  He mentions the harmful consequences of thinking like the wicked. The psalmist makes all the more vivid his description of the godless well to do by contrasting his own frustration. 

(73:13) And although it is God’s work to cleanse the heart, yet he says, “I have cleansed my heart,” because every good man cooperates with God’s grace in cleaning it.  (Compare 2 Corinthians 6:1; 7:1.) And he goes on to say, I have “washed my hands in innocency,”that is, kept my hands (the great instruments of action, and consequently the rest of the members of my body) innocent and pure from evil practices.  I have washed my hands, not only ceremonially with water, which is how hypocrites satisfy themselves, but also morally, or with the waters of God’s grace and Spirit.

He kept his life clean, lived free from iniquity, and gave open testimony of this through the ritual washing of his hands.  He had every reason to look for good fortune from the hand of God, but instead he experienced severe physical suffering which lasted throughout the day and returned fresh morning after morning. He confessed to feeling jealous of his wicked neighbors and to feeling justified in his wicked notions.  He felt his religious duties were unfruitful and his raw deal was unfair.  He could not see that he had gained anything by respecting God and being obedient to Him, whereas those who lived without any fear of God seemed to have everything going their way.  From the psalmist initial perspective he learns that such people seem to become increasingly wealthier and perpetually carefree.  This distresses him. His thoughts even take a dark turn in verse 13, as he wonders if his commitment to righteousness and innocence has been for nothing.  Since he has this perspective, his sufferings make no sense.  Based on the evidence he could see around him, Asaph came to the wrong conclusion that he has wasted his time & energy maintaining clean hands and a pure heart (vv. 13 and 1, and see 24:4 and 26:6). 

(73:14) To make it worse the psalmist is beleaguered by the traditional belief of his day which regarded wealth as God’s blessing upon the righteous and trouble as His punishment for in impiety. If he had ever read the book of Job, then he had missed its message, for we don’t serve God because of what we get out of it but because He is worthy of our worship and service regardless of what He allows to come into our lives.  Satan has a commercial view of the life of faith and encourages us to serve God for what we get out of it (Job 1-2), and Asaph almost bought into that philosophy (See also Daniel 3:16-18.)

In some translations the word “chastened” (73:14) has been rendered as strickened, which may be understood to mean divinely punished.

15 If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.

He mentions also the potential public consequences of thinking like the wicked.  He felt he did not dare to express his doubts too loudly, for if he did so he would only do harm to others of God’s children.  He would then have felt he was a traitor to his people.  Rather, he keeps his doubts too himself.  We must always be careful not to cause those to stumble who are weaker in the faith than we are.  Many a person has voiced some doubts he has and upset a weaker brother.  When he himself has recovered or received more light, those he has helped upset go on in ever deepening darkness.

16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;

He mentions the painful personal consequences of thinking like the wickedIt seems treacherous to breathe such thoughts about God; and yet it is an infinite pain to doubt God’s perfect integrity. Ah, the agony of a suspicion that God is not perfectly wise and good!  At this point the psalmist wrings his hands.  The problem he has so clearly stated and so carefully studied overwhelms him.  To the intellect there seems no way out.  The godly suffer.  The wicked triumph.  If God be God, if He be both good and omnipotent, how can it be? 

17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.

18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

(73:17): All of a sudden it dawned on him to take this problem into the presence of God. Into the sanctuary he went, and there he sat, quietly in the sacred confines of the house of God. (He alludes to the practice of those times, which was, in dark and difficult cases, to go to God’s sanctuary, and there consult the Word of God and find satisfaction.)  And as I was complaining to the Lord about the prosperity of the wicked in this life, the question suddenly flashed across my mind, “Yes, but what about the life to come?” The more I thought about their eternal destiny, the more everything came into focus.

Note: There are some good Bible scholars around today who believe that Asaph does not mean the temple in Jerusalem but the heavenly one.  This one can only be entered by faith.

A great calm came over him.  He saw things in their right perspective, and “then[he] understood . . . their end”; i.e., their future.  This life was not all there was to it.  There was a life to come when all accounts would be settled.  He thought, “How could I be so blind?" Now he saw that the Lord does not immediately settle all accounts. 

(73:18) Suddenly he understood that the prosperous wicked whom he had foolishly envied were set . . . in slippery places and destined for destruction.  Desolation and terrors would be theirs. In order for us to see this and understand it as the psalmist does, we must view things from God’s standpoint, and take in the whole course of his providence, weighing the future retribution of the wicked against their present circumstances (James 5:11).

Not infrequently, as in the case of the psalmist, the situation is seen in a different light in the sanctuary from that in which it appears in the world.  The psalmist felt that the difficulty was in his surroundings.  In the sanctuary he learned that it was in himself. In the sanctuary the center of the psalmist’s life was changed from self to God. The change of center made possible a startling revelation.  In his poverty and oppression, he nevertheless possessed the only thing in the world worth having: the presence of God in his life (23).  To be with God, to have His guidance and counsel, and to be the heir of His promises (24) is a treasure beside which the possessions of the worldly are shoddy trinkets. The prosperity of the wicked was a dream; the presence of God was the reality.

(73:18-19): He also tells what he said when his eyes were opened. He saw the treacherous domain of the ungodly: "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.  How are they brought down into desolation, as in a moment!  They are utterly consumed with terrors." Their happiness is without a firm foundation; they are very unstable, like a man standing on slippery ground.  The hand of God, which raised them up will cast them down into the pit of utter destruction.  No one who blasphemes God or accuses Heaven escapes judgment.

There are times, even in this life, when retribution stalks the wicked openly.  Perhaps this is nowhere more true than in the violent world of syndicated crime where all live in constant fear, not only of the police but of each other.  They know the intoxication of ruthless power, and they live behind locked doors, guarded by henchmen whose loyalty is often for sale. 

The wicked find themselves in slippery places.  That is what the psalmist saw when his eyes were opened.  These wicked people did fall, and their fall is wonderful, both for its soreness and for its suddenness.  They are “consumed with terrors”; either, with the horrors of their own minds; or rather, with God’s dreadful judgments unexpectedly seizing them.

20 As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

They are living in a dream world of seeming security.  But there will be a solemn and sudden awakening when they will despise their false security, knowing it for the cheap delusion that it is.

The awakening of God is a metaphor for His ending a period of probation or indulgence by an act of judgment; and here it would seem that death, which separates a man from his property, is probably what he referred to.

He tells what he realized.  The psalmist realized that in due time God does act in judgment.  Then the wealth and wickedness of the ungodly rich dissolve like a phantom exposed to the light, like frost on a window at the rising of the sun.  They were but an allusion after all. As everything in a dream changes at the moment of awakening, so when God should awake to judgment, everything would be reversed, as it was for the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).  And he realized something else; that their seeming happiness is not real and may even be nonexistent.  To them, happiness is like that in a dream in which a man seems to be highly pleased and on cloud nine because of his riches and all the things he can do with it, but when he awakens he finds himself deceived and unsatisfied.

21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.

His mind reverts to the bitter experience of his heart’s unspeakable distress when his problem was more acute, when there seemed to be no such thing as justice in the retribution of God, no moral fairness in the lot dealt out by Him to men.  He says, “I was pricked in my reins” [“Reins” would be feelings or conscience.  So often when new light comes we wonder, why didn’t I see that before.]; was heartily and deeply wounded with distressing thoughts, and tormenting passions, envy, and sorrow, and anger. 

He tells what he regretted.  His conscience punched him like a boxer for his foolish unbelief.  He regretted he had ever doubted God's moral management of the world.  He felt he had been dumber than a rock.

 “Grieved” as it is used here means literally “grew sour.” And “pricked” is literally, “felt stinging pains.”

Note: There is a similar interpretation of verse 22 which says: “Literally he is saying that his heart was soured; and he suffers in his most inward organs, the kidneys or reins.  This is the usual Old Testament designation for extreme internal affliction.”

22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

 But now he sees his problem in a new light.  And he realizes as he looks back upon the fierce spiritual struggle of his soul that he was ignorant in mind and dull in heart, more like a dumb beast than a thinking human being.

“So foolish [lit., stupid] was I, and ignorant[lit., not discerning].” When a man is close to God, he is filled with self-loathing.  God forgives him; but he cannot forgive himself.

 

 The psalmist expresses his disappointment with himself: “I was as a beast before thee”; probably denoting a ‘great beast” [The world he uses is "behemoth," sometimes taken to mean the big blundering hippopotamus.] a very stupid and loathsome creature, like one not only void of grace, but of reason too; for reason itself, especially assisted by the Holy Scriptures, did sufficiently discover that, all things considered, I had no sufficient cause to envy the prosperity of wicked men.  I was concerned with only present things, as the beasts are, and did not consider future things, as reasonable creatures do, and ought to do.

23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.

Now, however, in worship the psalmist has lost his fretfulness, irritation, and spitefulness.  In the first two words of verse 23, “nevertheless I,” there is implied a contrast between the life of the ungodly and his own life.  The ungodly are doomed to speedy destruction, but his own life is held continually in the enduring grasp of God. How much better it is to hold hands with God than to have a hand in every successful business venture in the world!  It is hard for a rich man to let go of his riches long enough to hold hands with God.  No wonder Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven.

I’ve told you before that He will take your hand.  He took mine when I was only nine years old, sitting by myself in church, because no one would go with me. He took my hand, and He said “Walk with me” down the aisle and accept Jesus as your Savior. We did it together, and I can truly say He has never since let go of my hand. That is the lesson I learned, and this is the lesson the psalmist learned. The psalmist sees a future in which, down through the golden ages, he holds hands with God.  He was never trapped by a greedy grasping after this world’s wealth. God’s continual presence was the greatest treasure life could hold.

In all his grief he was still a rich man; he had God; a secure present (23), future (24 a) and eternity (24 b), a heavenly and earthly wealth (25), a strength and an inheritance beyond the duration of earthly life (26), a goodness and refuge unavailable to those who are perishing under divine wrath (27-28), and, over against the silence of verse 15, something to talk about (28).

24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

What could be better than that—getting guidance from God, and going to Heaven?  We have God to guide us safely past the slippery places.  Then, as the crowning blessing, he will swing wide the gates of glory and say: “Now come up here and tread the streets that are paved with gold.”  Guidance here and glory hereafter are the certainty of the saints.  Who could wish for more?  It is as though the psalmist would say “for all that, in spite of” all the doubts and laments which before drove him almost to the loss of his faith, now in the vary experience of worship he has won the confidence that his life is in the intimate and precious comradeship of God. God does not and will not leave him, but guides him in the difficult hours of decision, and finally will take him into honor, and into splendor.

“Thou shalt guide me;” as You have always done when I must walk through trials. I am assured You will still lead me into right paths, and keep me from wandering or straying from the path and getting into trouble.  All who commit themselves to God shall be guided by the council both of His Word and of His Spirit.

Asaph is clearly aware that it will be God who shall “afterward receive me to glory.” Just as Enoch walked with God and received a reception into Glory, so the psalmist anticipates the same response. The note below gives an earthly meaning to this phrase.

Note: From the limited perspective of the Old Testament, the phrase “afterward receive me to glory” is probably not a promise of Heaven but rather a reference to the honor and blessing enjoyed by the righteous when God delivers them from trouble and brings about their vindication.

25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

God will be his supreme delight in Heaven, his supreme desire on earth.  A vision of the Lord Jesus is all it takes to put things in perspective.  The psalmist has seen the glorious face of the Lord of Glory.  What does he care now for this world’s goods? In Heaven or upon earth, nothing could be better than the Lord Himself.  Jacob, after he had seen the face of Rachel, wanted no one else for she became his all.  Let us look into the face of Jesus once, and He will become our all.

The psalmist feels he is a loyal member of the worshipping community, the “pure in heart” (v. 1).  He definitely counts himself as belonging to “the congregation of Thy children” (V.  15).

26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

He puts his own feebleness on one side of the scale and his Savior’s faithfulness on the other—things more than balance.  The rich man has his riches to shield him from the perils of this life, but the psalmist has God!  So the psalmist talks about his own foolishness and though the body grew weak and finally failed, God will be his “portion for ever.”  Union with the eternal, unchanging God cannot be interrupted by death.  As in life on this earth God is with his servant, so in the world to come God will be with him.  In the presence of God there is life.

“God is . . . my portion for ever.” In spite of all the foolishness and sins of the past and present we may have God’s constant presence; and in Him we can have all and more than all that the godless find in their wealth.  God in Heaven; God in the pathway of daily life; God in the heart—this is blessedness.  The psalmist now realizes that if he has fellowship with God, he has all that his soul truly wants; every other desire fades into insignificance before it.

As a Levite, the Lord was his “portion” in the Promised Land in that he lived by the peoples tithes dedicated to the Lord (See Numbers 18:21-24; Deuteronomy 10:9; 18:1-2).  Here the Lord is even more to Him—sustainer, preserver, and his very life.

27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.

He likens riches to a woman of the streets.  Her face and form might be fair and alluring, but disease, dishonor, and death are her final gifts. The person who turns his back upon God to lust after wealth is like a man lusting after a harlot.  The expression, go a whoring from thee describes spiritual infidelity against the Lover of their souls. [“Whoring” is a familiar Old Testament figure for departure from God.]

The possessions of the ungodly are but idols that take the place of the Lord, and idolatry his harlotry (Exodus 34:15-16; 1 Chronicles 5:25).  Even death cannot separate God’s people from His blessing, for the spirit goes to heaven to be with the Lord and the body waits in the earth for resurrection (vv. 25-26; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.

This is his final word of testimony.  The rich man puts his trust in his money; the psalmist put his trust in his Master.  All appearances to the contrary, he has the best of it!  Once he had been tempted to ask what profit there was in the service of God. Now he asks what profit there is in anything else.  He also discovered what the poet of Psalm 23 found—with God looking after him, his wants were gone, not only because of God’s great bounty, but because the wants themselves had changed.