August 6, 2025 • 30 mins
If you are a Christian, it is scary to think about losing your faith. How does this happen? It happens when we are pulled away from God. It occurs when we are distracted. When we look at the world instead of listening to God, we are vulnerable.
One of the great things about the Bible is its honesty about good and great men. It does not pull punches. Even the greatest men of the Bible were human. They were tempted and sinned. If it were otherwise, how could we relate to them?
In this episode we will look at one of the lesser known writers of the Bible. His name was Asaph. His story is like a chapter in his autobiography. He confesses his innermost feelings. He almost lost his faith because evil people had a good life—a life that seemed better than the life that good people had.
Read about this subject
- Scripture: Psalm 73
- “This is Not the Answer”
Listen to more on this subject
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I'm Kerry Duke, host of My Godin My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee
Bible College, where we see the Bibleas not just another book, but the Book.
Join us in a study of the inspiredWord to strengthen your faith and to
share what you've learned with others.
We can do strange things whenwe're under a lot of pressure.
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When you suffer severe long-term pain,for instance, you'll have feelings that
surprise and may even scare you, or itmay not be pain in your body, but the
burdens and the worries and the heartachesof life that leave your head spinning.
You'll have thoughts younever dreamed of thinking.
You'll say things you never intended tosay and you'll do things you wouldn't
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have done under normal circumstances.
There are times when yourbody hurts so bad it's hard
to think clearly in the Bible.
Job knew that better than any ofus, but sometimes we bring stress
on ourselves because of how wereact to the world around us.
For instance, the Bible tells us notto compare ourselves with other people.
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Paul warned that it's not wise tocompare yourself to other people.
In Second Corinthians chapter 10, verse12, he said, “For we dare not class
ourselves or compare ourselves with thosewho commend themselves, but they measuring
themselves by themselves and comparingthemselves among themselves are not wise.”
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If you think too much about the lifethat others have or seem to have, there's
often a temptation to be jealous of them.
And what is jealousy?
Isn't jealousy the feeling thatlife has not been fair to you?
That it's not right when othershave it better than you do?
That's one of the reasons whythe Bible says to mind your own
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business and do your own work.
Paul said in First Thessalonians chapterfour, verse 11 “to aspire,to lead a
quiet life, to mind your own business,and to work with your own hands.”
Envy is like any other sin in the Bible.
It makes no sense.
Think about the sin of pride onthe other end of the spectrum.
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Some people compare themselves toothers and they feel arrogant because
they have more than other people do.
But who other people are, what theyhave, or what they do has nothing to do
with us unless we allow it to affect us.
One of the most dangerous forms of envy isfor a Christian to be jealous of sinners.
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Now that certainly doesn'tmake one bit of sense, does it?
After all, sinners are lost.
They are headed for eternal destruction.
So how could and why would aChristian be jealous of that fate?
But that feeling of envycan and does happen.
As a matter of fact, it hasbeen a temptation for thousands
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of years for godly people.
When a God-fearing person sees howsinful people enjoy their life while
he is suffering for no apparent reason,the feeling of resentment can start
to grow, and if we dwell on it and godown that road, we can end up being
jealous of the people that oughtto be envious of us as Christians.
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More than that, if we dwell toolong on this seeming unfairness of
life, we can become so frustratedthat we lose our faith in God.
Am I exaggerating?
There was a good man in theBible who started down that road.
His name is not as well-known as Jobor Jeremiah or Moses, but the story
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he tells makes some powerful pointsabout the age old problem of evil.
His name was Asaph.
He was evidently talented in music.
The Bible says that he played thesymbols in the days of King David.
The Bible also says in II Chronicleschapter 29, verse 30 that he was a seer.
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That means that he was a prophet.
First Samuel, chapter nine, verse ninetells us that “he that is now called a
prophet was before time called a seer.”
Now that means that he spoke byinspiration of the Holy Spirit.
So it's not surprising then that hewrote a dozen of the Psalms in the Bible.
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But all the music that he played couldnot comfort him when the unfairness
of life weighed heavy on his heart.
And even though he was inspired bythe Holy Spirit and taught other
people, he sometimes struggled withthe problems of life in his own mind.
And in one of the Psalms, he tellsabout a time in his life when he
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almost lost his faith strugglingwith the injustice in this world.
That Psalm is number 73.
It reads, “Truly, God is good toIsrael, to such as our pure in heart.
But as for me, my feethad almost stumbled.
My steps had nearly slipped.
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For I was envious of the boastful whenI saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no pangs in theirdeath, but their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men,nor are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride serves as their necklace.
Violence covers them like a garment.
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Their eyes bulge with abundance.
They have more than heart could wish.
They scoff and speak wickedlyconcerning oppression.
They speak loftily.
They set their mouth against the heavens.
Their tongue walks through the earth.
Therefore, his people return here andwaters of a full cup are drained by
them, and they say, ‘How does God know,and is there knowledge in the Most High?
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Behold, these are the ungodlywho are always at ease.
They increase in riches.
Surely I have cleansed my heartin vain and washed my hands in
innocence For all day long I have beenplagued and chastened every morning.
If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’behold, I would have been untrue
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to the generation of your children.
When I thought how to understandthis, it was too painful for me,
until I went into the sanctuary ofGod, then I understood their end.
Surely you set them in slippery places.
You cast them down to destruction.
Oh, how they are brought todesolation as in a moment.
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They are utterly consumed withterrors as a dream when one awakes.
So Lord, when you awake, youshall despise their image.
Thus, my heart was grievedand I was vexed in my mind.
I was so foolish and ignorant.
I was like a beast before you.
Nevertheless, I am continually with you.
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You hold me by your right hand.
You will guide me with your counseland afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is none upon earththat I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart fail,but God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever.
For indeed, those who arefar from you shall perish.
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You have destroyed all thosewho desert you for harlotry.
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 your works.”
Notice how he starts out this Psalm.
He starts out by sayingthat God is a good God.
He says in verse one, “Truly God is goodto Israel, to such as our pure in heart”.
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Now, remember, the age-old problemof evil says God is all good.
God is all powerful, and yet evil exists.
So Asaph right away says there'sno doubt that God is a good God.
He had always believed that, and it's nothard to say that when life is good to us.
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But when wicked people flauntedtheir sin in his face, he lost sight
of that truth—at least for a while.
He said that he almost gave up.
He said that he almost lost his faith.
He came close.
He said that he was near that point.
Look again at the words in verse two.
Even though he said in verse one thatGod was a good God and he believed that,
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he tells us what happened in verse two.
He says, “But as for me, my feet hadalmost stumbled. My steps had nearly
slipped.” What caused him to be so upsetthat he almost turned away from God?
It wasn't that he was inphysical pain like Job.
It's not that he lost hischildren or his possessions.
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It's not that somebody is in his facetelling him that he's a hypocrite.
His pain is on the insideand he does call it pain.
In this Psalm, what he saw andheard on the outside was causing
him great pain on the inside.
In verse three, he beginsto pour out his frustration.
He makes a confession here.
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He said I was jealous in verse three.
“I was envious of the boastful when Isaw the prosperity of the wicked.” I was
jealous of these wicked people becausethey just seem to have it so good.
It's interesting in the book of Psalmsthat if you look at these numbers,
Psalm 73, and you just turn thosenumbers around and go back to Psalm
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37, that whole Psalm is telling usnot to be jealous of wicked people.
Psalm 37 starts out by saying, “Donot fret because of evil doers, nor be
envious of the workers of iniquity, forthey shall soon be cut down like the
grass and wither as the green herb.”
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Now that Psalm, Psalm 37, wasevidently written by David, but here
in Psalm 73, Asaph said I was guilty.
I did that very thing.
I was jealous of wicked people.
It is unusual to hear anybodyconfess the sin of envy.
How many times have youever confessed that?
How many times have you ever heardsomeone say I was jealous of someone?
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But it is even more unusualto hear a Christian say I
was jealous of wicked people.
This man is a godly man.
He's a good man.
And yet when he saw all the things thathe was going through that were bad and
saw all the good things and all theenjoyment of these wicked people, it made
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him jealous and it made him so jealousthat he says, “My steps almost slipped.”
And that reminds us ofJeremiah the prophet.
In Jeremiah, chapter 12 verse one.
Jeremiah talked to God about this problem.
He said, “Righteous, are you, O Lord,when I plead with you, yet let me talk
with you about your judgments. Whydoes the way of the wicked prosper?”
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This is the age-old problem of evil.
Why do good things happen to bad people?
It's not just why do bad thingshappen to good people, but
what about these bad people?
Why do they have it so good?
He says, “Why are those happywho deal so treacherously?”?
He says, “You have planted them.
Yes, they have taken root.
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They grow.
Yes, they bear fruit.
You are near in their mouth,but far from their mind.
But you, O Lord, know me.
You have seen me.
You have tested my heart towards you.
Pull them out like sheepfor the slaughter.”
He says in verse four, “How longwill the land mourn and the herbs
of every field wither?” How muchlonger is this going to take place?
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Now, this is what Asaphis struggling with.
Now, I'm not saying thatJeremiah almost lost his faith.
He did reach the point where he saidthat he was going to quit preaching.
He said that he was not going to speakanymore in God's name, but in Asaph's case
Asaph said that he almost lost his faith.
He almost lost it all.
Now, why was Asaph jealous of bad people?
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Why was he envious of wicked people?
He tells us in verse three “For Iwas envious of the boastful when I
saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
What's the first thing you think ofwhen you hear the word prosperity?
Wealth, right?
But it means more than just having money.
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Prosperity means having itgood as a whole in life.
And that's what Asaph is going toexplain beginning in verse four.
In verses four through 12, Asaphsays here are all the benefits.
Here are all the good thingsthat these evil people enjoy.
And he said that he justgot jealous of them.
He says in verse four that they don'tsuffer when they die like other people.
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Verse four” “For there are nopangs in their death.” That means
there's no pain in their death,but their strength is firm.
Many people suffer a lot before they die.
That's just one of thenatural processes of life.
But he said when I looked at thesewicked people, it just seems like
that they held on well, that they werehappy and that they were not in the
pain that other people experience.
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He said it just seems like that theyheld onto their strength to the end.
He said their strength is firm.
That is firm to the end.
Now we can say that we know thatthat's not true in every case.
As a matter of fact, that'snot true in most cases.
Evil people suffer.
They have physical pain.
They have disease and heart attacks andthings like that that lead to their death.
So why would Asaph say this?
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Well, he's gone down thisroad and he's gone too far.
He's been thinking about the fact thatevil people have it so good in life and
that he and other people who are trying todo right have evil things and bad things
to come their way, and he resents it.
Sometimes when we resent something andwe're frustrated and we become angry,
we can get things out of proportion, andthat's what Asaph is talking about here.
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Now, another thing that he saw inverse five is that he says that these
evil people that he was jealous ofare not in trouble like other men are.
“Nor are they plagued likeother men.” That's how he felt.
That's what he thought.
But Asaph only saw a small partof these evil people's lives.
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There was a lot that he didn't see.
I think the same thing happens today.
Sometimes good people look at thelives of the rich and famous, and
they think that all the smiles thatthey see in the pictures and in the
videos and in the movies representwhat those people are really all about.
But that's not reality and that'snot the whole picture because many
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of those people are miserable.
And when you find out the details laterabout how they've lived and how they have
died, you find out that they're miserableand that they're putting on an act.
So Asaph is looking at theseevil men and he thinks that they
don't have the problems and thetroubles and the sufferings and the
heartaches and trials that we do.
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That's how he felt in versefive, and he's jealous of that.
Then in verse six, he saidthat they were prideful.
Because of that, he says,“Therefore, pride serves them as
their necklace.” It's like they'rewearing this as a badge of honor.
They don't have the troublesthat other people do.
They seem to have it easy in this life,and because of that they are arrogant.
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And Asaph said I resented that.
He said I was jealous of that.
In the end, he says, violencecovers them like a garment.
Now the word “violence” here does notnecessarily refer to physical violence.
When you see the word violence inthe Bible, that refers to people
who take advantage of other people.
They violate the right andthe person of other people.
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So Asaph said because they're not introuble like other men, they are arrogant
and they take advantage of other people.
He goes on to say in verse seventhat their eyes bulge with abundance.
They have more than heart could wish.
So sometimes there are people thatare good, honest, upright people and
they're doing their best to do right,and they can just barely make it.
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They can just barely get by.
And on the other hand, you havethese evil people that care nothing
about anybody but themselves andthey have more than heart could wish.
That's, as we would say, a hardpill to swallow, and it was hard
for Asaph to come to grips with.
He said I was envious because of that.
He said in verse eight, “They scoff andspeak wickedly concerning oppression.”
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The word oppression here means thatthey mistreated other people and
in their minds they had it good.
They had more than they really needed.
They didn't seem to be in trouble likeother people, and they had absolutely no
compassion on their fellow human being.
And so what they did was takeadvantage of them and so they would
scoff and speak wickedly about that.
They would brag and boast abouthow they were going to take
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advantage of other people.
He says they speak loftily, and noticewhat he says here in verse nine.
“They set their mouth against theheavens and their tongue walks through
the earth.’ They are so secure andself-confident because of their good life
and their riches that he says that theyset their mouth against the heavens and
their tongue walks through the earth.
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In verse 10, he says, “Therefore,his people return here and waters
of a full cup are drained by them.”That seems to refer to the oppression
that he's been talking about.
These people are the good peoplein verse 10, and they are drained.
They are taken advantageof by these evil people.
He continues in verse 11 and says,“And they say, how does God know and
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is their knowledge in the Most High?”These people who have it so good in life
have become so secure in their life thatthey're not afraid to speak against God.
They're not afraid tomake fun of the Bible.
He points out in verse 12 that theyjust seem to keep getting away with it.
He said these are the ungodly.
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These are those who are always at ease.
It just seems like that they have aneasy life and the rest of us have a
hard life, and they increase in riches.
He says, it's not simply that they'vebeen handed riches in their life, but
he says they just keep getting richer.
So notice what we'vecovered so far in Psalm 73.
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In verse one, he says God is good.
That's a fact and there'sno doubt about that.
But he says there was a time in mylife where I almost lost my faith.
That's verse two.
Then in verses three through 12, headmits that he was jealous at one
point of these wicked people who werein such prosperity, and he describes
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what he's talking about and what hehad seen in verses four through 12.
And then beginning in verse 13 heshows us how that he crossed a line.
He makes this admission.
He says in verse 13, “Surely I havecleansed my heart in vain and washed my
hands in innocence.” In other words, whatgood is it for me to live a good life?
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If evil people have it the bestin this life, then why should
I make all these sacrifices?
Why should I try to do right?
I have tried that and it didn't work.
I've tried to live a good life andall I got out of it is trouble.
“All day long I have beenplagued and chastened every
morning.” That's how he felt.
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And aren't there people who becomeChristians who are like that today?
They are baptized into Christ.
They live the Christian life for awhile, and then troubles come and then
they say, “Well, I didn't expect this.I thought that the Christian life was
going to be easy, or I thought that itwas going to be better than it is. This
is not working.” And so they give up.
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They quit.
Asaph is almost to that point,and remember he's sharing
his thoughts with us here.
This is not something that hetalked out loud to people about.
We know that because of verse 15.
He said, “If I had said, I will speakthus,” in other words, if I had gone
ahead and voiced and put into words andtold people what I was thinking and how
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I was feeling, “behold I would haverbeen untrue to the generation of your
children.” These are his private feelings.
This is his internal struggle that hehas put down by the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit for you and I to read about.
So sometimes when you struggle withinyour mind and you're somewhat ashamed
of what you have thought and howyou have felt, but you come out on
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the right side, you come out stillbelieving in God, then you can relate
to what you're seeing here in Psalm 73.
Look again at verse 15.
Asaph said, “If I had said, I will speakthus, behold, I would have been untrue
to the generation of your children.”
He said if I had said this, if hehad said what he was thinking, he
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would've been untrue to God's people.
Now the Jews were God's chosen people.
God told them to be holyin Leviticus chapter 19.
That means they were to be separatedor set apart from the ways of
the world, but Asaph was feelingjealous of the people of the world.
If he had told this to Jewish people,his brethren, it would've offended them.
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They would've been disappointed.
He would've offended their cherishedbelief about being a separated people.
Now, Asaph thought thisway and he felt this way.
He didn't confess it to other people,but he did write about it, and because he
wrote these words by the inspiration ofthe spirit, God's people have benefited
from reading this Psalm for 3000 years.
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Then he tells us how intensethis internal struggle was.
He knew that God was a good God.
He knew that sinners were wrong, butthings were just so unequal and unfair
that he had trouble accepting it.
He said in verse 16, “When Ithought, how to understand this,
it was too painful for me.” It wasjust too painful to think about.
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And even after he tried to understandit, he didn't feel any better.
He couldn't find an answerthat really satisfied him.
He's making a very important point here.
The pain, the suffering, the sin andthe injustices of life are so great
and overwhelming at times that it'stoo painful to think about them.
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We can only think about this problemso long before we feel the weight
of the world on our shoulders.
We're not made to comprehend all theevil and suffering throughout the world.
Our minds and our hearts are not bigenough or strong enough to stand it.
Only God has the strength to beholdall the evil that is in the world.
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We are not that strong.
That's why we have to be carefulabout using modern media.
It's good to be aware of the sufferingand the tragedies of other people
to a point, but we cannot thinkabout those calamities all the time.
We cannot entertain thosethoughts constantly.
Our minds will break if we do.
There's so much bad news on televisionand radio, and especially the internet.
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Our minds can become filled withthe world's evils continually.
There is a psychological limit asto how much of this we can bear.
So in looking at the problem ofsin and suffering, one principle
we need to remember is that weare not able to understand this
problem to our satisfaction becauseas Asaph says it is too painful.
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A second principle, by the way,that we need to remember is
what David taught in Psalm 139.
He talks about the knowledge ofGod being beyond our comprehension.
He said the omniscienceof God is too high for us.
It's way beyond our ability to understand.
This is perhaps one reason whyGod didn't explain to Job why he
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was suffering the way that he did.
So these are two simplethings to remember.
When we try to grapple with this perennialissue, we are out of our league because
it is just too painful and it is toohigh for us, but we can understand
the problem to a certain extent.
Now that's what Asaphsays in the next verse.
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Up to this point, he hasdescribed the struggle within.
He's very open and honest aboutwhat went through his mind.
Now he tells us whatbrought him to his senses.
He said he had this feeling “until Iwent into the sanctuary of God, then
I understood there end” [verse 17].
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That's the key verse in this story.
That's the turning point.
That's what he hadforgotten all this time.
The reason he became jealous of evilpeople and thought that life was so unfair
that he almost lost his faith was becausehe was not looking at the bigger picture.
He was looking at what these peopleenjoy in the short run, not the long run.
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He was getting in a hurry.
In his mind, he evidently expected Godto punish these evil people instead
of letting them enjoy life, or atleast he expected God to deprive them
of the good life they seem to enjoy.
But Asaph learnedpatience through all this.
When did this happen?
He said this occurred to him whenhe went into the sanctuary of God.
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They were living in the Old Testamentwhen the sanctuary of God in Jerusalem
was a solemn place to gather.
While he was there meditating onthe glory of God, he was reminded
of the power and the wisdom of God.
He saw the bigger picture thatbrought him to his senses.
He remembered that evil people doreap what they sow in this lifetime,
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and just because they're not gettingwhat they deserve at the time you're
watching them does not mean thatthey will never reap what they sow.
Even though he didn't understandcompletely why things are unfair in
this life, why bad things happen to goodpeople and why good things happen to
bad people, he did understand one thing.
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He understood that in theend, even in this life, people
eventually get what they deserve.
They reap what they have sown.
So this tells us that as we look at theevil in the world and we feel frustrated
because bad people seem to have it sogood, we are overlooking the fact that
God will repay even in this lifetime.
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He just doesn't do it when we thinkhe should, and that's the problem.
Then Asaph tells us what happens to thesame wicked people that he was jealous of.
He said that God cast themdown and utterly destroys them.
In verse 19, he said, “You cast themdown to destruction. O, how they are
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brought to desolation, as in a moment.”
Now, if he had thought about this beforehe looked at these evil people, or while
he was watching them, he wouldn't havebeen tempted to be jealous of them.
But that is what sometimes happens to us.
We momentarily forget things thatwe know, and that's why we have to
be reminded by reading the Bible,by hearing the Bible, by listening
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to preaching and teaching, and byexhorting one another as Christians.
Sometimes it is very easy toget things out of perspective.
How did Asaph feel after hethought about these things?
He felt ashamed.
He said “My heart was grieved and I wasvexed in my mind” [verse 21]. In verse 22
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he said, “I was so foolish and ignorant.”It was foolish to feel jealous of sinners.
He said that he was thinking on thelevel of an animal and not a man.
Now, that may sound like an overstatement,but sometimes we say the same thing today.
When a man rejects the plain truth ofthe Bible, we say that he's stubborn
as a mule or dumb as an ox, andthat's no reflection on his intellect.
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It's just a fact abouthis moral condition.
So don't be surprised whenyou go down this same road or
a similar road in your heart.
We all have struggles within ourselves.
We have thoughts and we have feelingsthat we wrestle with, and sometimes
it takes us a while to think thingsthrough and come back to the truth
that we know that we temporarily losesight of when we're being tempted.
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But Asaph didn't beat himself up too long.
He didn't feel like afool forever about this.
He made a mistake in his heart, buthe repented and he learned better.
After he felt so ashamed ofhimself, he went back to his
faith in God and he rejoiced.
He said in verses 23 through 25,“Nevertheless, I am continually with you.
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You hold me by my right hand.
You will guide me with your counseland afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is none upon Earth that Idesire beside you.” In his final words,
he comes full circle back to God.
In verse 28, he said, “But it isgood for me to draw near to God.
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I have put my trust in the Lordthat I may declare all your works.”
That is the simple keyto the whole problem.
Put your trust in God.
By the way, this Psalm remindsus of the book of Habakkuk,
which we'll look at next.
Habakkuk the prophet thought that Godwas taking too long to do something
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about all the corruption in Judah.
God told him that he wasgoing to answer his prayer.
He was going to send the Chaldeansinto Judah to punish these people,
but Habakkuk thought that thatwas not just because the Chaldeans
needed punishing worse than the Jews.
And after God put him in his place, theprophet rejoiced instead of complaining.
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That is what Job did.
That is what Asaph did.
And although God doesn't speak tous from heaven today, we go through
this same cycle as Christians.
Asaph emerged from this experience witheven more faith, and he became stronger.
So can we.
Thank you for listeningto My God and My Neighbor.
Stay connected with our podcast onour website and on Apple, Spotify,
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YouTube, or wherever finepodcasts are distributed.
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Study at your level.
Aim higher and get in touch with us today.
Hi, I'm Kerry Duke, host of My Godin My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee
Bible College, where we see the Bibleas not just another book, but the Book.
Join us in a study of the inspiredWord to strengthen your faith and to
share what you've learned with others.
We can do strange things whenwe're under a lot of pressure.
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When you suffer severe long-term pain,for instance, you'll have feelings that
surprise and may even scare you, or itmay not be pain in your body, but the
burdens and the worries and the heartachesof life that leave your head spinning.
You'll have thoughts younever dreamed of thinking.
You'll say things you never intended tosay and you'll do things you wouldn't
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have done under normal circumstances.
There are times when yourbody hurts so bad it's hard
to think clearly in the Bible.
Job knew that better than any ofus, but sometimes we bring stress
on ourselves because of how wereact to the world around us.
For instance, the Bible tells us notto compare ourselves with other people.
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Paul warned that it's not wise tocompare yourself to other people.
In Second Corinthians chapter 10, verse12, he said, “For we dare not class
ourselves or compare ourselves with thosewho commend themselves, but they measuring
themselves by themselves and comparingthemselves among themselves are not wise.”
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If you think too much about the lifethat others have or seem to have, there's
often a temptation to be jealous of them.
And what is jealousy?
Isn't jealousy the feeling thatlife has not been fair to you?
That it's not right when othershave it better than you do?
That's one of the reasons whythe Bible says to mind your own
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business and do your own work.
Paul said in First Thessalonians chapterfour, verse 11 “to aspire,to lead a
quiet life, to mind your own business,and to work with your own hands.”
Envy is like any other sin in the Bible.
It makes no sense.
Think about the sin of pride onthe other end of the spectrum.
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Some people compare themselves toothers and they feel arrogant because
they have more than other people do.
But who other people are, what theyhave, or what they do has nothing to do
with us unless we allow it to affect us.
One of the most dangerous forms of envy isfor a Christian to be jealous of sinners.
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Now that certainly doesn'tmake one bit of sense, does it?
After all, sinners are lost.
They are headed for eternal destruction.
So how could and why would aChristian be jealous of that fate?
But that feeling of envycan and does happen.
As a matter of fact, it hasbeen a temptation for thousands
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of years for godly people.
When a God-fearing person sees howsinful people enjoy their life while
he is suffering for no apparent reason,the feeling of resentment can start
to grow, and if we dwell on it and godown that road, we can end up being
jealous of the people that oughtto be envious of us as Christians.
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More than that, if we dwell toolong on this seeming unfairness of
life, we can become so frustratedthat we lose our faith in God.
Am I exaggerating?
There was a good man in theBible who started down that road.
His name is not as well-known as Jobor Jeremiah or Moses, but the story
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he tells makes some powerful pointsabout the age old problem of evil.
His name was Asaph.
He was evidently talented in music.
The Bible says that he played thesymbols in the days of King David.
The Bible also says in II Chronicleschapter 29, verse 30 that he was a seer.
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That means that he was a prophet.
First Samuel, chapter nine, verse ninetells us that “he that is now called a
prophet was before time called a seer.”
Now that means that he spoke byinspiration of the Holy Spirit.
So it's not surprising then that hewrote a dozen of the Psalms in the Bible.
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But all the music that he played couldnot comfort him when the unfairness
of life weighed heavy on his heart.
And even though he was inspired bythe Holy Spirit and taught other
people, he sometimes struggled withthe problems of life in his own mind.
And in one of the Psalms, he tellsabout a time in his life when he
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almost lost his faith strugglingwith the injustice in this world.
That Psalm is number 73.
It reads, “Truly, God is good toIsrael, to such as our pure in heart.
But as for me, my feethad almost stumbled.
My steps had nearly slipped.
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For I was envious of the boastful whenI saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no pangs in theirdeath, but their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men,nor are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride serves as their necklace.
Violence covers them like a garment.
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Their eyes bulge with abundance.
They have more than heart could wish.
They scoff and speak wickedlyconcerning oppression.
They speak loftily.
They set their mouth against the heavens.
Their tongue walks through the earth.
Therefore, his people return here andwaters of a full cup are drained by
them, and they say, ‘How does God know,and is there knowledge in the Most High?
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Behold, these are the ungodlywho are always at ease.
They increase in riches.
Surely I have cleansed my heartin vain and washed my hands in
innocence For all day long I have beenplagued and chastened every morning.
If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’behold, I would have been untrue
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to the generation of your children.
When I thought how to understandthis, it was too painful for me,
until I went into the sanctuary ofGod, then I understood their end.
Surely you set them in slippery places.
You cast them down to destruction.
Oh, how they are brought todesolation as in a moment.
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They are utterly consumed withterrors as a dream when one awakes.
So Lord, when you awake, youshall despise their image.
Thus, my heart was grievedand I was vexed in my mind.
I was so foolish and ignorant.
I was like a beast before you.
Nevertheless, I am continually with you.
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You hold me by your right hand.
You will guide me with your counseland afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is none upon earththat I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart fail,but God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever.
For indeed, those who arefar from you shall perish.
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You have destroyed all thosewho desert you for harlotry.
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 your works.”
Notice how he starts out this Psalm.
He starts out by sayingthat God is a good God.
He says in verse one, “Truly God is goodto Israel, to such as our pure in heart”.
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Now, remember, the age-old problemof evil says God is all good.
God is all powerful, and yet evil exists.
So Asaph right away says there'sno doubt that God is a good God.
He had always believed that, and it's nothard to say that when life is good to us.
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But when wicked people flauntedtheir sin in his face, he lost sight
of that truth—at least for a while.
He said that he almost gave up.
He said that he almost lost his faith.
He came close.
He said that he was near that point.
Look again at the words in verse two.
Even though he said in verse one thatGod was a good God and he believed that,
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he tells us what happened in verse two.
He says, “But as for me, my feet hadalmost stumbled. My steps had nearly
slipped.” What caused him to be so upsetthat he almost turned away from God?
It wasn't that he was inphysical pain like Job.
It's not that he lost hischildren or his possessions.
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It's not that somebody is in his facetelling him that he's a hypocrite.
His pain is on the insideand he does call it pain.
In this Psalm, what he saw andheard on the outside was causing
him great pain on the inside.
In verse three, he beginsto pour out his frustration.
He makes a confession here.
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He said I was jealous in verse three.
“I was envious of the boastful when Isaw the prosperity of the wicked.” I was
jealous of these wicked people becausethey just seem to have it so good.
It's interesting in the book of Psalmsthat if you look at these numbers,
Psalm 73, and you just turn thosenumbers around and go back to Psalm
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37, that whole Psalm is telling usnot to be jealous of wicked people.
Psalm 37 starts out by saying, “Donot fret because of evil doers, nor be
envious of the workers of iniquity, forthey shall soon be cut down like the
grass and wither as the green herb.”
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Now that Psalm, Psalm 37, wasevidently written by David, but here
in Psalm 73, Asaph said I was guilty.
I did that very thing.
I was jealous of wicked people.
It is unusual to hear anybodyconfess the sin of envy.
How many times have youever confessed that?
How many times have you ever heardsomeone say I was jealous of someone?
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But it is even more unusualto hear a Christian say I
was jealous of wicked people.
This man is a godly man.
He's a good man.
And yet when he saw all the things thathe was going through that were bad and
saw all the good things and all theenjoyment of these wicked people, it made
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him jealous and it made him so jealousthat he says, “My steps almost slipped.”
And that reminds us ofJeremiah the prophet.
In Jeremiah, chapter 12 verse one.
Jeremiah talked to God about this problem.
He said, “Righteous, are you, O Lord,when I plead with you, yet let me talk
with you about your judgments. Whydoes the way of the wicked prosper?”
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This is the age-old problem of evil.
Why do good things happen to bad people?
It's not just why do bad thingshappen to good people, but
what about these bad people?
Why do they have it so good?
He says, “Why are those happywho deal so treacherously?”?
He says, “You have planted them.
Yes, they have taken root.
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They grow.
Yes, they bear fruit.
You are near in their mouth,but far from their mind.
But you, O Lord, know me.
You have seen me.
You have tested my heart towards you.
Pull them out like sheepfor the slaughter.”
He says in verse four, “How longwill the land mourn and the herbs
of every field wither?” How muchlonger is this going to take place?
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Now, this is what Asaphis struggling with.
Now, I'm not saying thatJeremiah almost lost his faith.
He did reach the point where he saidthat he was going to quit preaching.
He said that he was not going to speakanymore in God's name, but in Asaph's case
Asaph said that he almost lost his faith.
He almost lost it all.
Now, why was Asaph jealous of bad people?
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Why was he envious of wicked people?
He tells us in verse three “For Iwas envious of the boastful when I
saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
What's the first thing you think ofwhen you hear the word prosperity?
Wealth, right?
But it means more than just having money.
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Prosperity means having itgood as a whole in life.
And that's what Asaph is going toexplain beginning in verse four.
In verses four through 12, Asaphsays here are all the benefits.
Here are all the good thingsthat these evil people enjoy.
And he said that he justgot jealous of them.
He says in verse four that they don'tsuffer when they die like other people.
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Verse four” “For there are nopangs in their death.” That means
there's no pain in their death,but their strength is firm.
Many people suffer a lot before they die.
That's just one of thenatural processes of life.
But he said when I looked at thesewicked people, it just seems like
that they held on well, that they werehappy and that they were not in the
pain that other people experience.
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He said it just seems like that theyheld onto their strength to the end.
He said their strength is firm.
That is firm to the end.
Now we can say that we know thatthat's not true in every case.
As a matter of fact, that'snot true in most cases.
Evil people suffer.
They have physical pain.
They have disease and heart attacks andthings like that that lead to their death.
So why would Asaph say this?
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Well, he's gone down thisroad and he's gone too far.
He's been thinking about the fact thatevil people have it so good in life and
that he and other people who are trying todo right have evil things and bad things
to come their way, and he resents it.
Sometimes when we resent something andwe're frustrated and we become angry,
we can get things out of proportion, andthat's what Asaph is talking about here.
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Now, another thing that he saw inverse five is that he says that these
evil people that he was jealous ofare not in trouble like other men are.
“Nor are they plagued likeother men.” That's how he felt.
That's what he thought.
But Asaph only saw a small partof these evil people's lives.
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There was a lot that he didn't see.
I think the same thing happens today.
Sometimes good people look at thelives of the rich and famous, and
they think that all the smiles thatthey see in the pictures and in the
videos and in the movies representwhat those people are really all about.
But that's not reality and that'snot the whole picture because many
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of those people are miserable.
And when you find out the details laterabout how they've lived and how they have
died, you find out that they're miserableand that they're putting on an act.
So Asaph is looking at theseevil men and he thinks that they
don't have the problems and thetroubles and the sufferings and the
heartaches and trials that we do.
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That's how he felt in versefive, and he's jealous of that.
Then in verse six, he saidthat they were prideful.
Because of that, he says,“Therefore, pride serves them as
their necklace.” It's like they'rewearing this as a badge of honor.
They don't have the troublesthat other people do.
They seem to have it easy in this life,and because of that they are arrogant.
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And Asaph said I resented that.
He said I was jealous of that.
In the end, he says, violencecovers them like a garment.
Now the word “violence” here does notnecessarily refer to physical violence.
When you see the word violence inthe Bible, that refers to people
who take advantage of other people.
They violate the right andthe person of other people.
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So Asaph said because they're not introuble like other men, they are arrogant
and they take advantage of other people.
He goes on to say in verse seventhat their eyes bulge with abundance.
They have more than heart could wish.
So sometimes there are people thatare good, honest, upright people and
they're doing their best to do right,and they can just barely make it.
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They can just barely get by.
And on the other hand, you havethese evil people that care nothing
about anybody but themselves andthey have more than heart could wish.
That's, as we would say, a hardpill to swallow, and it was hard
for Asaph to come to grips with.
He said I was envious because of that.
He said in verse eight, “They scoff andspeak wickedly concerning oppression.”
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The word oppression here means thatthey mistreated other people and
in their minds they had it good.
They had more than they really needed.
They didn't seem to be in trouble likeother people, and they had absolutely no
compassion on their fellow human being.
And so what they did was takeadvantage of them and so they would
scoff and speak wickedly about that.
They would brag and boast abouthow they were going to take
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advantage of other people.
He says they speak loftily, and noticewhat he says here in verse nine.
“They set their mouth against theheavens and their tongue walks through
the earth.’ They are so secure andself-confident because of their good life
and their riches that he says that theyset their mouth against the heavens and
their tongue walks through the earth.
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In verse 10, he says, “Therefore,his people return here and waters
of a full cup are drained by them.”That seems to refer to the oppression
that he's been talking about.
These people are the good peoplein verse 10, and they are drained.
They are taken advantageof by these evil people.
He continues in verse 11 and says,“And they say, how does God know and
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is their knowledge in the Most High?”These people who have it so good in life
have become so secure in their life thatthey're not afraid to speak against God.
They're not afraid tomake fun of the Bible.
He points out in verse 12 that theyjust seem to keep getting away with it.
He said these are the ungodly.
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These are those who are always at ease.
It just seems like that they have aneasy life and the rest of us have a
hard life, and they increase in riches.
He says, it's not simply that they'vebeen handed riches in their life, but
he says they just keep getting richer.
So notice what we'vecovered so far in Psalm 73.
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In verse one, he says God is good.
That's a fact and there'sno doubt about that.
But he says there was a time in mylife where I almost lost my faith.
That's verse two.
Then in verses three through 12, headmits that he was jealous at one
point of these wicked people who werein such prosperity, and he describes
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what he's talking about and what hehad seen in verses four through 12.
And then beginning in verse 13 heshows us how that he crossed a line.
He makes this admission.
He says in verse 13, “Surely I havecleansed my heart in vain and washed my
hands in innocence.” In other words, whatgood is it for me to live a good life?
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If evil people have it the bestin this life, then why should
I make all these sacrifices?
Why should I try to do right?
I have tried that and it didn't work.
I've tried to live a good life andall I got out of it is trouble.
“All day long I have beenplagued and chastened every
morning.” That's how he felt.
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And aren't there people who becomeChristians who are like that today?
They are baptized into Christ.
They live the Christian life for awhile, and then troubles come and then
they say, “Well, I didn't expect this.I thought that the Christian life was
going to be easy, or I thought that itwas going to be better than it is. This
is not working.” And so they give up.
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They quit.
Asaph is almost to that point,and remember he's sharing
his thoughts with us here.
This is not something that hetalked out loud to people about.
We know that because of verse 15.
He said, “If I had said, I will speakthus,” in other words, if I had gone
ahead and voiced and put into words andtold people what I was thinking and how
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I was feeling, “behold I would haverbeen untrue to the generation of your
children.” These are his private feelings.
This is his internal struggle that hehas put down by the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit for you and I to read about.
So sometimes when you struggle withinyour mind and you're somewhat ashamed
of what you have thought and howyou have felt, but you come out on
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the right side, you come out stillbelieving in God, then you can relate
to what you're seeing here in Psalm 73.
Look again at verse 15.
Asaph said, “If I had said, I will speakthus, behold, I would have been untrue
to the generation of your children.”
He said if I had said this, if hehad said what he was thinking, he
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would've been untrue to God's people.
Now the Jews were God's chosen people.
God told them to be holyin Leviticus chapter 19.
That means they were to be separatedor set apart from the ways of
the world, but Asaph was feelingjealous of the people of the world.
If he had told this to Jewish people,his brethren, it would've offended them.
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They would've been disappointed.
He would've offended their cherishedbelief about being a separated people.
Now, Asaph thought thisway and he felt this way.
He didn't confess it to other people,but he did write about it, and because he
wrote these words by the inspiration ofthe spirit, God's people have benefited
from reading this Psalm for 3000 years.
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Then he tells us how intensethis internal struggle was.
He knew that God was a good God.
He knew that sinners were wrong, butthings were just so unequal and unfair
that he had trouble accepting it.
He said in verse 16, “When Ithought, how to understand this,
it was too painful for me.” It wasjust too painful to think about.
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And even after he tried to understandit, he didn't feel any better.
He couldn't find an answerthat really satisfied him.
He's making a very important point here.
The pain, the suffering, the sin andthe injustices of life are so great
and overwhelming at times that it'stoo painful to think about them.
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We can only think about this problemso long before we feel the weight
of the world on our shoulders.
We're not made to comprehend all theevil and suffering throughout the world.
Our minds and our hearts are not bigenough or strong enough to stand it.
Only God has the strength to beholdall the evil that is in the world.
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We are not that strong.
That's why we have to be carefulabout using modern media.
It's good to be aware of the sufferingand the tragedies of other people
to a point, but we cannot thinkabout those calamities all the time.
We cannot entertain thosethoughts constantly.
Our minds will break if we do.
There's so much bad news on televisionand radio, and especially the internet.
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Our minds can become filled withthe world's evils continually.
There is a psychological limit asto how much of this we can bear.
So in looking at the problem ofsin and suffering, one principle
we need to remember is that weare not able to understand this
problem to our satisfaction becauseas Asaph says it is too painful.
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A second principle, by the way,that we need to remember is
what David taught in Psalm 139.
He talks about the knowledge ofGod being beyond our comprehension.
He said the omniscienceof God is too high for us.
It's way beyond our ability to understand.
This is perhaps one reason whyGod didn't explain to Job why he
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was suffering the way that he did.
So these are two simplethings to remember.
When we try to grapple with this perennialissue, we are out of our league because
it is just too painful and it is toohigh for us, but we can understand
the problem to a certain extent.
Now that's what Asaphsays in the next verse.
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Up to this point, he hasdescribed the struggle within.
He's very open and honest aboutwhat went through his mind.
Now he tells us whatbrought him to his senses.
He said he had this feeling “until Iwent into the sanctuary of God, then
I understood there end” [verse 17].
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That's the key verse in this story.
That's the turning point.
That's what he hadforgotten all this time.
The reason he became jealous of evilpeople and thought that life was so unfair
that he almost lost his faith was becausehe was not looking at the bigger picture.
He was looking at what these peopleenjoy in the short run, not the long run.
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He was getting in a hurry.
In his mind, he evidently expected Godto punish these evil people instead
of letting them enjoy life, or atleast he expected God to deprive them
of the good life they seem to enjoy.
But Asaph learnedpatience through all this.
When did this happen?
He said this occurred to him whenhe went into the sanctuary of God.
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They were living in the Old Testamentwhen the sanctuary of God in Jerusalem
was a solemn place to gather.
While he was there meditating onthe glory of God, he was reminded
of the power and the wisdom of God.
He saw the bigger picture thatbrought him to his senses.
He remembered that evil people doreap what they sow in this lifetime,
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and just because they're not gettingwhat they deserve at the time you're
watching them does not mean thatthey will never reap what they sow.
Even though he didn't understandcompletely why things are unfair in
this life, why bad things happen to goodpeople and why good things happen to
bad people, he did understand one thing.
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He understood that in theend, even in this life, people
eventually get what they deserve.
They reap what they have sown.
So this tells us that as we look at theevil in the world and we feel frustrated
because bad people seem to have it sogood, we are overlooking the fact that
God will repay even in this lifetime.
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He just doesn't do it when we thinkhe should, and that's the problem.
Then Asaph tells us what happens to thesame wicked people that he was jealous of.
He said that God cast themdown and utterly destroys them.
In verse 19, he said, “You cast themdown to destruction. O, how they are
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brought to desolation, as in a moment.”
Now, if he had thought about this beforehe looked at these evil people, or while
he was watching them, he wouldn't havebeen tempted to be jealous of them.
But that is what sometimes happens to us.
We momentarily forget things thatwe know, and that's why we have to
be reminded by reading the Bible,by hearing the Bible, by listening
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to preaching and teaching, and byexhorting one another as Christians.
Sometimes it is very easy toget things out of perspective.
How did Asaph feel after hethought about these things?
He felt ashamed.
He said “My heart was grieved and I wasvexed in my mind” [verse 21]. In verse 22
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he said, “I was so foolish and ignorant.”It was foolish to feel jealous of sinners.
He said that he was thinking on thelevel of an animal and not a man.
Now, that may sound like an overstatement,but sometimes we say the same thing today.
When a man rejects the plain truth ofthe Bible, we say that he's stubborn
as a mule or dumb as an ox, andthat's no reflection on his intellect.
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It's just a fact abouthis moral condition.
So don't be surprised whenyou go down this same road or
a similar road in your heart.
We all have struggles within ourselves.
We have thoughts and we have feelingsthat we wrestle with, and sometimes
it takes us a while to think thingsthrough and come back to the truth
that we know that we temporarily losesight of when we're being tempted.
(28:23):
But Asaph didn't beat himself up too long.
He didn't feel like afool forever about this.
He made a mistake in his heart, buthe repented and he learned better.
After he felt so ashamed ofhimself, he went back to his
faith in God and he rejoiced.
He said in verses 23 through 25,“Nevertheless, I am continually with you.
(28:45):
You hold me by my right hand.
You will guide me with your counseland afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is none upon Earth that Idesire beside you.” In his final words,
he comes full circle back to God.
In verse 28, he said, “But it isgood for me to draw near to God.
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I have put my trust in the Lordthat I may declare all your works.”
That is the simple keyto the whole problem.
Put your trust in God.
By the way, this Psalm remindsus of the book of Habakkuk,
which we'll look at next.
Habakkuk the prophet thought that Godwas taking too long to do something
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about all the corruption in Judah.
God told him that he wasgoing to answer his prayer.
He was going to send the Chaldeansinto Judah to punish these people,
but Habakkuk thought that thatwas not just because the Chaldeans
needed punishing worse than the Jews.
And after God put him in his place, theprophet rejoiced instead of complaining.
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That is what Job did.
That is what Asaph did.
And although God doesn't speak tous from heaven today, we go through
this same cycle as Christians.
Asaph emerged from this experience witheven more faith, and he became stronger.
So can we.
Thank you for listeningto My God and My Neighbor.
Stay connected with our podcast onour website and on Apple, Spotify,
(30:15):
YouTube, or wherever finepodcasts are distributed.
Tennessee Bible College, providingChristian education since 1975
in Cookeville, Tennessee, offersundergraduate and graduate programs.
Study at your level.
Aim higher and get in touch with us today.
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