Finding Answers in the Sanctuary

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When life looks unfair and the loudest wins seem to go to the least deserving, it’s easy to slip into resentment. We sit with Asaph in Psalm 73 as he names those hard questions, then watch the hinge moment: stepping into God’s sanctuary and seeing everything—success, suffering, and the future—through a clearer lens. That shift doesn’t erase pain, but it reframes the story around destiny rather than optics.

We unpack how Asaph moves from envy to empathy by “considering their end,” recognizing that the apparent security of the wicked is a slippery surface that ends in sudden ruin. From there, the spotlight turns inward. Asaph confesses how bitterness shrank his vision and rediscovers what he actually has: God’s nearness, God’s guarding hand, and God’s wise counsel through Scripture. The line “afterward you will receive me to glory” becomes the anchor, contrasting terror with triumph and exposing why eternity changes how we measure a good life today.

The conversation grows practical and tender as we explore how worship reorders desire: “Whom have I in heaven but you?” We draw a vivid picture of daily reliance through Joni Eareckson Tada’s morning prayer—asking for Christ’s smile when her own is gone—and connect it to the way perspective renews stamina for ordinary routines. By the end, we emphasize nearness and witness: it is good to be near God, and from that refuge we tell of his works with humility and hope. If you’re tired of comparison, hungry for clarity, and ready to choose the long view, this journey through Psalm 73 will meet you where you are and lift your eyes toward glory.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:33):
In our last study here in Psalm 73, we found
Asaph, one of the leadingmusicians in the nation of
Israel, ready to throw in thetowel and quit.
He composed a song to tell usabout all these questions and
frustrations he'd been wrestlingwith and how close his feet had
come to slipping.

(00:55):
We detailed seven questions, wecalled them forbidden questions
that Asaf effectively asked theLord here in this psalm.
And every one of these questionshas probably run through your
mind and mind more than onetime.

Questions like (01:10):
why do unbelievers seem to have less
trouble in their lives?
Why do unbelievers seem to haveplenty of money?
Why do the wicked often seem tohave a better health?
And why don't evil people getexposed for who they are instead
of receiving the approval ofeverybody around them?
While the believer struggleswith opposition, the wicked seem

(01:33):
to get a standing ovation.
Well, as Asaph labors with theseinner frustrations and
questions, he writes now inverse 16, this was a wearisome
task.
He's basically saying that thefact that those who hate God
seem to get away with it, andthose who follow God don't seem

(01:55):
to benefit from it, and you tryto figure that out, and well,
Asaph is saying it's literallywearing him out.
It was a wearisome task to tryand make it make sense.
Well now Asaph mentioned at thebeginning of this testimony that
his feet had almost stumbled,his his steps had nearly

(02:17):
slipped.
The good news is that instead ofcompletely slipping and falling
spiritually, Asaph is is nowgoing to slip instead into the
sanctuary of God.
And at this point in his song,everything begins to change.
He writes here in verse 17.

(02:38):
I went into the sanctuary ofGod, and then I discerned their
end.
In other words, I I just lookeda little farther down the path.
Yes, my life is hard.
Yes, the lives of unbelieversoften look easy.
They they seem to be carefree inlife.
But I'm going to look aheadhere.

(02:58):
What's waiting at the end oftheir path?
Well, consider that.
You see, the issue isn't abouttheir carefree disposition, it's
about their final destination.
And it's here that ASAP beginsto regain a biblical perspective
on the lives of unbelievers.
He says here in verse 18 Truly,you, Lord, set them in slippery

(03:23):
places.
It might look like they'resecure.
Well, that's only temporary.
ASAF goes on now to describetheir coming appointment.
You see, they're going to slipinto death, and this is
permanent.
He says here in verse 19, howthey are destroyed in a moment,

(03:48):
swept away utterly by terrors.
He's describing death for themas a terrifying reality.
Charles Spurgeon commented onthis text more than a hundred
years ago when he wrote thatwithout warning, uh, without
escape, without hope, despitetheir golden chains, their

(04:09):
expensive apparel, death hurriesthem away.
Their lives last but a moment,before the terror of death
sweeps them away.
And Asaph says here in verse 20,like a dream when one awakes, O
Lord, when you rouse yourself,you despise them.

(04:31):
It seems like they're living thedream, but you know, dreams only
last a few moments.
And just like that, their lives,which seemed to last a long
time, well, in the light of aneternity, their lives lasted but
a few moments.
Asaph is regaining this biblicalperspective on the lost, and

(04:55):
that's going to replace his envywith pity.
See, Asaph also regains abiblical perspective on himself.
He writes now here in verse 21when my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart, Iwas brutish and ignorant.
Let me let me paraphrase hiswords this way.

(05:31):
Listen, beloved, thoseunbelievers that you might be
envying or resenting because oftheir success, their health,
their house, their money, theirpromotion, their stuff, just
consider their end, their tragicend.
And like Asaph, that's going tochange your perspective.
We don't envy the lost.

(05:52):
We pity them.
We pray for them.
We want to win them for Christ.
We realize that if they finallyreject the gospel, their dream
life is going to be replaced oneday with eternal judgment and
suffering.
Now, with that new perspective,ASAF gives us something positive

(06:13):
to sing about now here in Psalm73.
He writes in verse 23, I amcontinually with you, you hold
my right hand.
It's as if he's singing aboutthe fact that God is continually
guarding him.
Think about it, beloved, Godnever goes off duty, he never

(06:34):
stops guarding you.
Well, secondly, he says, youknow, let's let's sing about God
wisely guiding us.
In verse 24, Asaph composesthese lyrics, you guide me with
your counsel.
God's word happens to be awisdom journal.
And by the way, that's why we'recalling our study through God's

(06:56):
Word a wisdom journey.
Well, Asaph now looks down theroad to the end of his own life
and the lives of those whofollow the Lord.
And he's going to write nowabout your future and mine.
It isn't terrifying, it'striumphant.
Verse 24 reads, You guide mewith your counsel, and afterward

(07:19):
you will receive me to glory.
Oh, the solution for Asaph'sfrustration.
It happened to be a matter ofconcentration.
See, he'd focused on what thewicked enjoyed, not where they
were heading.
He'd focused on what he wassuffering, and he forgot where
he was heading.
Now all that's changed.

(07:40):
And with a renewed perspective,Asaph writes now this great
text, and this one is worthy ofsinging to this very day.
Here it is in verse 25.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earththat I desire.
You see, he's getting past thoseearlier forbidden questions.

(08:02):
Now he's saying effectively,Well, I might not have much
money.
I might have a lot ofchallenges, but I have the Lord.
He then writes here in versetwenty six, My flesh and my
heart may fail, but God is thestrength of my heart and my
portion forever.
And with that, ASAF comes to thefinal measure in this great

(08:26):
musical composition.
He writes here in versetwenty-eight, but for me it is
good to be near God.
I have made the Lord God myrefuge that I may tell of all
your works.
Reminds me when I was growingup, the church we attended near
downtown Norfolk, Virginia hadwooden letters attached to the

(08:48):
wall behind the pulpit.
And the letters spelled outthese words to know him and to
make him known.
Well, that's ASAF now.
I've been reminded of who I amand who God is and what matters
most in life.
The greatest thing that I couldever do with my life is worship

(09:08):
God, get to know him, and thenmake him known to everyone in my
world today.
You see, this renewedperspective brought ASAF to a
place of renewed joy.
It also reminds me of JohnnyErickson Tada.
Maybe you've heard of her, aquadruplegic woman, who wrote

(09:30):
about a conversation she hadwith a woman who asked her one
time, Johnny, you always look sohappy in your wheelchair.
I wish I had your joy.
How do you do it?
Well, Johnny wrote, Well, Idon't do it.
She writes, after my husband Kenleaves for work at 6 a.m., I'm
alone.
And then I hear the front dooropen at 7 a.m.

(09:51):
That's when my friend arrives toget me up.
I listen to her uh make coffee.
And while she's making coffee, Ipray, Lord, uh my friend's soon
gonna come in here and get meand give me a bath and get me
dressed and sit me up and in mychair and brush my hair and
teeth and send me out the door.
Frankly, I don't have thestrength to face this routine

(10:14):
one more time.
I don't have a smile to takeinto this day, but Lord, you do.
May I have yours.
That's a good testimony.
Frankly, that's the testimony ofAsaph here in Psalm 73.
If you ever thought about thefact that his circumstances
haven't changed, he's stillfacing health problems and

(10:37):
financial shortfalls, and he'sstill got pressure and he's got
troubles in this brand new day,every single day.
His circumstances haven'tchanged, but his heart has.
His focus has shifted backtoward the Lord.
So his perspective is once againtaking the long view, and he's

(10:58):
going all the way to the end oflife and right on into the glory
of heaven.
And as a result, God has givenhis smile to Asaph.
It's a smile to face anotherday.
Well, that's my prayer for you.
May God give you his smiletoday.

(11:20):
Well, until we set sail again onour wisdom journey through this
wisdom journal, may the grace ofthe Lord Jesus Christ and the
love of God and the fellowshipof the Holy Spirit be with you
all.
Amen.