PSALMS LESSON 72
We will begin this lesson by giving the 73rd chapter of Psalms in
metre.
THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE
Chapter 73
Verse 1 "Yet God is good to Israel, To each pure-hearted one. With
me, my steps had nearly slipped, My feet were almost gone."
Verse 2 "For I was envious, and grudged The foolish ones to see, When
I perceived that wicked men Enjoyed prosperity."
Verse 3 "Because their strength continues firm, Their death from
bands is free, They are not toiled like other men, Nor
plagued as others be."
Verse 4 "Their pride doth therefore like a chain Encompass them
about; And, as a garment, violence Doth cover them
throughout."
Verse 5 "Their eyes stand out with fat, they have more than their
hearts could wish They are corrupt; their talk of wrong Both
lewd and lofty is."
Verse 6 "They set their mouth against the heavens In their
blaspheming talk; And their reproaching tongue at large
Throughout the earth doth walk."
Verse 7 "His people, therefore, oftentimes Look back, and turn about;
And in abundance unto them The waters are wrung out."
Verse 8 "And thus they say, How can it be That God these things doth
know? Or, Can there in the Highest be Knowledge of things
below?"
Verse 9 "Behold, how these the wicked ones Do prosper at their will
In worldly things; how they increase In wealth and riches
still!"
Verse 10 "I verily have sought in vain My heart to purify; And vainly
also washed my hands In innocence have I."
Verse 11 "For daily, and all day throughout, Great plagues I suffered
have; Yea, every morning I anew did chastisement receive."
Verse 12 "If in this manner foolishly To speak I would intend, Thy
children's generation then behold I should offend."
Verse 13 "When I this thought to know, it was Too hard a thing for me;
Till to God's holy place I went, Then I their end did see.
Verse 14 "Them set upon a slippery place Assuredly thou hast; And
suddenly didst thou, O Lord, Them to destruction cast."
Verse 15 "How in a moment suddenly To ruin brought are they! With
fearful terrors utterly They are consumed away."
Verse 16 "Even like an empty dream when one From sleeping doth arise,
So thou, when thou awakest, Lord, Their image shalt
despise."
Verse 17 "Thus grieved within me was my heart, And me my reins
opprest; So rude was I, and ignorant, And in thy sight a
beast."
Verse 18 "Yet notwithstanding this, O Lord, I ever am with thee; Thou
hast me held by my right hand; And still upholdest me."
Verse 19 "With thy good counsel while I live Thou wilt me safely
guide; And into glory afterward Receive me to abide."
Verse 20 "O whom have I in heavens high, But thee, O Lord, alone? And
in the earth whom I desire Besides thee there is none."
Verse 21 "My flesh and heart do faint and fail, But God my heart
sustains; The strength and portion of my heart He evermore
remains."
Verse 22 "For lo, they that are far from thee Forever perish shall;
And as for those who from thee stray, Thou hast destroyed
them all."
Verse 23 "But surely it is good for me That I draw near to God: In
God I trust, that all thy works I may declare abroad."
We will now begin the verse by verse study of the 73rd chapter of
Psalms. Psalms 73:1 "{A Psalm of Asaph.} Truly God [is] good to
Israel, [even] to such as are of a clean heart."
When we get into this Psalm, the first thing we must note is that
it is attributed to Asaph. Many noted scholars believe it to be
written by David to Asaph, for him to sing. As we have concluded in
many of the other studies; it is not that important to know who the
penman is, just receive the message in it. You would get no argument
from anyone on the fact that God has been overly good to the physical
house of Israel. We have studied, in our study on Exodus, how God
forgave them over and over for their sins against Him. As we have said
before, God is more interested in the condition of your heart, than He
is in your actions. We are what our heart is.
Psalms 73:2 "But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps
had well nigh slipped."
We see, in this, a confession of guilt. He had gotten so weak in
the faith, that he had almost fallen. This usually comes just before
victory. When you fight the good fight and get to the end of your
ability to do any more, God takes over and you win.
Psalms 73:3 "For I was envious at the foolish, [when] I saw the
prosperity of the wicked."
This is a problem, that I greatly fear will come upon the
prosperity teachers of our day. If we teach that all is peaches and
cream after you receive the Lord, and that you will not be sick, or
have problems; then you look at the evil people around you, and they
are not having problems, it gets you confused. We might say, wait a
minute, did you not teach that these were blessings for those who know
and love God? Sometimes the wicked prosper greatly and are in great
health on this world. You can easily see how that would confuse the
new believer. Another problem believers have is, when they get sick,
they begin to believe their soul is lost. My Bible says, in this life,
you will have tribulation. It also says, tribulation comes to make you
strong. We read in II Timothy 2:12 "If we suffer, we shall also reign
with [him]: if we deny [him], he also will deny us:" Let me give one
more Scripture along this line. Romans 8:17 " And if children, then
heirs; heirs of God, and jointheirs with Christ; if so be that we
suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together." We must
not covet, or be desirous of things the wicked have.
Psalms 73:4 "For [there are] no bands in their death: but their
strength [is] firm."
Truly there is no rejoicing in their death, because they do not
inherit eternal life.
Psalms 73:5 "They [are] not in trouble [as other] men; neither
are they plagued like [other] men." Psalms 73:6 "Therefore pride
compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them [as] a
garment."
They have a false sense of security, because they are not having
troubles. Statistics show that people come to the Lord when they are
in trouble. They may be dressed in fine clothes, and live in a big
house, and drive a big shiny new car, but that does not mean that they
are in right standing with God. In fact, it might mean the opposite.
Christians, we are supposed to be a separated people. We are not to be
like the world.
Psalms 73:7 "Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more
than heart could wish." Psalms 73:8 "They are corrupt, and speak
wickedly [concerning] oppression: they speak loftily."
Drug dealers in our day fit this description perfectly. The eyes
described, above, are speaking of eyes like a hog. The terrible thing
many times is that having too much causes boredom and sometimes even
grows into depression. They think they can buy their way out of
anything, they have no respect for authority and even less for the
oppressed people around them.
Psalms 73:9 "They set their mouth against the heavens, and their
tongue walketh through the earth."
This is even worse than the verses above. They were attacking
men, now they are speaking out against God. They are full of
blasphemies, and they spread this all over the places they go. These
are people who are sold out to the devil. There is life and death in
the power of the tongue. These evil people are speaking their own
death into existence. This is a correct observation of the Psalmist.
Psalms 73:10 "Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a
full [cup] are wrung out to them."
We see that the believer comes to God with his needs. They look
around them and see the worldly people prospering, and they are having
to take the leavings. Christian, do not despair. All of the wonders in
heaven are yours. There are blessings on this earth for us, but
wonderful surroundings and blessings too numerous to imagine wait the
faithful. Mark 13:13 "And ye shall be hated of all [men] for my name's
sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
Notice the water was rung out. Even though the cup was full, it came
to them through great tribulation. Don't get me wrong, there are
blessings God gives to His children, here and now, but we should not
expect them and base our relationship with Him on how blessed we are.
Ephesians 3:20 "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in
us,"
Psalms 73:11 "And they say, How doth God know? and is there
knowledge in the most High?"
The answer to this is yes. Have you ever heard people say, that
only the simple minded worship God? They do not know who God is or
what He knows. They do not even believe in God. This is speaking of
atheists who do not believe in God's existence. They believe in
evolution and the ultimate becoming theory of human existence.
Psalms 73:12 "Behold, these [are] the ungodly, who prosper in the
world; they increase [in] riches."
As far as God is concerned, there are two kind of people in the
world. There are those who believe in God, and those who do not
believe in God. There is no in between. These evil people prosper in
the world, because they will do anything to anyone to make a dollar.
They do not care whether it is damaging to someone else, or not. They
have no conscience. A Christian should never make a deal with this
type person. The one who does not believe in God would not hesitate to
lie, so that he could get the best end of a deal. You can not trust
them. Their riches are dirty. Ill-gotten gain will burn up, when Jesus
judges them.
Psalms 73:13 "Verily I have cleansed my heart [in] vain, and
washed my hands in innocency."
This has jumped back to the believer speaking here. This is
saying, if all the blessings go to the sinner, why have I come to
God? Asaph is putting blessings on trial, as if the blessings are why
he came to God. All I can say is, this is a dangerous attitude. God
does not want us to become a believer because of the blessings we
might receive in this earth. That is conditional salvation. God wants
our heart to be stayed on Him, even if we face persecution for it. If
you look at the disciples of Jesus, you will find that they were
persecuted for their belief. Some of them like Stephen were martyred
for the sake of the gospel. When we come to God, we better not have
any ifs attached to it at all.
Psalms 73:14 "For all the day long have I been plagued, and
chastened every morning."
It seems his troubles began early in the morning and lasted all
day. He should have read about Job in the Bible and taken advice from
what Job did.
Psalms 73:15 "If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should
offend [against] the generation of thy children."
We could see from this that, he should have kept this to himself.
It was bad enough to think it, but to speak it aloud was a sin. If he
kept it to himself, no one but God and he would have known about it.
This would be a dangerous thing to talk to other believers about. This
would anger God.
Psalms 73:16 "When I thought to know this, it [was] too painful
for me;"
It had actually gotten to be painful for him to see this.
Psalms 73:17 "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; [then]
understood I their end."
When he turned his back to the world and studied the teachings of
God, he realized the temporary situation with these worldly people.
They better get all the blessings of this world they could in this
life, because they would not be in heaven, or have any blessings in
the hereafter. The presence of God in the temple was so wonderful that
all the things of this world faded in the background.
Psalms 73:18 "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou
castedst them down into destruction." Psalms 73:19 "How are they
[brought] into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed
with terrors."
Suddenly he has jumped over to the terrible fate that awaits the
evil ones who have rejected Jesus. The truth is that death is
terrifying to these people. Revelation 20:15 "And whosoever was not
found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
Psalms 73:20 "As a dream when [one] awaketh; [so], O Lord, when
thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image."
This is saying that these evil people may seem to have it pretty
good here on the earth, but there is coming a day of judgement.
II Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some
men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." God knew
all the time of their evil doings. He was just trying to give them
time to repent.
Psalms 73:21 "Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my
reins."
It seems that when Asaph had time to really think over what God
was doing, he was so sad in his heart, that he had questioned God.
Asaph repented of the things he had said and even the thoughts he had
in his heart.
Psalms 73:22 "So foolish [was] I, and ignorant: I was [as] a
beast before thee."
This is the voice and words of a repentant soul. He was feeling
little, and no more than an animal in understanding, when he took time
to consider.
Psalms 73:23 "Nevertheless I [am] continually with thee: thou
hast holden [me] by my right hand."
We see a man hanging on to his faith and apologizing for his
actions. He is saying, thank you Lord that you did not give up on me,
but led me through this shadow of despair that I was in.
Psalms 73:24 "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward
receive me [to] glory."
He is now confident that God has forgiven him. He speaks the
truth. Guiding with God's counsel is studying God's Word. He says, In
your Word I am assured that you will receive me as one of yours in
glory.
Psalms 73:25 "Whom have I in heaven [but thee]? and [there is]
none upon earth [that] I desire beside thee."
Suddenly the world and all it has to offer is not important to
him anymore. He now realizes that wealth and things are not the true
treasure. God is the treasure. In heaven and on the earth, the only
true worth is salvation through our Lord and Saviour.
Psalms 73:26 "My flesh and my heart faileth: [but] God [is] the
strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."
This flesh has no value, it is dust and to dust it shall return.
I Corinthians 15:45 "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made
a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit." He is
saying, I no longer want to be flesh man, I want to be born of the
spirit of God. John 3:6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." We see from this that,
the birth that really counts is our new birth in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me."
Psalms 73:27 "For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish:
thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee."
We said it before, those wicked, who do not have their name
written in the Lamb's book of life, will be doomed to the lake of
fire. The sad thing about the sentence above is that, some who had
been married to God, go a whoring and they go the way of those who
never accepted Jesus as their Saviour.
Psalms 73:28 "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."
Notice, God did not draw near to him, he drew near to God. God
had never moved away from him. He has decided to put his trust in God.
He will now rest in God and stop worrying about what others have.
Asaph has decided to work for God, and to let his work show to the
world whose side he is on.
In summary: Christians, stop comparing your walk with God with
other's walk with God. God is God of individuals. He personalizes our
salvation walk to fit us.
Questions 72
1. Who is this Psalm attributed to?
2. Who has God been overly good to?
3. God is more interested in the condition of your ______ than in
your actions.
4. What is verse two really?
5. When you get to the end of your ability, what happens?
6. Who was Asaph envious of?
7. What is dangerous about teaching prosperity?
8. In this life, we will have ___________.
9. Quote 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 12.
10. Who are we joint heirs with, if we suffer with Him?
11. Why is there no rejoicing when the evil die?
12. What do the evil have a false sense of?
13. Does having a new car and a new house mean that you are saved?
14. What does the fatness of the eyes, in verse 7, mean?
15. What is meant by their tongue walketh through the earth?
16. Quote Mark chapter 13 verse 13.
17. What does it mean about the water being wrung out of the full cup?
18. Quote Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20.
19. In verse 11, what type of people would make this statement?
20. In God's opinion there are 2 types of people, who are they?
21. What is Asaph doing in verse 13?
22. Did the disciples live prosperously on this earth?
23. What was so bad about Asaph's complaining?
24. When did Asaph change his mind about all of this?
25. What caused the things of this world to fade away from Asaph?
26. What is the fate of the evil people who do not repent?
27. Why had God not already punished these evil people?
28. What happened when Asaph realized what he had done and said?
29. What is guiding with God's counsel?
30. Quote 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 45.
31. Quote Galations chapter 2 verse 20.
32. What is the sad thing about the last part of verse 27?
33. How could you summarize this lesson?
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