Psalm 73

God is good to Israel. He does not bless anyone because of their pretense of religion, but He is a Father to those who are pure in heart.

“But as for me,” the Psalmist sings, “my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.” What was his crisis? He was envious of the arrogant when he saw the prosperity of the wicked. They were doing fine. How could that be?

Who are the wicked? Like all who live, the wicked were created by God. They were made in His image. How are they different from the righteous? They will not humble themselves before the Lord. They wear their rejection of God like a necklace. They are not the same as those who may be very weak in faith, those who are plagued by doubts and spiritual assaults. The doubter may be very meek, but the wicked man is violent, foolish, malicious, and oppressive.

The worshiper almost fell because he envied people like this. He saw them in their immoral boldness, openly claiming that God could not know what they were doing. Yet they seemed to prosper continually!

The righteous man began to feel like a fool. He was facing the rebukes of mockers. He was suffering. He was greatly tempted. He was ready to say something that would have been bad for him and bad for others who were counting on him.

His transformation back to spiritual peace came in worship. When he went into the sanctuary of God he remembered that the prosperity of the wicked would not be forever. In the suddenness of a moment the wicked man would be destroyed, and would be “swept away by terrors.” He would not be able to face his inevitable end with true peace.

This insight came to the worshiper in the sanctuary. Then he admitted his fault before the Lord. His soul had been embittered. He had been walking in ignorance. He was sorry for his foolish envy, and he repented. He remembered that even if the wicked man had everything on earth, the righteous man, though he be poor, had God.

To have God is better than any other pleasure. God holds you. He counsels you. At just the right time, when your days on earth are done, He will receive you into glory. This is what the One Righteous Man, the Messiah, has won for you with His blood, and it is worth more than anything else that this fading world can offer to you.

When you realize this truly, when you put away all the pretense of false religiousness, and remember what this true historical person, Jesus of Nazareth, has won for you, you will sing a better song than the bitterness of envy.

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Do not envy the wicked man. Pity him, though he may be unwilling to receive your honest concern for him. One day he will perish. What then?

But as for you, stay near to God. Make the Lord your honest refuge always. Tell of His works. Suffer now for a little while, if it be His will. He is with you now and forever.