Surely God is Good...

"It all seems so unfair", the husband told me. "My wife has always been a good-living woman, believed in the Lord, prayed, gone to church... The fellow a couple of doors down - heavy drinker, beats his wife... - was coming home from the pub last Saturday night. He was walking along the railway bridge and fell off into the grass. He slept there till morning - not a bruise or a scratch on him. And this happens to my wife!"

He had a deep sense of injustice - why my wife and not the drunk? There may well be situations where we have had similar thoughts.

Psalm 73 begins with what Asaph the Psalmist accepted as the good clear teaching of how we expect life should be - "Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart" (v. 1). Yet that hasn’t been his experience - "But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (vv. 2-3).

The "wicked" seem to have it made - no struggles, strong, healthy bodies, free from the burdens that affect most of us, not plagued by human ills... In fact, this all goes towards making them proud, violent,. callous, conceited, arrogant... They seem to attract a following who look up to them and, like them, live without reference to God.

In a way, verse 12 sums up Asaph’s unhappy complaint (perhaps it is ours too?) - "This is what the wicked are like - always carefree, they increase in wealth". The "wicked" here aren’t necessarily the out-and-out criminal - just any average person who lives without reference to God. And haven’t we felt a sense of injustice when comparing our situation with another person’s?

By comparison, "Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning" (vv. 13-14). If God is good to the pure in heart, why are these things happening to me?

"When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin" (vv. 16-18).

The problem is our short-term view of things - even more so in our "instant" society! In the short term, the "wicked" may have many seeming immediate benefits. Mind you, I think the "pure in heart" have many immediate benefits too, though they seem to pale in the light of secular glamour.

In the long term - "I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (vv. 23-26).

In v. 2 - "But as for me, my feet had almost slipped". And now in v. 28 - "But as for me, it is good to be near God".

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for your gift of life. Sometimes we have assumed we should always know physical and material blessings. We have been envious of people with no apparent trust in you yet doing well. Grant us to know how good it is to be near you, to make you our refuge, to tell of all your deeds. Help us to encourage others who face the difficulties and burdens of life. Help us to remember Jesus who went through pain and suffering and death for us all. We pray in his name, Amen.

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