STANDING FIRM IN ROCKY TIMES

Psalms 73:1-73:28


Standing Firm when Life doesn’t seem fair
Psalm 73


Life isn’t fair.
I am 100% certain that you have either said that, thought that, or heard that before.

We see injustice on a daily basis.
On the news, we can see innocent people killed in drive by shootings, while the killers go free
In our neighborhoods, we see good people get cancer while those who seem to live hard partying lives, remain healthy
In the movies, we see those who live lifestyles are focused only on looking good and having money, seemingly getting all of that and more and being able to do what they want and vacation when they want, all while they live lives that less than glorify the Lord.

On top of that, it seems that Christians often have a more difficult life.

Walk into any church and you can find prayer lists filled with people
with cancer or other illnesses
who have lost or are in need of a job
who are struggling in marriage relationships

Not only that, but Christians have the struggles of striving to live godly lives in a world that bombards us with temptation while those who do not follow the Lord, seem not to struggle at all with living a life that appears to be against what God would have.

What is up with that?

I thought God, if He is truly Sovereign, would be able to bless the righteous and do justice to the wicked.

So often that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Have you ever thought about that?
Thought about how as we look out at the world, there seems to be so much injustice and life just doesn’t seem to be fair.

Well, you are not alone.

In fact, even some of the biblical writers have had some of these same concerns and expressed them in the pages of Scripture.



So, Today we are going to se how we can be
Standing Firm when Life doesn’t seem Fair
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as we continue our series, “The Journey of Life”

This morning we are going to be reading Psalm 73 (P.414)
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This Psalm was written by Asaph, a
worship leader under King David.
godly man gifted in music to worship the Lord.
writer of 12 Psalms.
"Cindy White" View contact details

For those of you who don’t think we should get real with God about how we are feeling, this psalm will stand in stark contrast to your view.

This psalm is very real and personal for Asaph as he reveals his struggle with the things he is seeing.

Perhaps some of you have been there. I know I have at times. I find it so helpful that I can go to God’s word and find other real people who had similar struggles and how God still cared for them.

So let’s read the first part of this psalm and see if we can relate to some of the things Asaph sees or has experienced and see if we can discover why he and we have these struggles.

Psalm 73
1 A psalm of Asaph.
Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, "How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?"
12 This is what the wicked are like--
always carefree, they increase in wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been plagued;
I have been punished every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me


Let’s stop there a moment.

Asaph starts out his psalm proclaiming an intellectual truth.
Something He knows in his head.

God is good and he is good to those who are pure in heart.
If you are a Christian, you have probably been taught that and believe that.
I have been and I do intellectually believe that to be true.

Maybe you are not a Christian here today, and you don’t necessarily believe that.

Well, I want to tell you whether you are a Christian or not, everyone has struggled at one point or another with the apparent unfairness and injustice in the world.

Here is this worship leader under the great King David struggling with these same things.

Notice what he says in verse 2
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.

God, I nearly bailed on you.
I almost stopped following you.

Understand that this is a godly man, a leader, who is saying this.

Maybe you have experienced this or are experiencing this right now.
If you get anything today, I want you
to know that you are not alone in feeling as you do and
to be open to see what causes this are and
how we can overcome and stand firm when life doesn’t seem to be fair.


So the question we must ask is
What causes us to stumble in our journey of Life?
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It is the same things that causes Asaph to stumble.

Notice that the crux of the problem is
what we believe in our head (there is a good God) and
what we see with our eyes (unfairness and injustice) don’t seem to match up.

Now the problem is either with what we believe or with what we are seeing.

The next verse gives us an indication of what the problem might be.
Psalm 73:3
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Asaph saw the wicked and the things they had and he envied them. He coveted their stuff. He coveted their life.

The beginning of Asaphs problem was that he was
Viewing life through the eyes of sin
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The tenth commandment says in
Exodus 20:17
17 "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

That is exactly what Asaph was doing. He was coveting the prosperity of the wicked. He wanted what they had.

Now once we stop battling this sin or any sin, we give Satan an opportunity to get a foothold into our lives and we start believing his lies.

When we are viewing life through the eyes of sin,
We start
Viewing Life from the perspective of Satan
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Look at the next verses

4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.

Now it may appear at times that many of the wicked have no struggles, but the fact of the matter is that everyone has struggles.

But when sin creeps into our lives, we now open ourselves to the deceptions of Satan to believe the lies that he tells us.
“They don’t have any struggles.”
“Their marriage is perfect.”
“Look at all they have and the way they live. “
“Is there really a God that allows them to live disregarding Him and they live the “good life” while you struggle in all aspects of life?”
“If you got rid of the wife or husband you have and got yourself a better one, your life would be better too.”

Those are lies. When we are viewing life through the eyes of sin, we start believing the perspective that Satan is trying to feed us.

The truth may be that
they do have a better financial situation than you.
They may have better health
They may have more fame.

But the lie is that they have no problems.

When we believe his lies, we play into his hand, and then we may even see things that are true, but we force them into the lie we are believing.

Look at the next verses of this psalm

Psalm 73:6-12
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, "How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?"
12 This is what the wicked are like--
always carefree, they increase in wealth.

Those who are not following God, may scoff and speak with malice.
They may threaten and mock God.
But they will not always be carefree and increase in wealth.

We take the lie and draw an extreme conclusion.

And when we do that, we make wrong conclusions about our own life and how we are living.

Look what Asaph says in
Psalm 73:13-16
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been plagued;
I have been punished every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me


Asaph is saying, it isn’t worth it.
I strive to live a pure and holy life and what does it lead?
Pain, heartache, and confusion.

The unrighteous live an ungodly life and where does that lead?
To money and success and fame.

It is not worth it.

I am certain most of us have been there and thought this at one point or another.

The truth is though that our view has been distorted.
It is distorted by sin and by satan.

Even if what it was completely true that they have no problems and we do, we are only seeing snapshot of the present situation, not a complete picture.

Well, is this it?
Do we chalk it up to say well, I don’t get it, oh well?
How can we keep going on this journey of life if that is it?

What causes us to Stand Firm on our Journey of Life
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Is there anything?
Well, let’s see what Asaph says and does.

Psalm 73:16-17
16 When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
something happens to Asaph right here.

He is seeing and not understanding all of these things, he says until, he entered the sanctuary of God.

Now entering the sanctuary of God, really meant that He came into God’s presence.

When we do that, when we enter into God’s presence,
We begin
Viewing Life through the eyes of Faith
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As God led Asaph into His presence, Asaph began exercising the faith that he had been given.

And as we exercise the little faith that we are given and begin seeing life through the eyes of faith, we also begin
Viewing life from the perspective of the Sovereign Lord
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It is from this perspective, that the things of this world begin to be seen in the proper way.

We will be able to view the pleasures of this world appropriately as well as the pains of this world.

Dollar bill illustration
When I hold up a dollar bill in front of my face, it looks huge.

But when I can put this dollar in proper perspective, I see it for what it really is.

It is something, but not nearly what I thought it was when it was right in front of my eyes.


Now while the things I see in the world may still have the appearance of unfair or unjust, seen from the perspective of the Lord helps me see with an eternal perspective.

It is then that we can begin to have a better understanding of some things.

First, when we are viewing life from the perspective of God,
We understand the eternity of the wicked
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While they may enjoy some earthly pleasures, this will be all they enjoy unless they repent of their sin and receive Christ as Savior.

Look at what Asaph says now about the wicked whom he saw as carefree, and pain free and successful in life.

Psalm 73:17-20
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 As a dream when one awakes,
so when you arise, O Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.

Notice how in the beginning part of the psalm, the psalmist talked about how his foot had almost slipped. But now he sees the reality of the situation in that the wicked are on the slippery ground.

When we see from God’s perspective and understand this,
we no longer envy the wicked or what they have, but
we pity and ache for the wicked and what they lack, eternal life.

Understanding and knowing the hope we have been given of eternal life, is going to help us stand firm and persevere on this journey of life.

As Moses lived by viewing life through the eyes of faith so can we.
Listen to how he did it.

Hebrews 11:24-27
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

See through the eyes of faith. See from God’s perspective and understand the eternity of those who don’t follow the Lord and it will help you stand firm.

But as we see from God’s perspective, we not only understand the eternity of the wicked,
We understand the sinfulness of ourselves
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Psalm 73:21-22
21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;I was a brute beast before you.

Asaph saw his envy for the sin that it was and repented.

I want to tell you that before I became a Christian, I thought I was pretty good. Laura was so lucky to have someone like me.

A good person, who really did not do much wrong or have too many bad habits or really was all that sinful.

It is as I continue to walk with the Lord, that I see more and more how sinful I am.

As we walk in faith and see from God’s perspective, we understand how sinful we are.
And as we understand and see our sin, we are given the promise of being cleansed as we confess and repent.

1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Not only that, but
We understand the Mercy and Grace of God
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Psalm 73:23-28
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

God is good even when life doesn’t seem fair.

He holds us and guides us and will take us to be with Him when we receive Jesus as our Savior.

God is good.
God is good even when life doesn’t seem fair.

Maybe you are here today and are
still not understanding
still not feeling like you are standing firm.
You need to enter the sanctuary of God, you need to come into his presence so that you can see through the eyes of faith and from God’s perspective.

God has brought you here today to hear this message.
God has brought me hear today to hear this message.

Come today into his presence by exercising the faith He has given you to come here.

We are going to pray.
If you have never received Jesus as your Savior, that is the first thing you need to do to come into God’s presence.

If you have received Jesus, while it isn’t salvation you need, but cleansing that John talked about.

Ask God to look inside you and expose any sin in you that may be distorting your view of life.

Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

As God shows you any sin that may be there, be prepared to confess it and repent and be cleansed.

But following that, to keep our perspective, to help us not only stand firm, but to continue on in our Journey of life, we need to continue to keep our focus on the Lord.

We do that by being part of a local church, by participating in being part of small group where we can study God’s word, and be encouraged and loved by other people.

This is what will keep us walking faithfully and joyfully even when our human perspective can’t see the fairness of life, but our eternal perspective will allow us to rejoice knowing that God is good, and justice will come in his time.

Then we will be able to say with Paul as he does in
Romans 8:18
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.