Psalm 73

Psalm 73 - Good God?

Lee Marshall MPC, 16^th July 2000.

GOOD GOD?

Psalm 73

In 1961 a book was published by a man named N.W. Clark. This was not the author's real name - it was a pseudonym. The book was titled "A Grief Observed" and it detailed the intense struggle the author had undergone following the death of his wife, after a long and painful battle with cancer.

"NW Clark" was a very prominent Christian in his day and it was for that reason that only after his death, in1963, that his true identity was eventually revealed. His name was C.S. LEWIS. Well known to Christians all over the world

It was because of WHO HE WAS and WHAT HE SAID that the decision was made to publish the book under a Pseudonym. For in the book CS LEWIS is questioning the goodness of God.

AND SO . . . . .

Out of sensitivity to the Christian community... Out of a genuine concern for the damage such doubts expressed by such a prominent Christian might cause ... it was decided to withhold his true identity.

Question: What do you think of that? A good thing, bad thing . . .the decision to withhold his identity?

One can understand why such a decision would be made . . . . . but personally I think it's A BAD THING . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . for it REINFORCES A COMMON MISCONCEPTION that many people have about Christians and Christianity . . . . . . . . . . namely that IF YOU ARE A PERSON OF FAITH . . . . YOU'LL NEVER QUESTION THE GOODNESS OF GOD. You'll never experience doubt.
I mean surely THAT WOULD BE A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS . . . . . . . to say you are a believer and yet to experience doubt over God's goodness.

Those who suggest that as a believer one should never experience a hint of doubt will often back their claims by turning to the Bible and citing examples of people there who seem to enjoy a similar, unshakeable, unflappable, doubt free faith in God.
EG . . . . . .
Read Psalm 73:23-26.

Question: What does such teaching do for you?

Well for many people this places a question mark over the validity of their own faith. It says me "If this is THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE then there must be something wrong with me & my faith . . because there are times when . . . . . . ."

And so THE APPARENT ABSCENCE OF DOUBT IN OTHERS:

- both the Christians around me
- those whose lives are recorded in the Scriptures . . .

. . . . ACTUALLY SERVES to increase the level of doubt in my own life.

That being the case it comes as something of a relief to discover that A Grief Observed is actually written by CS LEWIS. In a strange way that's almost an encouragement to me.

And what's more the writer of this particular Psalm IS NO DIFFERENT.
Read vs 1-2,
- According to the first verse he's a believer.

But he's looking back to a time when he came within a whisker of

abandoning God altogether.

Verse15 tells us just how serious his doubts were. Read verse. (similar to CS LEWIS)

YES!! We do read of his great trust in God - vs 1 "God is Good" . . . . . & 23-26 "God is good to me" . . . . but it wasn't always like that. There had been a time when he had seriously doubted that GOD WAS GOOD.
[@ this point the Psalm becomes extremely relevant to you and me]

2 QUESTIONS
What caused his doubt?
What help him come through the other side?

1. THE CAUSE OF HIS DOUBT
(Similar to CS LEWIS it arose out of the seeming contradiction he observed between faith and reason).

Read vs 1.

Sounds a pretty reasonable creed doesn't it?

It was the affirmation of any faithful Jew of his day ' "God is good to His people"

And yet this man's experience of life seemed to contradict what he knew about God? Things had happened which had caused him to say to himself "Your trust in God is nonsense"?

Read vs 3.
There's where his problems started. It's the age old question of . . . .
1.1 Why do the Wicked Prosper?

Why is it that so many who have rejected God seem to be doing so well in life.

Verses 4-12 provides a description these people.
They clearly have NO INTEREST IN GOD . . .read vs 11 . . . AND YET. .

THEY SEEM TO BE ENJOYING THE GOOD LIFE.
Read vs 2-12.

Now he's NOT SAYING that everyone who rejects God has this kind of life; he's just pointing out that it's OFTEN like that.
There are so many ungodly people for whom life just seems to be SO GOOD.

Question: Somehow that doesn't seem right does it? How can God let them get away with it?

"God is good to the pure in heart" . . . . .

BUT LOOK AT THE LIVES OF THE WICKED!!!!!

However there's more behind this mans doubt than just that!!
Read vs 13-14.
1.2 Why must I Suffer?

Here's THE STRAW THAT BROKE THIS MAN'S BACK.
The Real Issue was not simply WHY DO THE UPRIGHT SUFFER? BUT RATHER WHY MUST I SUFFER?
Now it probably shouldn't be this way . . but isn't it true?

The innocent suffering . . . can be purely academic . . . until you are the innocent that suffers.
You can read every day of people being hijacked in their cars . . . . it may make you angry . . . . . but you can live with it . . . . . until you get hijacked.

I think it's this factor that brought this man to the edge.

I would assume that CS LEWIS must have been aware of hundreds of people dying of cancer before it struck his wife . . . . . . . . but only then did it really become a massive spiritual problem. WHY ME?

That's the real issue in Psalm 73.
That's the question being asked.

You might be in a similar position at this moment.

You may be questioning the Goodness of God:

It may be because of the evil in the world.

It's probably because of your own personal suffering.

That's not wrong . . . in fact I want to argue it's to be expected.
God's people suffering is part of the NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE.
The pressure of this experience is often of such a nature that it may cause us to doubt that God is good. NORMAL.

But it's when that question is ignored and overlooked that our faith is under threat.

Question: What's the cure? How do we deal with it?
2. THE CURE FOR DOUBT

2.1 Negatively
Read vs 16
It's not going to help to sit down and get all philosophical about it.
The solution is not to be found in human reason.
IN FACT, it's often the case that the more we turn to reason the more oppressive the situation can become.

No!! What we need is GOD'S UNDERSTANDING.
And that's what vs 17 is all about:
Read vs 17 (16). . . "till I entered the sanctuary of God".

Part of the so-called WISDOM LITERATURE. Ecclesistes, Job, Proverbs, some Psalms. These sections of the Bible relate to our knowledge and understanding of life. The KEY to succesful living is wisdom. The KEY to wisdom is the Word of God. And so the wisdom literature applies the Word of God to many of the big questions which plague us in life.

That's what this is all about.
The "sanctuary" was the temple. Represented the place where God dwelt. To speak of "entering the sanctuary" is to speak of turning to God. Turning to Him for counsel and guidance. Of allowing God to dominate our thinking
Read vs 16-17a (then I understood . . .)

As he turned to God things began to fall into place.

Question: What did he learn? (I'm pretty sure these were not new lessons to him . . . .no doubt these were things that had made him a believer in the first place . . . but he had forgotten them . . needed a reminder)

Read vs 17-18

A new Perspective on Human Destiny

Quite often, our trouble is that we have a hopelessly inadequate view of the world and life. We tend to ignore what we cannot see. We limit our thoughts to what we can see, touch, smell.

The future cannot be known in this way and so we live as if it doesn't exist:

Luke 12:13-21 - PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL.
Context - Jesus is talking about these future things . . . judgement etc.
A man in the crowd interrupts him . . .question over a will.
Parable of the Rich Fool.
A story of a man who was so pre-occupied with the here/now that he faced certain judgement in the future.

The person who lives his/her life with no regard for the future is A FOOL as far as Jesus is concerned.

- The future is reality
- Judgement is reality

This man begins to see that he's forgotten all about that.
"Then I understood their final destiny . . . surely you placed them on slippery ground" . . . . . read vs 27.
There's more to life than meets the eye.

Read vs 19-20

Ever had a nightmare . . wake up in a cold sweat . . . petrified . . . switch light on. And then you realise it was a dream and you feel foolish to get so worked up over a dream.. That's the prosperity of the wicked . . . . when viewed in the light of eternity.

One day we'll wake up and realise just how insubstantial that prosperity was.
The Psalmist begins to see that.

A New Perspective on Himself

Read vs 21-22

Part of our trouble once we get into the self pity trip . . it quickly develops into a vicious circle.
- We don't feel like turning to God

We don't feel like reading His Word.

We would much rather fell sorry for ourselves and feed our resentment against Him. With the result that we become more and more self absorbed and our darkness grows deeper and our doubt turns to despair.

Downward spiral.

One reason why the "habit" of church is a good thing. If we don't discipline ourselves to hear His word regularly, then when the times of doubt comes, how will we ever be brought to see things from God's perspective.
Hebrews 10:24-25 . . .

That's this man's story.

It was in the sanctuary that he began to see himself as he really was.

"I envied the arrogant"

"I was senseless and ignorant (ignoring reality) a brute beast before you".

SOMETHING ELSE he began to see about himself.

Namely that he remained a child of God.

Read vs 23-24

So long as we are kept from God's Word we can hide this truth from ourselves.

We can be our own worst enemies can't we?
You're not really a Christian? How can that be and you are thinking these thoughts. A Christian wouldn't feel that way about other people!!

But it's as we read God's word, that we begin to see ourselves as God sees us.
That can be a rebuke and an encouragement.
To be reminded that my Christianity depends not upon my performance but upon God's faithfulness.

A New Perspective on Real Values

Read vs 25-26

This man has come to question the GOODNESS OF GOD.
Is God really good to the Pure in Heart? Vs 1

That all depends on what you mean by good.

Healthy

Wealthy

Popular

If that's what you mean then of course you have to come to the conclusion that God is very often not good to the pure in heart.

But you see, the truth is, that those kind of benefits, though they may be good in their own way, are not really what goodness is about.
It's one of the great tragedies of the modern church that people have allowed the pursuit of such things to rob them of the best things.
Read vs 25

Many people here who in the enthusiastic flush of youth held someone's hand and said "For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, for better for worse".
What were you saying? [You may well be asking yourself that very question].
You were saying that having that person in your life was more precious to you than any other good thing you could think of.

Now, if human love can be such a precious commodity that it makes you indifferent to material welfare, where should love of God fit on our scale of values.

Read vs 26. "richer, poorer . . . . . better worse . . . . .

Some day we may have actually paid off our bond . . . but the house will eventually crumble.
We may get that car we so badly desire - it will rust.

Are those really the things that make life good?

Well here's what this man discovered from God's Word.
"God is good to the pure in heart". But let me define goodness.
Read vs 28.
That's real value.

As this ancient Jew thought of God's deeds . . . the promise to Abraham . . . . . . . . . . thought of how God had remained faithful to that promise all throughout Israel's history.

Of course as Christians we have SO MUCH more to look back on. We look back to Jesus & His death upon the Cross.
Read Romans 5:8-9.

SUMMARY:

This Psalm is a source of great encouragement to me during times of doubt.
It reminds me that this is part of the NORMAL CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE

It tells me that I don't have to live under a pseudonym in such times.

By the way . . . CS LEWIS, like this man, never did lose faith in God. In his book A Grief Observed, there are a few pages in which Lewis speculates that God might be wicked, followed by the following line. "I wrote that last night. It was a yell rather than a thought". One of his best books, Letters to Malcolm, was written in the last few years of his life, after the death of his wife.

And so as I express my doubt I am to be looking to God's Word - for it's there and there alone that I will find wisdom.

A New Perspective of life and human destiny

On myself - who I am

On what the good life really is. The good life is to be found in relationship with God . . . . we can get no closer to God than in Jesus.