Vs. 1 opens with a statement of truth, “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” However vs. 2- 14 show how Asaph is tempted to doubt this truth.
He looks around and sees a world full of evil people who are violent, arrogant, slanderous towards God and taking advantage of the poor, and yet these same people are rich, fat, happy, and continue in this state all the way to a peaceful death. By contrast, as Asaph has sought to act rightly and to be faithful to God, and he feels that each day he is stricken and rebuked by God. It is almost as if God is blessing the wicked and punishing the righteous.
This is Asaph’s initial conclusion in his heart, and it is this thought that he recognizes as sinful in vs. 2-3. The source of this thinking was envy. Asaph wanted the comfort and ease that the wicked seemed to have. It didn’t seem fair to him that he suffered while the wicked became rich and satisfied. He began to wonder, if there was any point to following God, if this was to be the result.
Vs. 15-24 is where Asaph repents of this line of thinking and comes to his senses. The turning point for him was when he came into the sanctuary of God. As he enters the temple he suddenly realizes the completely folly of this way of thinking. He sees that it is his own sinful attitudes that have guided his thoughts, and that he has a distorted view of reality.
What’s worse is that Asaph was one of Israel’s spiritual leaders, essentially the worship leader of the temple. His thoughts and opinions would have a tremendous impact on the thinking of the rest of Israel. His sinful thoughts could have led the rest of Israel astray, and thus Asaph confesses in vs. 15 that if he had spoken what was in his heart, he would have betrayed God’s children.
But on entering the temple, he begins to see clearly. In the temple he would have been surrounded by reminders of God’s holiness and power. He would have been reminded of God’s goodness towards His people in the past, and of the sinfulness of man, and God’s mercy to forgive. He would have heard God’s praises being sung, and indeed would have sung them himself. Through this experience he is jolted back to a right view of reality.
The truth is that the wicked will ultimately be judged for their sins. Even if they appear to slip away from this life peacefully, having never suffered a day in their lives, they will not escape God’s judgement. God will rise up suddenly to overthrow them. This seems to be a reference to judgement in eternity. Judging a person’s situation purely based upon what transpires in their earthly life doesn’t tell the entire picture. In fact it often completely distorts the real picture. This truth is something that God’s people in the Old Testament understood, but Christ would unpack it more clearly in his teaching as he often dealt with this same topic.
Likewise the reverse is true for the Godly, even if they suffer every day of their earthly lives, God will be with them in the midst of their suffering, guide them by the hand through it, and in the end receive them to glory. Judging from a human perspective, a life of sin and selfishness may seem to be the most fulfilling and rewarding, while a life of righteousness and sacrifice might seem to be pointless. But when the spiritual reality is taken into consideration, we see that the opposite is true. One is an easy path that leads to utter ruin, and the other is a difficult path that leads to eternal glory.
Finally we see in vs. 25-28, Asaph comes to the fullest realization of his foolish line of thinking and the truth. His life of following God and striving for righteousness is actually a joyous pursuit. His envy had poisoned the joy that he actually already had in serving God. Being near to God is the most precious and joyous life imaginable, it is a gift that makes the difficulties and trials of this world not only bearable but trivial by comparison. The path of wickedness is full of a kind of empty joy along with ease. The path of righteousness is filled with a true, deep, all satisfying joy in God, along with trials and difficulties that ultimately only serve to bring us closer to God, the source of all goodness and life.
Applications
- Often it is sin in our own hearts that leads us to doubt God’s truth. If I feel that God is acting unjustly to me, I need to immediately begin searching myself to see where that attitude is coming from.
- It is essential to come into God’s presence to be reminded of his truth. If I am left to myself, to my own thoughts, it is easy for them to be led by fear, doubt, envy, lust, all sorts of sinful desires. Continually coming into God’s presence, and into the congregation of His people, and into places that turn our eyes towards his Glory is essential to maintaining faith in God.
- I need to be extremely careful about voicing thoughts and emotions that call God’s goodness and justice into question. To deny God’s grace in my own heart is a great sin. But to deny it to others and to lead them to doubt God’s goodness and encourage them towards sin is even worse. Such doubts should be dealt with in humility, through prayer, study, confession and the seeking of encouragement and counsel from other believers, rather than simply unloading all my frustrations and doubts publicly.
- Envy is deadly, and I should be constantly on guard against it.