THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
Psalm 73:1-28
Mark 10:24-25

Count your blessings.

THE WICKED PROSPERS, BUT HOW LONG?

Curiously enough this seventy-third Psalm corresponds with the thirty-seventh in subject matter. It will help our memory to notice the reversed figures, inasmuch as what is given in Psalm 37 is restated from a different angle. The theme is: the prosperity of the wicked and the sorrow of the godly. This is one stumbling block which Job’s friends could not get over.

The Psalmist declares at the outset how God stands with Israel, with those whose hearts are clean. “My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure.” This may truly be said of King David.

But the Psalmist here confesses his succumbing to the envy of the foolish and the wicked (Ps 73:3). His steps, spiritually speaking, have “well nigh slipped.” Be that as it may, his description of the outward prosperity and behaviour of the wicked is vividly true (Ps 73:4-12). In their protruded eyes, swelled by power and pride, they see not God (Ps 73:11) nor men (Ps 73:8).

The Psalmist speaks of his dilemma from verses 13 to 16 as he looks at the prosperity of the wicked by his own judgment. Surely he is perplexed, and so are we when we try to judge others in our own wisdom.

In verse 17 he sees things in a different light when he enters the Temple to worship. When we come to Church and listen to God’s Word expounded to us, we see ourselves measured against God and not alongside our adversaries. We can adopt a “holier than thou” attitude without God, but under His shining light, we become totally undone.

In the eternity of God, man is transient like a dream. All of a sudden we see the wicked as thrown off a slippery road. Sudden destruction comes upon them. In the light of God’s righteous judgment upon the wicked the Psalmist realises his stupidity like a brute beast (Job 18:3). So, do we fret ourselves because of evildoers (Ps 37:1)? No!

THOUGHT: “… the ungodly … prosper in the world …” (Ps 73:12)
PRAYER: (Use Psalm 73:25.)