Psalm 73:1-28

It is possible for good and godly men to become discouraged, overwhelmed by doubts and even question the validity of his faith.  This will not be a permanent condition but it can certainly be a temporary one.  We may find ourselves in situations where we take our eyes off of the Lord and His Word and become distracted by the difficulties that are surrounding us.  We live in a sin cursed world in the midst of sinful people who often seem to prosper in ways the often elude those who love and follow God.  When we recognize this fact and we and start comparing the lives of the sinful with the lives of the righteous we will begin to question the validity of obedience and even the justice of God.  The solution is to look to the Lord and understand that His judgments are always right and that there is LIFE beyond this life.  When we find ourselves wondering of the rewards of obedience are worth it we need to look beyond today.

THE SINFUL SEEM TO PROSPER: It should not surprise us that sinners will prosper in a sinful world but it always seems to do just that.  In our minds we expect a sovereign and just God to judge sin immediately as long as it is the sin of others.  The reality is that we do not want justice for ourselves but we are confused when God grants mercy to others that we consider less worthy than ourselves.  We want God’s justice NOW for everyone but ourselves.  The reality is that God rarely intervenes in the affairs of this world in a supernatural way.  It is a sinful world so it should stand to reason that sinful men will do well in this world.  That does not make it easy because we see the wicked prospering and we become envious.  They seem to have more comfort and fewer problems even though they are proud, violent, foolish, dishonest and blasphemous.  When we observe this situation it seems to us that God is blind to the fact that the wicked prosper while our obedience to the Lord is useless.  We can easily take on the attitude of “if you can’t beat them; join them.”  We must beware of this thinking and know that every single one of us is vulnerable to it.

THE SAINTS SEE GOD’S POWER: We must guard our heart from this wrong thinking.  If we give into this despair and begin to talk and live in light of these observations we will bring great harm to our own lives as well as the lives of the generations that follow us.  If we think like this, our children will think like this and eventually we will become the wicked.  We may not understand why things are like this but we must learn to accept that this is the reality of the world in which we live.  The solution is to come into the presence of God and look to His character and His glory and then understand His Word and what He has promised concerning the righteous and the wicked.  When we look at the truth that God reveals to us we will be able to see that the wicked will one day come to a terrible and horrific fate.  God will bring them to justice and when we remember this it will turn our envy into embarrassment that we could ever consider that the path of rebelliousness was better than the path of righteousness.  We must fight the unbiblical thinking that plagues our minds by holding fast to the Word of God.  In our flesh we may be weak and our minds can be deceived so we must combat this by relishing the presence of God in our lives.  He is our true and everlasting refuge.