{"id":554,"date":"2012-03-14T21:06:16","date_gmt":"2012-03-15T04:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/OTS\/?p=554"},"modified":"2014-04-02T05:21:50","modified_gmt":"2014-04-02T12:21:50","slug":"psalm-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/2012\/03\/14\/psalm-73\/","title":{"rendered":"Psalm 73"},"content":{"rendered":"

Psalm 73<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

A psalm written by Asaph<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>. This Psalm is quite like <\/span>Psalm 37<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Psalm 49<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> (see comments on <\/span>Psalm 49<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The psalm is written as a teaching poem. It begins with temptation (1-3), description of the wicked (4-14), the wicked will perish (15-20), uncertainty (21-24), victory (25-26), destruction of the wicked (27), and trust in God (28).<\/p>\n

Verses 1-3-Asaph recognizes that God is good both in the opening and closing verses. He begins and ends with the goodness of God. However, in-between he reminds us of ourselves. We are tempted\u00a0to be envious of those who have more than us. We see the grass as always greener in someone else\u2019s house. We covet, envy, and forget that God is indeed\u00a0good. When we see a desire or a felt need not being met, it is quite easy to forget all the blessings we have due to the focus on the one thing that is missing. Most cases of adultery begin this way.<\/p>\n

Verses 4-14-Although Asaph sees the wicked, he is still envious of them. He sees their life of ease and his harsh life and seeks their existence (cf. Malachi 3.13-15<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>). Verses 11-12 show the perversity of their minds. They presume they can hide their sin from God, if there is such a being.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These verses depict not merely the corrupt but those who laud them as celebrity. The people praise the very ones who cause them grief. This is the United States today.<\/p>\n

Verses 15-20-Asaph regains focus, not on what he does not have but on who has him. When we are perplexed\u00a0over the issues of life and its seeming injustice, we need to spend time in God\u2019s presence in order to regain an understanding of who He is and who we are in Him.<\/p>\n

The wealthy and those who are at ease in this life are living on a slippery slope leading to destruction. The condition of\u00a0the United States in this era (post 2008) is evidence of this truth. In a moment of\u00a0time the nation went from apparent wealth and ease to devastation and poverty.<\/p>\n

Verses 21-28-When we are embittered by the\u00a0successes of those around us, we need to be reminded of who God is in this world. As we draw near to Him, we gain a better perspective on this life.\u00a0 James 4.8<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> promises that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Tomlin\u2019s song “I Will Rise<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>” is good to listen to (it contains verse 26). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wealthy and those who are at ease in this life are living on a slippery slope leading to destruction. The condition of the United States in this era (post 2008) is evidence of this truth. In a moment of time the nation went from apparent wealth and ease to devastation and poverty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,114],"tags":[179,104,178,32,26,19,40,175],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-daily-studies","category-psalms","tag-asaph","tag-james","tag-malachi","tag-promises","tag-remember","tag-syncretism","tag-united-states","tag-wealth","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1792,"href":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions\/1792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teach4god.com\/OTS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}