Healing Psalms: Doubt

Psalms 73

 

1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.

5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.

6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.

7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.

8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.

9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.

10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.

11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.

14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.

15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,

17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.

19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!

20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourrself, you despise them as phantoms.

21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,

22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.

24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

 

“This life is not fair!” Have you heard that sentence before? I believe that all of you have heard that statement; either someone said it to you, or you may be the one saying that. When we turn on the news, we see some innocent kid getting killed in the war. Or, in our family, we see our closest one die of cancer while some people who smoke all the time seem to have a longer life.

Have you ever wanted something and then only to find out that another person you do not like has gotten what you want? Or your non-Christian friend has gotten what you longing for.

Or your life seems very miserable and full of suffering but our non-christian friends continue to succeed. Or, your close friend suffered from depression, loneliness, and financial problems yet your non-christian has none of that. Your work colleague who dishonest received a promotion while you are stuck in your job. We want, but we do not have. We feel like we deserve it, but it goes to someone far less deserving. This life is not fair! This is what we will learn today from this Psalm.

This psalm was not written by David. This Psalm was written by Asaph; a worship leader under King David. I love this Psalm because this Psalm is very personal and full of honesty and somehow you can relate to the problem Asaph was experiencing in this Psalm. The writer was truly showing his raw emotion and feeling. He showed his struggles with the things he saw which perhaps most of us have been there too. Let’s just start. I will divide this sermon into 3 parts

  1. The Dilemma (Ps 73: 1-12)

A few months ago, I was confronted with my jealousy over my friend’s achievement. As I scrolled down my social media, I could see how my friend was prospering in his job and getting new property. He is not Christian. As I found out, jealousy and angry thoughts bubbled up in my mind. My feeling is getting worse as I keep thinking about that. That’s basically what happened to Asaph in this Psalms. Let’s have a look together.

 

1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.

5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.

6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.

7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.

8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.

9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.

10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.

11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

 

In verse 3, it clearly shows that the psalmist is struggling to understand how those wicked people got all the prosperity. In verse 4, he said that they are no pain and well fed. They are so prideful. They speak against God and mock God. But, in verse 12, they are getting richer. I believe we can relate to this statement. In the top list of the richest people in the world, you will hardly find Christians in that list. Meanwhile, what we hear about Christianity is persecution in Ukraine or Afghanistan. It seems Christians have a harder life than non-christian. The one who openly mocks God and is prideful has more money in their bank and has fewer problems.

 

The writer feels anger, jealousy, and despair. He wanted what they had. I believe most of us have also experienced and felt what he feels. Scrolling our Instagram and seeing that they are having a good life. We say – “how come they don’t have any problem”, “wow, their marriage is so perfect! They never fight.” “I have been waiting for this for a long time and they just get it in the blink of an eye”. If God is good, should we receive more good things?

 

He feels his effort to stay in godliness and righteous ways are in vain. All these feelings will lead to this – “is it worth it to follow Christ?”

 

There may be some of you today who are at a crossroads and asking the question of whether it is worth it to follow Christ or not. There are a lot of doubts.  You are in the process of waiting for a long time. You are struggling. You are hurting. Then you asked – is following Christ worth all the pain, the struggles or even the persecution?

 

Some of you teenagers are wondering if following Christ is worth it. We are jealous of those who live free without any boundaries. They can do whatever they want. From your eyes, it seems their life without God is just fine or even better than us. And you are ready to turn your back on Jesus and run away.

 

If you are at that crossroads; you are not alone. The psalmist felt the same thing. I have also felt Asaph’s feelings. Do not think that as christian, we have to hide our true feelings and only show a positive attitude. In these Psalms , we learned how Asaph came to God and he was brutally honest about his feelings. Let me tell you, all of you will experience all these feelings. But what you will do in the midst of your doubt is critical. This is what we normally do like Asaph in verse 16 – 16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,

So he tried to figure it out with his brain power but it was too painful for him. He was overwhelmed because he couldn’t figure it out on his own. Or in our daily life, it means that “I will not sleep tonight” or “ it is another round of horrible sleepless nights “. I know that feeling. It is not nice. Some of you may be experiencing this now.

That’s our tendency when we face doubt, anxiety or worry, we rely on our strength. But there is another way. It leads me to the next point.

  1. The Turning Point

16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,

17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

 

Ps David Platt said that there are three things which normally cause doubt; First one is a difficult situation. Second one is an unmet expectation. That’s really what happened with Asaph here. He might be experiencing hardship, emotional struggles, and envy. Then, he saw those wicked people were thriving. He was thinking and expecting that God’s people should be flourishing rather than those wicked people. First is a difficult situation and second is an unmet expectation. Last one that causes doubt in our life is limited perception. Therefore, this is normally the sequence. It started with “this life is so hard.” Then continue with “I should have this” and we finish with the doubt – “God, are you real? Is God good? Where are you, God? I don’t understand”

 

Let’s learn from Asaph. Notice the change of the psalmist’s focus. The same psalmist who questions God has made a 180 degree turn. What happened? In verse 17, he tells us. He went to God’s sanctuary. When the Psalmist tells of entering into the sanctuary, he means that he is being in the presence of God. He actually went to the temple of God. In verse 17, Asaph basically said that “till I entered His presence, then I understood the whole picture”. Before this, he tried to make sense of everything using his own understanding. If we try to make sense of our situation or compare it to others’, let me tell you that we will always find someone who appears to have a simpler life, a better job, a healthier body, or whatever it is that we want for but cannot have. Again, we have to remember that our perspective is limited. We learned a few weeks ago from Ps Yosia that our story is not God’s story.

 

The question now is how you do that. How do we enter God’s sanctuary today when we face doubt, anxiety, and worry? Asaph went to the House of the Lord. He did not just go there and do nothing there, but he worshipped God and came to the Word of God. It did change everything in his life. Why do we need to come to His Word amidst our doubt? Because at the time of difficult situations and doubt, we most likely forget who we truly are, and we forget who God is. Only in His Word we can find the truth. Let me remind you church, without foundation in His Word, your fight against your doubt will be useless. You will be like standing in sinking sand. But it does not mean that your life miraculously becomes easy. It does not mean your problem is miraculously gone.

 

When Asaph comes to His presence, the wicked are still rich and prosper. God’s people are still suffering. But there is one thing that changed in Asaph which is His perspective. When he comes to His presence, his focus is shifted from the present to eternity. This is the key why Asaph can say that ‘the end of wickedness is destruction’. It is only when he comes to His presence then he can be reminded who God is. It is only when he comes to His presence we can be reminded where our destiny is.  Like Asaph, we also need to stop trying to understand with our own understanding. We need to see from heaven’s perspective.

 

As we pray, read the Bible or worship, we are reminded of who we are. We get reminded that no suffering in this life is comparable to eternity without Jesus. Then we realise how foolish to envy those people who have all earthly stuff but will be eternally lost.

Church, we have to remember during the season of doubt, there will be many spiritual attacks and what makes it worse is we are prone to fall into that. It started with one question, and it became two and so on.

In this situation, Asaph did not rely on his own strength. Asaph also did not let his doubt keep playing in his mind and did not do anything. He did not wait until his problem got better and then he came to God. Remember at this point, Asaph is amid spiritual anguish, but he still chooses to go to God’s sanctuary.

Many of us choose to run away from God, we avoid church, and we ignore praying. We do not want to read the Bible. We are too busy whining to God about how unfair life is. We are too busy questioning God’s goodness. Come to Him.

 

  1. The Results

In the last month, two big events happened in this world. The first one is Cristiano Ronaldo signed the most expensive contract signed by a football player. Do you know he gets paid 6 million per week? Or in a simple calculation, he gets paid $597 per minute. It means that when you go to the toilet now, let’s say you spend 4 minutes. It means that when you get out of the toilet, you are $2000 richer. You can get a new PlayStation or new iPhone 14. I think a lot of people start imagining what they can buy with that money. Or they will see how their life will be much better with that money. I will have no issue buying a new property for my family. I would just pick whatever car I want. I don’t need to wait until its price goes down. Many people want to be like him.

 

The second big event happens inside the RSI family. Most people know him. It is our brother, Josh who got baptized on Christmas day. It is such good news for us. But many of us may not think our salvation is such big news compared to the first one. We do not say it out loud, but we may say in our heart that we prefer to be like the first one rather than the second one. But do you know that God also offers to prosper us beyond explanation, but it may not come at this time now (present time). To understand this, our perspective needs to completely be transformed from “live the best life now” to eternal perspective. That’s what happened to Asaph.

 

After Asaph experienced a personal encounter with God in His sanctuary, his perspective was transformed to eternal perspective, and it changed his action and his attitude. Let’s have a look what attitude did he show after the personal encounter with God?

 

Firstly, it changed his understanding of what is good in this life. Let us have a look verse 18-20.

18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! 20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

Before his encounter with God, he tried to look at circumstances with his own perspective. Asaph saw these wicked people seem to get whatever they want, wealth, easy lifestyle, social position. After his personal encounter with God, this wrong perception was reoriented. At the beginning, there was a lot of doubt in him about God. But look at verse 18, he can say “truly” those people you set them in a slippery place. He is so confident even though they have all those worldly things, but those things are useless in eternal perspective.  His judgement of what is good has completely changed. Asaph wrestled with the goodness of God. Now he found true goodness. Look at verse 28. 28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. In this Psalm, there is no indication that his life was getting better. What has changed is not Asaph’s condition but his understanding of God’s goodness. Now he truly understands what is good. Previously, his understanding of goodness is all those worldly things, all the gifts and pleasures of life. Now, he truly understands what is good, which is to be near with God.

Secondly, his encounter with God not only makes him understand the destination for the wicked but also he understand the sinfulness of himself. Verse 21-22 : 21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, 22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Before I understood the Gospel, I thought I was quite a good person and really did not do some silly things. I did not have many bad habits. As I continue walking and understand the true Gospel, I see more and more how sinful I am. That’s what happened in our Christian life. Before we have personal encounter with God, we have limited understanding of our sinfulness and, also, who God is. Then, we encountered God, we realised how sinful we are and also, we realised God’s holiness. We realise that I need Jesus to die for my sins to bridge this gap between God’s holiness and our sinfulness. But this is not the end of our journey. As we daily abide in the Gospel, there must be growing awareness of God’s holiness and awareness of our sinfulness.  As we realised this, our capacity to receive grace also increased.

Thirdly, his encounter with God gives him confidence in God’s perfect love upon him. In verse 23-24, 23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Asaph decided to continually walk with God. That should be the fruit of our conversion. But one important thing that we cannot miss in this verse, the reason for his decision is God’s initiative to pursue Asaph. “You hold my right hands” “you guide me with your counsel”. In another words, he said that “I will continually walk with you. I will continually trust in you even if my life is full of problem, full of sufferings because I know, I truly know you hold my hand. You will guide me in your truth.” God initiates to pursue and meet Asaph in his doubt.

 

So often in our life, when the problems hit us hard, we often feel that God leaves us alone. We often feel that God does not care about us. We can learn from this Psalm that God wants us to trust him because He is working behind the scenes.

 

The question for us now is what we can learn from Asaph to fight our doubt. How can we have that level of confidence like him who said that “I will not be afraid when facing doubt because I know you hold my hands”? To have someone holds your hands, you need to have good relationship with that person. However, we were sinners. Because of the curse of the sin, our relationship with God is broken and we have limited access to God. We can only have that confidence if we realised what happened at the Cross. Jesus died for us. At Cross, Jesus restores our relationship with God so that we can have confidence that God is with us, and God is for us. Thus, whenever we have doubt, we can look at the cross and find the confidence that God is with us, and God is for us. At the Cross, God who never separated with Jesus has to let go His hands and separated so that today we can have confidence that “God holds our hands”.

 

I will close with quick application. One main reason we doubt is because we forgot who we are. We never come to His presence, and we forgot that we have God who always with us and in us. Why do we never come to His presence in prayer or reading Bible? Because we never put those as our priority. Our priority is working, business or spending time with our screen. We put God as last in our list. I hope we realise that we are living in very demanding world. Our work is demanding. Parenting is demanding. Business is demanding. If we do not intentionally, like Asaph, enter God’s sanctuary, Satan will try to get us to doubt God’s goodness. Even our mobile phone is also demanding. I think you all now realised that in our social media, there is algorithm that calculate your interest so that what appear on your screen is attracting your interest. Your mobile phone is craving for your attention. We have to intentionally come to Him, abide in His Word and let the truth remind you again and again that in Christ, God is with us. Let’s pray.

 

 

Discussion questions:

 

  1. What struck you the most from this sermon?
  2. Have you ever experienced a “Life is not fair” moment? What happened?
  3. What does it mean to come into God’s sanctuary and why is it important? Give some examples in our context today.
  4. Look at the three results of coming into God’s sanctuary. Which one do you need to be reminded of the most and why?
  5. How does the gospel empower us in our battle with doubt?
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