Psalms 73:1-16: a reflection

1Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped. 3For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm. 5They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men. 6Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment. 7Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit. 8They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression. 9They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth. 10Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance. 11They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” 12Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches. 13Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence, 14For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning. 15If I had said, “I will speak thus”, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. 16When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me—

Psalm 73 begins with a confession of a faith that nearly failed. Surely God is good to the upright, the psalmist says, and yet, But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. What almost tripped him? I was envious of the arrogant, he admits, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Watching the wicked prosper, untroubled and at ease while he, trying to live rightly, was afflicted, he nearly concluded: In vain have I kept my heart clean.

Notice the raw honesty of this struggle. The psalmist does not hide that his faith nearly buckled, that he came close to deciding that keeping his heart pure was pointless when the wicked seemed to have it so much better. It is a struggle many believers know and few admit: the envy of those who ignore God and seem to flourish, and the creeping doubt of whether faithfulness is even worth it. The psalm gives that struggle honest voice.

And notice where it says the resolution came, though it lay just ahead: When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me, until, the next verse says, I went into the sanctuary of God. The struggle was not resolved by more brooding, which only deepened it, but by bringing it into God's presence. If you know this struggle, envying the ease of those who ignore God, doubting whether your faithfulness is worth it, take two things from this psalm. First, you are not alone, and the struggle is not shameful; a psalm gives it voice. Second, the way through is not more brooding but bringing the whole struggle honestly into God's presence, where a truer perspective is found. Take your envy and your doubt into the sanctuary, to God himself.

Lord, the psalmist nearly slipped, envying the prosperity of the wicked and doubting whether keeping his heart clean was worth it. When I know that same struggle, envying those who ignore you yet seem to flourish, and doubting whether my faithfulness matters, thank you that a psalm gives it honest voice; I am not alone, and it is not shameful. Help me do what he did: not brood on it endlessly, but bring the whole struggle into your presence, where a truer perspective is found. I bring my envy and doubt to you.