Psalm 73 — Whom Have I in Heaven but You?

Today’s Passage: Psalm 73

This psalm begins where every honest heart begins, with a settled conviction: surely God is good to Israel. Then Asaph turns and tells the truth about how nearly he lost that conviction. His feet had almost slipped out from under him, because he had looked at the arrogant and envied them, watching the wicked stroll through their days without a care in the world. He does not dress that envy up as some hidden blessing, and neither should we. Instead he walks us toward the turn that saved him. It came the day he entered the sanctuary of God, and there, at last, he understood how their story truly ends.

As you read, hold this: Surely God is good. Until I entered the sanctuary.

Psalm 73:1-3 (BSB)

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ Surely 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 envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

He begins with that great word, surely, and then almost at once comes the but. He names his envy plainly, and he makes no attempt to bless it or to excuse it. He had seen the wicked living at ease, and something in him wanted what they had.

Psalm 73:4-12 (BSB)

⁴ They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed. ⁵ They are free of the burdens others carry; they are not afflicted like other men. ⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace; a garment of violence covers them. ⁷ From their prosperity proceeds iniquity; the imaginations of their hearts run wild. ⁸ They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. ⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongues strut across the earth. ¹⁰ So their people return to this place and drink up waters in abundance. ¹¹ The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?” ¹² Behold, these are the wicked—always carefree as they increase their wealth.

He does not soften the picture in the least. They are well-fed, wrapped in pride, dressed in violence, and bold enough to ask out loud whether God even knows what they do. Always carefree, he says, as they pile up their wealth. Remember, though, that this is the complaint, the very thing that was troubling him. It is not a proverb he means for us to live by.

Psalm 73:13-17 (BSB)

¹³ Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands. ¹⁴ For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning. ¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak this way,” then I would have betrayed Your children. ¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight ¹⁷ until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end.

There is that word surely a second time, only now it is aimed the wrong way. In vain, he says, have I kept my heart clean. He came within a breath of saying it out loud. Trying to reason his way through it on his own only left him more troubled than before.

Until I entered God’s sanctuary. Then I discerned their end. Walk slowly through that turn, and do not reduce it to a method, for the psalm hands us no tidy technique for curing envy. He simply went in to God, and the presence of God did for him what all his arguing never could.

Psalm 73:18-24 (BSB)

¹⁸ Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin. ¹⁹ How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors! ²⁰ Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form. ²¹ When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within, ²² I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You. ²³ Yet I am always with You; You hold my right hand. ²⁴ You guide me with Your counsel, and later receive me in glory.

Now surely comes a third time, and this time it rings true again. He sees the wicked standing on slick ground, sees how suddenly their ruin comes upon them. Nor does he spare his own earlier heart: he calls it senseless, a brute beast before God. And yet, he says, I am always with You. You hold my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and later receive me into glory.

Psalm 73:25-28 (BSB)

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You. ²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. ²⁷ Those far from You will surely perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. ²⁸ But as for me, it is good to draw near to God. I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may proclaim all Your works.

Notice that he does not ask for the ease he had envied. Instead he names God Himself as the portion (חֵלֶק) cheleq, pronounced KHEH-lek. Strong's H2506, a portion, share, allotted inheritance. It is the share a person actually receives, the very word used when the promised land was divided up among the tribes. that will still be his when everything else has failed.

Surely God is good. Until I entered the sanctuary.