Questions. Life is full of questions. Some are small and inconsequential. But others have the potential to really shake our faith. I’m finding as I grow in the truth as a believer, that it’s not the questions of life that have the power to derail me…it’s what I do with them.
This morning I awoke much earlier than usual. I felt God stirring me to get up and I knew I needed to just get alone before the Lord. My mind seems to always be poring over questions. Some bigger. Some smaller.
I read and prayed. I spent some time journaling, trying to sort out what I had been pondering over the past couple of days. And before long, I found myself in Psalm 73. God had turned my attention to some wonderful words of encouragement and the reminder I needed for today.
Psalm 73 is the first Psalm of Asaph. He was a temple musician who ministered daily in the temple.
In this passage, Asaph is considering how it appeared that the wicked prospered in their indulgence and excess. He was troubled and perplexed at the seeming lack of response by God. He mentions that because they do not struggle in need of any kind, they wear pride as a necklace. They mock God and elevate themselves to a place reserved for Him alone. Asaph wonders if God will judge their wickedness because even in death, they seem to escape suffering.
What’s neat about Psalm 73 is that it actually begins with Asaph’s conclusion of the whole matter. The answer to his question. Kind of like reading the last page of the book first. Here’s what he comes to…
Verse 1 ~ Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
God is good…to those who are pure in heart. That’s the conclusion.
So how do you or I, in the face of looming questions, get to the understanding that God is good.
In verse 2 he confesses his struggle with doubt and questions about God and His character – how He could let the wicked go unpunished.
Verse 2 ~ But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.
I do that. I see things at face value and watch what seems to be unfair and I wonder why God would allow it? I wonder if God sees or cares.
- Maybe you need direction in your life.
- Maybe you’re in a time of waiting.
- Maybe you have fallen on tough times and feel as though others, undeserving, continue to catch break after break.
- Maybe you have been stricken with sadness or illness or financial woes.
- Maybe you do what Asaph did…
Because he didn’t understand God’s ways, he was left to rely on his own understanding and reasoning.
When I face things on the basis of reason and intellect I often find my heart saying, “that’s just not right.”
I slip. I stumble. I doubt God.
Asaph, proves here he’s just like us. He struggles like we do to come to understanding as Christ followers, when it seems like evil is getting a leg up.
What he does next is what struck me. It’s the verse that spurred me to write this whole blog post. So simple and such a wonderful reminder for me today. Here it is. Don’t miss it.
Verses 16-17 say,
“But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,
UNTIL I went into the sanctuary of God; THEN I discerned…” (emphasis mine)
I like that the verse says, then I discerned (then I understood). Noticed it doesn’t say, “then my specific question was answered”. What is implied here is a much deeper answer. Sometimes our questions are too small. Sometimes they are just the wrong questions. But God still answers with the right answer.
When he entered God’s presence, he became convicted that the conclusions that reason and intellect had driven him to were sinful and grossly misdirected. He confessed this before the Lord.
He says in verses 21-22:
When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.
After confessing to God his struggle, he begins to understand the truth…
vs 23-26, Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
God helps Asaph to understand that He is in control. That He will guide him. He will hold his hand. He will be his strength and portion. FOREVER.
Time in the sanctuary, sets his soul aright.
Guess what friend?
Whatever your question, your burden, your struggle…
God is waiting
To guide you
To hold your hand
To be your strength and portion
FOREVER
Do you struggle with question, fears, doubts?
Go to Him in His sanctuary.
Let Him quiet your heart and set your soul aright.
What’s the outcome?
Asaph says it best at the end of Psalm 73 – the last verse in the chapter…
v 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 morning, instead of mulling over questions without easy answers, I met the Lord in His sanctuary and laid my questions at his feet. And “I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all His works!”
