In the sermon titled 'What to Think When the Wicked Prosper,' Jason Dohm explores Psalm 73, focusing on Asaph's struggle with the apparent prosperity of the wicked. Asaph is initially envious and disturbed by the ease and success of the ungodly, which challenges his faith. He uses a 'North Star' principle, affirming that God is inherently good to His people, to navigate his spiritual disorientation. The turning point for Asaph occurs in the sanctuary of God, where he gains a broader, eternal perspective, recognizing that the prosperity of the wicked is temporary and their end is destruction. The sermon emphasizes the importance of not envying the wicked, understanding life as a transient vapor, and trusting in God's ultimate justice and goodness. It contrasts the temporal ease of the wicked with the eternal blessings reserved for those who draw near to God, using the parable of the rich man and Lazarus to underscore the eternal consequences of earthly choices.

Good morning. Will you please stand as we read together or I'm gonna read you're gonna listen. Psalm 73 is the scripture verse for today and as we read it as you listen to it I really want you to challenge us to be thinking this is more than just a pick-me-up psalm. When I'm feeling blue and the world's winning and I'm losing, I need a pick-me-up. This is much more than that.

And to tie it in beautifully to Deuteronomy 7, this is a this is a way to know God, to know who God is and why we should be here praising Him. And one of the beautiful qualities here, and I'm gonna steal from James, is the fact that God is long suffering, that God is long suffering with the wicked, that he doesn't just wipe him out right away because that was you and that was me. And praise the Lord that this is that God. So listen as I read Psalm 73. A Psalm of Asaph.

Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, but their strength is firm.

They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride serves as their necklace. Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance. They have more than their heart could wish.

They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say, How does God know?

And is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease. They increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and chastined every morning.

If I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me. Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end. Surely you set them in slippery places, you cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation as in a moment.

They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when you awake, you shall despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant. I was like a beast before you.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold me by my right hand and will guide me with your counsel and afterwards receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none upon the earth that I desire but you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For indeed those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who desert you for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all your works. Declare all your works.

Father, what can we say after this? God, you have pegged both us for the struggle that we have with trusting you and exalting your character, being a God of faithfulness and righteousness and long-suffering. Oh God, magnify your character through the preaching of your word today. God blow us away with how beautiful you are. May it impact our worship, our lives.

How can we be the same after this? God, please help us today. In Jesus' name, amen. So we're getting wild today. We're singing some of our songs after the sermon instead of before the sermon.

Take that, Charismatics. Take that, Charismatics. This is wild for Reformed Baptists. In seriousness, unbroken repetition can make a thing seem sacred. So in this small way, we want to break just part of the repetition to communicate that it doesn't make us better to sing at one point in the service verses another.

We're convinced that the things that we do during the service fit the New Testament pattern and are commanded by God for His worship. But unbroken repetition is how tradition sort of takes hold as an untouchable thing. And We only want things to be untouchable that have grounding in the Word of God. It's a small attempt to do that. The title of the sermon this morning is Psalm 73, What to think when the wicked prosper.

Ever seen the wicked prosper? You have? Well what should you think about that? This is what our psalmist Asaph is wrestling with through these 28 verses. We wanted to preach through a psalm of praise.

That's why we're in Psalm 146. Last week, where the psalmist told us not to trust in man. Not even a prince. Not even a man who has all the resources that you don't have and wish you had and think it might be the solution to your problems or all the power and influence that you don't have but wish you had and think it might be the solution to your problems. So Salma says it's not the solution to your problems.

The people who are happy are the people who have God as their help. The people who trust in the God who opens the eyes of the blind and gives freedom. So he's worthy of praise. We should praise him. And we don't always feel like praising him.

And so we should instruct our souls to praise him. So that's a brief synopsis of our Psalm of praise, Psalm 146. We also wanted to preach through a Psalm of instruction, which is why we're in Psalm 73 this morning. Sometimes circumstances give us tunnel vision. They cause us to lose our peripheral vision.

Because of circumstances, we only see this one microscopic thing. We need to be able to back out and see the big picture. This is what has happened to the psalmist Asaph. Circumstances in life, what he can see with his own two eyes, have made him think wrongly. So God helps him to step back and see the big picture and really see that all the things he was disturbed about all things are well he has all things in hand and so we hopefully will be helped by that too.

This is a psalm of Asaph. Listen to 2nd Chronicles 29 verse 30. 2nd Chronicles 29 verse 30 is a section about the reforms of King Hezekiah. The really wonderful reforms undertaken among a backslidden people who are being revived. And we read this in 2 Chronicles 29 verse 30.

Moreover, King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped. One of the things that was recovered during the reign of Hezekiah was the singing of the Psalms of David and of Asaph the Seer, or Asaph the Prophet. He really is a prophet. We know that because scripture came through him.

Inspired scripture came through him. He wrote Psalm 50 and Psalm 73 through Psalm 83. So these 12 Psalms are written by him. And they had fallen out of use during the reign of King Hezekiah. Hezekiah brought them back into song among the Lord's people.

Praise the Lord for that. So we come to our text. Let's ask the Lord to help us. God, I thank you for David, the warrior king, musician, shepherd, and Asaph, the Levite, who was a chief musician who wrote these inspired Psalms and the other Psalmists and the great deposit they've given us such breath their praise and instruction and laments Thank you for Psalm 73, and I pray that you would use it to invigorate us today. Encourage us, help us to see things rightly, break us out of tunnel vision if we're suffering from the malady that Asaph was suffering from.

Thank you and please use it today in Jesus' name. Amen. We are going to subdivide. I'm going to break these 28 verses into four subdivisions. The first being verses 1-3 where Asaph lays the groundwork.

So Asaph is really going to build a framework to hang everything on in the rest of the psalm. So follow along as I reread verses one through three. Psalm 73, a psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. And as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." So now we have the groundwork for the psalm.

We do have a framework to hang the rest of the psalm on. Verse 1, Asaph begins with a truth statement, which he wants to serve as the framework for anything else that he has to make sense of. So verse 1 is his North Star. The North Star, before more advanced instrumentation, all mariners would be navigating by the North Star. Even if there were no landmarks, you could look in the sky and the North Star was a fixed point that you could navigate by.

So verse one is really the North Star for Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart." Paul said, not all Israel is Israel, meaning Israel are the professing people of God, but within those professing people of God there are actually people who have real saving faith. And that is the true Israel. So you have the picture which is the nation of Israel which comes from a family. Then you have the reality that the picture represents which are people who really believe in God, love God, follow God.

So he makes it clear in verse 1 that God is good to Israel, not just genealogical national Israel, which is just the picture, but to the real Israel, the people whose hearts have been purified to such as are pure in heart." And so that is the North Star for Asaph. He's going to, when he gets disoriented by what he sees around him in life, He's going to use that as the fixed point to stop him from drawing wrong conclusions from what he's seeing and to be able to reconcile them. He's going to insist that the things that he's observing reconcile with that. The conclusions that I draw from circumstances can't be right conclusions until it's reconciled with the fact that God is good to his people. Unfailingly, unflinchingly, unchangeably good to his people.

Brothers and sisters, we need a North Star like that. Because we're going to encounter things, witness things in life that disorient us. We can't make sense of it. We need a few truths like this that we say, I'm not accepting any even of my own conclusions until it fits with God loves his people. God is unchangeably good to his people.

We need this. Charles Spurgeon says this, Oh my God, however perplexed I may be, let me never think ill of thee. If I cannot understand thee, let me never cease to believe in thee." This is exactly, this is coming from Psalm 73 and what Asaph is doing. He can't understand God and his lack of response to the wicked or maybe even what he's considering to be the wrong response to the wicked. He can't make sense of that, but He's going to step back and withhold judgment and let God instruct him.

Praise God for that. Then Asaph gives us the problem statement, verse 2. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. He almost lost his way, almost stumbled, nearly slipped. Why is that?

Verse 3, for I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." I'm watching wicked people and they're prospering instead of being judged for the wickedness and they're boastful, they're full of pride, and I would trade places with them if I could. I envied them. Asaph envied them. So this brings us to the next subsection which is verses 4 through 14 where Asaph describes what he often sees with his own two eyes. So he's describing things that he often sees.

Not necessarily an exception, but this is something that he often sees. He describes it for us. Let me follow along as I reread 4-14. He's just talked about the wicked and then he says, "'For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men.

Therefore, pride serves as their necklace. Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance. They have more than their heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression.

They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say, How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?

Behold these are the ungodly who are always at ease. They increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning." So he's bringing forth facts. It's things that his own two eyes have often seen.

There's really no denying the facts. Sometimes the strength of the wicked remains firm to the very end of their life and they die in peace. Asaph was looking for some overthrow of their prosperity, at least at the very end. If their strength didn't fail, at least it might fail them at the very end. If they had no pangs of conscience in life, at least on their deathbed, let them realize that all is not well.

You would think that God would make a distinction at least at the very end, but no, he's seen with his own two eyes again and again that their strength lasts to the last day of their life and then they die a peaceful death. Often the wicked persist in pride and violence, but still enjoy strength through their last day and die with No pangs, no crisis of conscience. They die convinced that all is well. Meanwhile, in their lifetime, throughout their lifetime, they seem to have enjoyed unusual abundance, unusual abundance and unusual ease and unusual absence of difficulty. We might call it a charmed life.

There's relative level of abundance, but here's a wicked man. I see him with my own two eyes. I've even observed him for years, and he has unusual prosperity. He has unusual ease. There's none of this friction that I'm experiencing.

An unusual absence of difficulty. Even inexplicable prosperity and ease and lack of difficulty. In other words, if there's a God in heaven, how do you explain this? It is inexplicable. Look at verse 5.

They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. There seems to be sort of a normal level of trouble, of problems that plague you at various points in your life and it just seems like these trouble and problems are absent in their life. And then he says in verse 14, all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning. Both the wicked and Asaph have observed these things and have drawn conclusions. The wicked have concluded that either God doesn't know or he doesn't care.

Verse 11, and they say, the wicked say, how does God know? And is there knowledge in the most high? They've been wicked, they've been full of pride, full of violence. Nothing. Continued prosperity, continued ease, continued lack of difficulty, friction, And they've concluded either God doesn't care or he doesn't know.

Meanwhile, Asaph has concluded that the hardships that come from loving God and therefore obeying Him have been in vain." Verse 13, Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. In vain. So, the actions of my hands, I've been careful to be innocent in the things that I was doing, undertaking with my hands. And I wasn't just a hypocrite attending to the externals. I cleansed my heart.

I was careful over my motives and my thoughts to trust in God, to follow God out of love for God. And still the wicked have all the advantages. They have the prosperity that I don't have. The ease that I don't have. The lack of difficulties that I don't have.

I'm chastened every morning. In a sense, Asaph is agreeing with the wicked man. It seems to Asaph like God doesn't know or doesn't care. Where is the law of sowing and reaping? If the wicked prosper and are at ease and don't struggle with the normal amount of life's difficulties, When Asaph, who's clear, who's taking pains to cleanse his heart and wash his hands in innocence, is plagued and chastened every morning.

How is that sowing and reaping? That's like sowing thorns and reaping fruit. Or sowing fruit and reaping thorns. Verses 15 through 17. This section is really sort of the critical section.

Asaph keeps his mouth shut, goes to the sanctuary, and receives instruction. That's a pretty good progression. Keep your mouth shut, go to the sanctuary, receive instruction. Verses 15 through 17. Follow along as I reread it.

If I had said, I will speak thus, behold I would have been untrue to the generation of your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their end. First, Asaph has no wisdom to shut his mouth until he can reconcile his north star with what he has seen with his own two eyes. Remember, verse 1 is the north star.

God is good to Israel to such as are pure and hard. So I'm navigating by that, but my eyes see the wicked prosper. My eyes seem to observe the wicked sowing thorns and harvesting fruit. And I feel like I'm sowing fruit seeds and reaping thorns. But I will not accept that conclusion because I cannot reconcile it with the truth that God is unchangeably good to his people.

So he closes his mouth and goes to the sanctuary. He has the wisdom to keep quiet until he can reconcile his North Star with what he has seen with his own two eyes. Here's what Charles Spurgeon says, From such a man as the psalmist, so think about this, this is a chief musician during the time of King David leading the praises. So that's the man who's writing this Psalm. From such a man as the psalmist, the utterance which his discontent suggested would have been a heavy blow and a deep discouragement to the whole brotherhood.

It was well, for in his case, second thoughts were by far the best. In other words, Spurgeon is saying it is well that he kept his mouth closed because his second thoughts were way better than his first. He didn't blurt out his first thoughts, but he waited and was wise to wait. I should scandalize them, grieve them, and perhaps cause them to offend. We have to look at the consequences of our speech to all others and especially to the Church of God.

Now listen to this. Rash, undigested, ill-considered speech is responsible for much of the heart-burning and trouble in the churches. I want to just re-read that. Rash, undigested, ill-considered speech is responsible for much of the heart burning and trouble in the churches. Where we have any suspicion of being wrong, it is better to be silent.

And Asaph had the discipline, the self-discipline to remain silent, silent while he was working to reconcile the North Star that he was committed to navigating by with the things that he was witnessing with his own two eyes. Again, verses 16 and 17. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me. Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end. This is the hinge point of the Psalm.

This is where the Psalm turns. It's really a depressing psalm up to this point. But it's turning. God is turning it to good in these two verses. The end.

Then I understood Their end. Death is not the end. They might enjoy strength till the last day of their life and die with no pangs of conscience. It's not the end. Life is a vapor.

It's like a puff of steam that is gone in a second or two. And then eternity, and then endless ages, ages of ages. Not only is death not the end, it's the beginning of most. Life is just a puff of steam. Now think this through.

Who was the psalmist? Asaph. Who was Asaph? He's a Levite who was a chief musician during the time of David. He would lead Levites in singing and music ministry before the ark.

His life's work is in the temple. He's no stranger to the temple. He's in the temple all the time. This is what he does for a living. And what is he witnessing in the sanctuary of God?

That's the phrase used in verse 17, the sanctuary of God. What does he witness there where the breakthrough occurs? This is where the breakthrough comes for Asaph. Well, musical praises, He's leading them. Yes, what else?

The lamp stand, where there's a light always burning from the olive oil, perpetually burning, the show bread, these 12 loaves of bread as a memorial of the 12 tribes constantly before the Lord. Yes, what else? Sacrifice. Every morning, every evening, every Sabbath, every feast, every Passover, Every new moon. The sins of believers being dealt with, being purged, being cleansed through an innocent substitute.

He's seeing the wages of sin or death. Not just physical death. The righteous physically die, as well as the wicked physically die. But there's a second death, an eternal death. That's what the blood of the substitute is for.

Now finally Asaph describes what he now sees by faith. So we just saw what he sees by sight. The wicked are getting away with everything. It doesn't touch their prosperity or their ease. It doesn't add difficulties to their life.

They can stay strong to the last day of their life and die with no pangs of conscience. They're getting away with everything. That's what he's seeing with his eyes. Now he describes what he sees by faith in the balance of the chapter. Follow along as I reread 18 through 28.

Surely you, God, set them in a slippery place. You cast them down to destruction. Oh how they are brought to desolation as in a moment. They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when you awake, you shall despise their image.

Thus my heart was grieved and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant. I was like a beast before you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold me by my right hand.

You will guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you and there is none upon earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who desert you for harlotry.

But it is good for me to draw near to God. I put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all your works." Asaph realizes, I stopped too soon. I stopped at the moment of death, but that's not the critical moment. My analysis focused on the vapor, the puff of steam that's gone in a moment, life on earth and ignored eternity. My analysis didn't even consider the most important moment, the moment after death, the nanosecond after death.

Yes, sometimes the wicked enjoy strength to the last day of their life, and then die without a single pang of conscience, but then what? But then what? The vapor is over, and then eternity begins the age of ages Then God awakes to judgment and despises their image look at verse 20 despises their image imagine dying in strength Not a pang of conscience, and in the next nanosecond you are in the presence of an almighty, perfectly holy God who hates the sight of you. Who hates the sight of you. He despises your image Because you would not repent.

Now Asaph can see that this place of prosperity and ease and absence of difficulty isn't an enviable position. It is a pitiable position. Pity the unbeliever who has a life of prosperity and ease and lack of difficulty. They will never run to Christ. Oh friends, it's such a slippery place.

Look at verse 18. Surely you set them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction. Listen to Ecclesiastes 8 verse 11. Ecclesiastes 8 verse 11.

Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Let me reread it. Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, so I do the evil work, nothing. Nothing. I got away with it.

God doesn't know or God doesn't care. It's all the same to me. Therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. I can do whatever I want. Nothing will ever happen.

The wrong conclusion. God was saving the wages of sin in long suffering. They said nothing is ever going to happen. Listen to Psalm 37. Psalm 37 is actually very like Psalm 73.

Psalm 37 is a Psalm of David. Listen to Psalm 37 verses 12 and 13 and then 18. Psalm 37, 12 and 13. The wicked plots against the just and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for he sees that his day is coming.

So, the wicked is oppressing the righteous man. God is laughing because he can see to the very end. He sees that his day is coming. Verse 18, the Lord knows the days of the upright and their influence. Their inheritance shall be forever.

The Lord knows the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever." You didn't cleanse your heart in vain. You didn't wash your hands in innocence in vain. God actually did see it all. He did care about it. Listen to Charles Spurgeon.

Their position was dangerous and therefore God did not set his friends there, but his foes alone. Think about that. This place of prosperity and ease and no difficulties was a dangerous place. God didn't put his children on that place, he put his enemies alone. He continues, he chose in infinite love a rougher but safer standing for his beloved.

Isn't that wonderful? Why can't I have prosperity and ease and lack of difficulty? Because God loves you. Because God wants you to depend on Him so that you'll be saved and He can preserve you. He's given you a rougher but safer standing because He loves you.

He hasn't set you on a slippery place, but He's given you a life that points you to Him. That caused you to run to Christ because you felt the need, the desperate need, and now he's sustaining you by bringing you into a life of dependence upon him. Friends, whenever you see an unbeliever in that slippery place, don't envy him or her for a second. Pity him or her. Asaph backs up, sees the big picture, sees the vapor end, sees the wicked, God even hating the sight of the wicked, and then eternity.

The consequences of that throughout eternity. And he's humiliated at how stupid he was being. Verse 22, I was so foolish in ignorance. I was like a beast before you. A beast is not thinking about eternity.

Moving from one patch of grass to the next. Asaph has a friend in heaven. Think of it. A friend who holds his hand in this life and then is ready to receive him into glory, into eternal glory. All believers have that.

All believers have a friend in heaven. Whom have I in heaven but you? But I have you. Matthew Henry says, All is well if God be mine. We have here the breathings of a sanctified soul towards God and its repose in Him, its rest in Him.

There is none in heaven but Thee, none to seek to or trust in, none to court or covet acquaintance with but Thee. God is in Himself more glorious than any celestial being, and must be in our eyes infinitely more desirable. Wicked man, have the prosperity. Have the ease. Have the lack of difficulty.

Give me God who will hold my hand through life and receive me into glory. Finally, Asaph closes with this, verse 28, The last verse of the psalm. But it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all your works. Earlier Asaph made himself be quiet, now he's ready to speak.

Now he's been in the sanctuary, he's been instructed by God, he sees the end of the wicked. And he sees the end of the righteous, and he's ready to speak of the work of God. He held his mouth closed until he understood. And then he was ready to speak of the goodness of God, the wonders of God. Let's close with the rich man and Lazarus.

Turn to Luke 16. Luke 16. One of the most sobering passages in the Bible. This is not that Lazarus, not the Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead. This is about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus, a different man that lived outside his gate.

Luke 16, I'll read 19 through 31. There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. Translation. Prosperity, ease, lack of difficulty. Prosperity, ease, lack of difficulty.

There was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.

Then he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame but Abraham said son Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, likewise Lazarus' evil things, but now he is comforted and you are tormented. Besides all this, between us and you there is a great goal fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us." Then he said, I beg you therefore, Father, that you would send them to my Father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment. Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to them, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead." with whatever lack, with whatever difficulties, sorrows, sufferings, those who trust in Christ will be received into glory by one who has held them by the hand through their life, sustained them through their sufferings, and then will be received to glory.

The sufferings won't be worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits. For those who Don't trust Christ, but enjoy the trinkets. They will beg for a drop of water to be put on their tongue to relieve them. You even have a frame of reference for that? Daniel 12 verse 2.

This is the last chapter of Daniel. Daniel 12 verse 2. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt." It's almost exactly like the words of our text. You will despise their image. You will rise to shame and everlasting contempt.

You will wish for one cool Drop of water. Applications, let me give you three. Number one, the faith of all believers is challenged from time to time. Asaph wrote twelve inspired Psalms. He was before Christ, but he was a better Christian than you and me.

I'm convinced. He almost stumbled. His faith was mightily challenged. Keep believing. Keep going.

You have a friend in heaven who will Hold your hand your whole life and then receive you to glory. Praise God. Don't think, my faith is shaken. I must not be a believer. Number two.

Don't ever envy unbelievers no matter their life circumstances. Pity them. Snatch them from the flames if you can. You were just like them. God used hardship.

Didn't He use hardship in your life to bring you to Him? At the very least, He convinced you that you deserved this eternity for your sins. At the very least. Maybe at the very most too. Snatch them from the flames if you can.

Attack their prosperity and their ease and their lack of difficulties and tell them, it's a mirage. There is a God. Imagine the nanosecond after your death and facing an almighty, all-knowing, perfectly good God who hates the sight of you. Number three. Friends, do you trust Him?

Is He your portion? God has the audacity in Psalm 73 to suggest that it's better to know Him, to walk with Him, and to suffer all your life than it is to enjoy prosperity and ease and lack of difficulty but not have him. Well is it true or isn't it? It's true. It's true.

He's the portion of His people. He's the joy of His people. He's the good of His people. He's the help of His people. Next week, Psalm 23, Psalm of David, and a sneaky way to re-preach John chapter 10 about the Good Shepherd.

So I confess in advance. God, make us satisfied with our portion. Can it be that any of us have never envied people who were prospering and at ease. Seemed like they didn't have a care in the world, but they didn't have you. We knew they didn't have you.

In our hearts, we halfway wanted to trade places. I pray in those moments we'd have the wisdom to place our hands over our mouth to shut our mouths until we can reconcile what we're seeing with the North Star, that you're good, unchangeably good to your people. Help us to see these things rightly, to understand what's happening, to see the end. Help us to live like life is a vapor. Thank You for Christ.

It can make us not just professing Christians, but can purify our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.