This honest open man, Asaph, who has given us Psalm 73, has been undergoing and experiencing what can only be described as an attack from the enemy. He has been subjected to challenging thoughts with which we can each identify in some way. He takes one step at a time in this process of recovery, and we can profit as we read and watch and observe and learn.
What has happened to this man, because we will have been through some if not all of his experiences? He has seen something of what is going around him. He has sulked before God, and has asked, why me? Why is all this happening to me? But, he did not stop there. He goes into the presence of God, into the sanctuary, and then comes one of these great words in the Bible “Nevertheless”! Verse 23.
It is a word like, ‘but’, but so often it introduces us to the Gospel of God, to the Good News of God. He could have stopped at verse 23, but no, he has more to say, and in the light of what he has been through it is important. The big question is, could we go on from verse 22, and all that has gone before, on to verses 23 and 24?
Some men reach verse 22, and they can go no further, after such a piercing and penetrating analysis, because they do not know the living God. They have no experience of the risen Lord Jesus Christ and presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
Do take time to look at these amazing therapeutic words in Psalm 73. At the end of verse 22 there is the sense of, ‘I am a failure’. I have looked at things so wrongly. I have not done my duty, and feel that I have let down God.
This is where a man may need another man to come alongside and invest wise counsel into his circumstances. A good leader will know what to do and what to say and help you no matter how you are feeling. This is one of the characteristics and qualities of an experienced spiritual leader.
Verse 22 is almost self-condemnation, and that has appalling consequences, and this is where the Gospel is required. This is what makes it all so tragic. Take you eyes off God and things can go downhill fast, and that can happen to a nation as well as to an individual.
When a man reaches this point it is essential that comes into the presence of Almighty God so that his condition can be dealt with fully and adequately.
Sandy Shaw