Tempted and tried, we’re oft made to wander,
Why it should be thus all the day long?
While there are others, living about us,
Never molested, though in the wrong.
This is the song of the suffering saint. This is the question that is borne out of pain and confusion in the midst of the darkest valleys. This is the question of the faithful throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.
Listen to the Psalmist describe his quandary during his suffering in Psalm 73.
Psalm 73:1-3 – Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
He knows God is good, but he was about to stumble. His steps nearly slipped. Why?
Because it sure seems like wicked people skate through life and righteous people keep taking the hits.
How does the Psalmist see the life of the wicked?
Psalm 73:4-12 – For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
Wicked people get pregnant and abort their babies. Righteous people get pregnant and lose theirs. Why?
Wicked people, who have no regard for God’s laws, keep popping out babies, while righteous people struggle to conceive. Why?
Wicked people have no concern for relationships and love and unity. And the righteous people keep getting their teeth kicked in (physically, emotionally and verbally) at the hands of these heartless people (some who happen to pretend to be Christians). The righteous suffer, and the wicked just seem to go on like everything is fine. Why?
Wicked people seem to escape justice, both at work and in government, while righteous people get in trouble for no fault of their own. Why?
Wicked people put out the most awful and horrific perversion and garbage on the internet as they evangelize for Satan. They live to be old people, while we just keep losing godly preacher after godly preacher left and right. Why?
Wicked people put out the most horrible stuff on YouTube and every Social Media outlet, while people who stand for righteousness are canceled, censored, attacked, besmirched, and silenced. Why?
This pain is raw. This is why I love and need the Psalms. God’s Holy Spirit wrote down these words through the pain, experiences and raw emotions of the child of God. This pain is real. The confusion and struggle are real. We just don’t understand why.
“Why it should be thus all the day long…”
Look at the effect this starts to have on the Psalmist. Maybe you can relate.
Psalm 73:13-14 – All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
Remember at the beginning of the Psalm, he said his steps almost slipped? He was starting to falter under the weight of this pain. It just seemed too much to bear. He just couldn’t understand. He begins to wonder why should he keep trying? Why keep doing good? Why hold fast to my integrity like Job did? Why are we washing our hands in innocence? We could save ourselves a lot of heartache (we think) if we stop trying to live this life for God! Those are the real thoughts of a real follower of God dealing with real pain. Can you relate?
Those who say we should never offer up questions to God have never read and understood the Psalms.
Thankfully, that is not where the Psalm stops. Psalm 88 is a Psalm that just stops in the darkness, and that sometimes is necessary too, but this Psalm takes us through the valley of pain to walk in hope and trust in God.
Psalm 73:15-20 – If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children. 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 their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
The Psalmist knew that if he let himself go, he would go down into a blackhole of despair. This was such a wearisome task to try to get his mind’s arms around this concept.
And then he went into the sanctuary. Then he went into the presence of his loving God. Then he drew near to the throne of God Almighty. And things started to clear up.
“Then I discerned their end.”
Their end. The wicked have an end. They will be punished by God eternally. They are not getting away with this. It may seem like they’re just coasting through life, but that is not the case at all. They are driving full speed toward a head-on collision with the King of Kings. They will lose. Their end is not our end. Our end is temporary afflictions swallowed up by glory, victory and eternal rest with Jesus. Their end is horrific, just like the sinful lives they led. Our end is characterized by Jesus this way, “It is done…behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21).
Psalm 73:21-22 – When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.
Here is the tremendous spiritual growth that happens through the journey of the Psalmist. He grew in faith. His understanding grew. His love for his God grew. He saw his own flaws in his logic.
This is what happens when we begin to come through the valley. The light begins to peak through and we start to see things, to see God, and to see ourselves in a new light. This kind of growth and perspective doesn’t come from the mountaintops of victory, it comes by walking through the valley of the shadow of death. In fact, you really can’t appreciate the mountaintops without the valleys.
Psalm 73:23-28 – 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. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 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.
Look at the hope. Look at the sparkle in his eyes that begins to return as the light of God’s love shines in his heart.
“I am continually with you.” God will never leave us or forsake us. That’s a promise and God doesn’t break His promises. God holds our hand. He guides us with His wise, holy and loving counsel. There is no one like God. The Psalmist’s love, intimacy and desire for God just grew immensely because of this journey.
“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.” Do you see what happened? He started with questioning, bitterness and confusion and was pushed to the brink of giving up. And as he went through this journey his faith in God grew. This journey of growth and perspective overflowed through his mouth and his pen. He became an evangelist to tell everyone about how good God is. He went from almost silent to a unashamed proclaimer of the goodness of God. He may even be able to reach some of those wicked people with his message for Jesus.
We cannot rob ourselves and others of this journey. We can’t do shortcuts through the valley. It is often an ugly process and lots of twists and turns along the way. But on the other side, I promise you, you will be forever changed for the good if you let God do His perfect work in you.