Sharper Iron — Time in the Psalms - Psalm 73: If Thou, Lord, Wert Not Near Me

Asaph knows that God is good to His people, and yet the prosperity of the wicked almost leads him to stumble from the faith. Even as he recognizes the wickedness of the arrogant, he sees that their riches increase, and he wonders if faith in the LORD is worth it. He holds his tongue from leading others astray and turns instead to the LORD’s saving presence in His sanctuary. There, he recalls that the wicked do not have the only thing that lasts: eternal life in Christ. Because God is the heritage that belongs to all the faithful, we can confidently confess with Asaph that the LORD Himself is our very portion forever.

Rev. Tom Eckstein, pastor at Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, ND, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Psalm 73.

To learn more about Concordia Lutheran, visit www.concordiajt.org.

Join Sharper Iron this summer to study selected Psalms. In the Psalter, God speaks His Word to us and teaches us how to speak back to Him in prayer. Even in the great variety of the Psalms, each one points us to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen. Submit comments or questions to: listener@kfuo.org

Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund. Together in faith, LCEF helps to start, sustain and strengthen LCMS ministries through financial and strategic partnerships. Visit lcef.org.

Psalm 73

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of Asaph.

73 Truly God is good to Israel,
    to those who are pure in heart.
²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
    my steps had nearly slipped.
³For I was envious of the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pangs until death;
    their bodies are fat and sleek.
⁵They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
⁶Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them as a garment.
⁷Their eyes swell out through fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
⁸They scoff and speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
⁹They set their mouths against the heavens,
    and their tongue struts through the earth.
¹⁰Therefore his people turn back to them,
    and find no fault in them.^[a]
¹¹And they say, “How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
¹²Behold, these are the wicked;
    always at ease, they increase in riches.
¹³All in vain have I kept my heart clean
    and washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴For all the day long I have been stricken
    and rebuked every morning.
¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
¹⁷until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

¹⁸Truly you set them in slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
¹⁹How they are destroyed in a moment,
    swept away utterly by terrors!
²⁰Like a dream when one awakes,
    O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
²¹When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
²²I was brutish and ignorant;
    I was like a beast toward you.

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you hold my right hand.
²⁴You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will receive me to glory.
²⁵Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength^[b] of my heart and my portion forever.

²⁷For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
    you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
²⁸But 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.

Footnotes

Psalm 73:10 Probable reading; Hebrew the waters of a full cup are drained by them
Psalm 73:26 Hebrew rock

Rev. Timothy Appel

Although a mathematics degree may not be incredibly helpful to (proudly born-and-raised Texan) Rev. Timothy Appel while hosting Sharper Iron, his love of CFW Walther and the season of Easter will come in handy. His Call is shepherding the flock at Faith Lutheran Church in Godfrey, Illinois, and he’s also husband to wife Kristin and dad to their growing basketball team of children. When he’s not carrying out pastoral duties, you may find him reading “The Lord of the Rings,” snacking on Reese’s peanut butter cups, playing dominoes with his boys, or studying up on Texas history (including Sam Houston, of course).