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Envying theArrogant :: SARA GROVES ::
They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man. P SALM 73:4–5 NIV
I
’m partial to this psalm because I lived out this very conversation with God. My heart had been growing cold, and I was up to no good. A natural rule follower, I was exhausted from trying to do everything right, and began to blame God for my troubles. I felt like I was bearing the weight of the moral universe somehow, and wanted to live carefree, without regard for some great battle between good and evil. I envied my neighbors who seemed to live for themselves without apology, and wondered why I tried so hard to be “good.” “If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’ I would have betrayed your children.” The psalmist Asaph starts to wake up in verse 15, as he asks God to please explain why those who disregard God’s commands seem so happy. I wish I could see with my
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own eyes what God reveals to him in the next few verses, but in the ancient biblical text he conveys the revelation: wicked men are swept away like a bad dream. There is nothing built, nothing grown, nothing eternal in the life lived for self. In contrition, Asaph realizes that external circumstances, wealth, health, fame, and so on are no reflection of what is real and eternal. The most meaningful part of this psalm, and of my own story comes next. Here Asaph has been “senseless and ignorant . . . a brute beast before you.” But almost in surprise, he continues, “Yet, I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand” (vv. 22–23). God does not abandon us to our hard questions, but reveals Himself, and His love for us instead. Asaph and I cry in unison, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever . . . it is good to be near God.” Lord, thank You for hearing me out when I was senseless and selfish. Thank You for showing me how Your precepts are lifegiving, and are for my good!
REFLECTION: Have you ever “envied the arrogant”? Do God’s rules feel oppressive, or life-giving?
Journal, sketch, compose a poem, write a letter to God, meditate on a hymn or worship song that comes to mind. 25