Truly God is Good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

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.

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.
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.
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.

When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

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.

“Asaph”

It is somewhat striking that there is a hymn book given us by God that all but a few churches and church traditions make regular use of. The hymn above is known and accessible to us as Psalm 73.

I love the honesty of this hymn – sung thousands of years ago – resonating strongly with the experience of Christians today.  A quick scan of the international and national news tells us that wicked prosper. One small example is here, but there are grander examples – the once closest to my heart/mind at the moment is of Robert Mugabe.

There have been losses of Christian men and women in these last few years, faithful servants and honourable leaders who have died, from our perspective, far too early.  And yet, in Zimbabwe lives an old man who has bled his country dry, mocked justice, shunned integrity and vomited bile upon his own people.  Why does God allow all of this?

This hymn reminds me, reminds us all, that our gaze is not to be on the wicked but upon the God of mercy, grace and justice.  The God who is all knowing, all sovereign and ever watchful.  Those faithful men and women who have trusted Christ will receive honour and glory – whereas for Mugabe and for many like him (and like us!), unless there is real repentance from wickedness and real joy in righteousness there will come death and then judgement.

True enough – wickedness will perish but those who follow God’s Righteousness in Christ Jesus, will not perish but have eternal life in Him!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26