# 41 2019 Dev. Psalm 73:.23-24. Comfort! Read all of Ps.73. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Ps. 73: 23,24 “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory”
Book III of the Psalms begins with a series of six Psalms by Asaph, one of Israel’s song leaders. Ps 73 is about faith, faith affirmed. challenged, questioned and restored.
V.1 affirms God’s care for “those who are pure in heart.”
Vs. 2-12 challenges faith: “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. The say, ‘How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?’”
Vs. 13-16 questions faith: “surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.”
V. 17 puts the Psalmist back into reality: “it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God: then I understood their final destiny.”
Vs. 18-20 describes the result of living without God: “Surely you place them on a slippery ground”.
Vs. 21-22 the Psalmist admits his shortcoming due to lack of faith. He was “grieved” and “embittered”.
Vs. 23- 26 the Psalmist reaffirms his faith and God’s faithfulness to his people. “God is the strength of my heart”.
Vs. 27-28 draws the contrast of being far from God “but as for me, it is good to be near to God.”
We identify with the struggle of the Psalmist; things do not always go the way we planned or prayed for. With disappointment and discouragement, we tend to look at people around us who all seem to be doing well. But the truth is that everyone struggles at one time or another. The comfort for followers of Jesus is that our faith brings us back to God’s faithfulness. This Psalm is personal for me: my father immigrated at age 40 with the purpose of making a better life for us and to be able to own his own farm. He accomplished that in twelve years but later in life, with the early and tragic death of my brother he lost his dream of passing the farm on to family. Like the Psalmist “he was grieved and embittered” but before he passed away his faith brought him back. This is what we put on his grave stone: “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.” Life is meaningful with faith in God!
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