You good? How's it going? Thumbs up? Yeah. When someone comes up to you who you know and they
say, how's it going? What do you say? What's the response? Good. Yeah, I'm good. Yeah. Dan,
you heard the sermon this morning, can't answer any more questions. Everyone else has to get
involved, but thank you. Our reflex answer is, I'm good. And it doesn't mean that we're putting
a hand up and saying, I'm a good person. It's not a morality question or statement. What
you're saying is actually quite profound. You're saying that, oh, my desires and needs are being
satisfied. And in summary, yeah, I'm good. So how are you going? Normally, if you know the
person, they'll add something. They'll add some authenticity to the I'm good. They'll say,
yeah, I'm good, but I'm really busy. Or they'll add, I'm really tired.
Our declaration that we're in a good place is usually followed by the areas of our life
where good is not being done to us. So how's it going? What's the extra thing you'd add?
I'm good, but... Has anyone asked you, instead of how are you going, have they asked, how's it going
with God? It's a bit more of a challenging variation. But I wonder if someone asked you that, would you
just say, yeah, we're good? Or would you go, yeah, we're good, but I don't always feel close to God.
Or good, but I'm so busy and overwhelmed, I feel like I have no time for Him. I was just talking to
some guys up the front, and I think all of us pretty much shared that about what we're looking
forward to in 2019. We're good with God, yeah, but we'd love to be growing in Him. And we were sharing
ways that we thought we might be able to do that. I think every Christian feels a tension here. Yes,
God is good and faithful to us, but our circumstances could be better. They're difficult.
We all desire to be a safer, richer, more well-known, or to have less conflict in our life,
or just be able to balance a budget. It might be so bad that you're screaming those desires into a
pillow each night. But no matter our circumstance, we know that life can be really hard as we follow
God through hard times. And it's the hard that challenges our view of God's goodness to us.
So today, I want to say that we are in part of the Bible that will meet you right here in your hard times.
Whether you're in hard times now, or whether you will be in the future, it'll prepare you, or it will give
you word right now. So that's where we're headed. This psalm is a journey through our frustrated desires
to satisfaction in intimacy with God. And there alone, you're going to be able to answer the
question after church tonight when everyone's cheekily asking, how's it going with God?
You're going to be able to say, satisfied and joyful. You're going to be able to say, great.
But before I dive in today, let's step aside and just talk about our summer in the Psalms,
a summer of Psalms. This is what we've got for the next couple of weeks.
I put this image together and I was really excited about all the hot weather we were having,
and it was going to feel like in the room, like it does in the picture, and then it was the coldest
day of the year. Before I dive in, I want to talk a little about Psalms. They are songs that Israel
used to sing together, and they cover all of these areas of human expression, of praise and depression,
joy and grief. They've been carefully curated into this book of 150, and each psalm had a place in the
day-to-day life of Israel. Each psalm had a purpose for them. And now, as God's people, each has a place
in our day-to-day life too. They are for us poems without music. We only have part of their art,
but we have the important bit. We miss nothing of the meaning of each song because we dive into God's
words in the psalms. And even though you might not have the key change you're longing for as you're
reading the psalm, or the melody to help ride the emotions of where it's going and help you understand
it, God is speaking by his Spirit through the psalms. So let's look, I'm going to jump back into the psalm now,
let's look at psalm, or song number 73, a psalm of Asaph. And make sure you've got that page in front of you.
Grab a pen, scribble all over it. You can make spelling mistakes if you want to write notes. No one will see it.
It's okay. Sometimes we process things better if we have a pen in our hand. We get to scribble on something.
That's why it's there for you now. Asaph was a Levite. He was a leader in King David's temple song team.
And he is the man behind this psalm. We hear this psalm like it's his story. And sometimes,
when you hear a Taylor Swift song, I turn the radio off, but you might listen and think,
oh, I wonder which celebrity relationship that she's had this is about. For Asaph, we don't have
all that information. But what's revealed to us is that we can be confident that he has put this story
into our hands on purpose for it to be our story as well.
So here's how to place yourself in the psalm. Look at verse 14. Take up your page or look in your Bible.
Verse 14.
All day long I've been afflicted. Every morning brings new punishments.
So that's his life. Daily persecution and affliction.
Is that your experience right now? Should we just flick to the next psalm, flick to 74,
if that's not your experience? No. First, this psalm will prepare you for that day when verse 14
is exactly how you feel. When your life is just like Asaph's. But secondly, let's jump right up.
Look at verse 2. Asaph says that his persecution and affliction threaten his foothold.
He's nearly slipped from his sure footing and coping and faith.
That verse is how Asaph invites you into his story. You can't experience his persecution, his circumstance,
but you know what it's like to have circumstances in your life that just try and knock you down.
Imagine a huge fight with your spouse or with your best friend. You don't know how to resolve it. It lingers for days.
It pushes you into dejection and just despondency and it's you're lonely.
Finally, I have this feeling of loneliness in situations like that.
Asaph's description of faith-shaking difficult season in his life invites us to bring our own into it,
into this psalm. As we fear that like him, we feel like we're going to fall.
So look later over at verse 21 and 22 when he says,
My heart was grieved. My spirit embittered. I was senseless, ignorant, like a beast.
And then in verse 16, jump down the bottom, verse 16.
When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply.
I know that in hard seasons of my life, I've felt exactly like that.
I'm sure you have too.
If someone asked me or asked you right then in that hard season,
how's it going with God?
Would your painful, difficult, real circumstances creep into the way that you answered that question?
So let's look at verse 1.
God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
That's a promise of God that Asaph seems to be questioning during his hardship.
He's opening challenge to his heart.
But soon we'll find out if Asaph finds that God is good, like he has been taught.
Here, in verse 1, pure in heart is more than just the washing of hands,
or the doing the right things, or the keeping pure in mind and body,
like in verse 13.
It's more than that.
It's a description of someone pursuing God on his terms.
And we heard from Sam Lowe last week, talking from John 8, about exactly that.
It's a description of someone who's obeying God and caring for others.
And for Asaph in Israel, that meant obedience, sacrifice, and selflessness.
And for us, it means following Jesus, trusting in him and his pure heart, trusting in his sacrifice,
as we love others more than we love ourselves.
Asaph thought that he was following God on God's terms,
but his life wasn't working out.
This challenged the promise that God is good.
So, do you feel that God is good to you?
If you understand good to mean peaceful, blessed, and prosperous,
then you might say no.
That's why Asaph wonders, in verse 13, he says,
surely in vain.
Is it all in vain that I've been following God?
For Asaph, God doesn't seem to be doing to him the good that he expected.
So, he's at this turning point.
Okay?
He's in this horrible circumstance,
and he's challenging that promise in verse 1.
He feels like he's falling and slipping.
And then verse 3,
Asaph sees the prosperity of those who do not follow God,
and he is envious.
Friends, envious is so dangerous.
Longing and yearning for a way out of circumstances.
It turns our eyes to those who have the circumstance that we wish that we had.
Look at what Asaph sees in the world as he turns in verses 4 to 12.
And just underline them as I go through.
I'm just going to summarize a few of them.
Because he sees in the world,
as he turns,
and is envious.
He sees their health,
their strength,
their safety,
their freedom,
their riches,
their fine clothing,
jewellery,
influence,
ease,
wealth.
Now, those,
on their own,
are not bad things.
But what would the cost be for Asaph to get all of those things?
Now,
in Eastern and Western cultures,
we have songs that talk about prosperity like Psalm 73,
just in a totally different way.
We just wholeheartedly throw ourselves in at verse 3 and go,
that's amazing!
Can you think of a song that does that?
Longs after prosperity?
Money, money, money,
always sunny,
in a rich man's world.
Abba's beautiful,
great song that,
it was one of my mum's favourites.
If not favourite,
then why was she playing it?
It was painful.
But it is about a woman
who doesn't care
about what it costs,
just has to get prosperity.
She's willing to just take
any guy who can say,
hey, I'm worth a decent amount of money,
she's like,
problem solved.
Adrian,
my brother over here,
shared with me another song,
and we're going to play it
and absorb it
and enjoy it together right now.
Can you hit play on that, Sarah?
We're going to,
just,
turn it up.
Turn it up,
just absorb the greatness.
Does anyone know what
tin means?
Money,
that's right.
Just keep it going,
keep it going,
because we've got to enjoy
what this is about.
One of the lines in there
is literally,
no money,
no talk,
which means,
you've got no money,
I've got no interest in you at all.
And I asked Google Translate
to help me with some of the translation.
Just keep it playing
while I read some of these.
I always want more money.
I want more money in my day.
Borrowing money
is the most demeaning.
If you have money,
you'll be less guilty
driving down the street
and stealing other people's things.
It's trying to poke fun
at Hong Kong's pursuit
of prosperity,
and yet,
it doesn't provide
an alternative.
It just says,
in Hong Kong,
we love money.
That's just the reality.
I think all cultures agree,
and I think we're,
we're brought up
to pursue prosperity
as a good thing.
And if you get prosperity,
it'll solve
all the problems
of your heart.
I think that's universal.
But in Psalm 73,
prosperity
is paired
with moral poverty.
Prosperity costs
everything to get it.
The prosperous here,
and you can circle
these ones
if you've underlined
the first ones,
circle these.
The prosperous here
are wicked
and arrogant,
prideful,
violent,
malicious,
oppressive,
blasphemous.
They spread heresy.
They lead people astray
and away from God.
These are not those
who are pure in heart.
From verse 1.
But even as Asaph
sees this,
right,
he seems to be
angry at them,
yet he can't help
feeling pulled
into how they
pursue the world.
That's what envy does.
It leads
us to look
for satisfaction
outside of our
circumstances.
And we're constantly
bombarded by
envy-fueling
advertising.
Get a new car
that we bus next to you
that's helping you
pursue envy,
not God.
Turn on your phone.
There'll be an advertisement
on there as well
doing the same thing.
Or on Facebook
and there'll be
someone's
beautiful cruise
holiday photos
from Vanuatu
like Wendy's
this morning
when I turned
on Facebook.
look,
it's never been
easier
to envy
the prosperous.
But it
always costs
us.
Because if we
have to stop
following God
to pursue
prosperity.
And as that
reality dawns
on Asaph,
he feels like
he's got nowhere
to go.
So look at
verse 16.
When I tried
to understand
this,
it troubled
me deeply.
In other
translations
it says
life was
wearisome.
It seems
that hopelessness
has set in.
It's like
he either
gives into
envy
or gives up
in despair.
But in his
weariness
he turns
to God.
There are
two points
here where
Asaph,
he just
stops in
his tracks.
He doesn't
give into
envy or
give up
in despair.
He stops.
Verse 15,
just above
where we were.
If I had
spoken out
like that,
he deliberately
ceases that
expression of
envy and
trades it
for silence.
He turns
away from
giving in.
And then
in verse 17,
he enters
the sanctuary
of God.
The
psalmist
went into
the temple
to be as
physically
near to
God
as he
could.
Perhaps
even to
question God
himself on
verse 1.
God,
you said
you were
good.
But we
don't get to
see what
happened.
But we
see the
result.
That near
to God,
Asaph's
envy was
turned upside
down.
Now his
envy turns
to pity
for the
prosperous.
of those
who
follow
prosperity,
he says,
then I
understood
their
destiny.
Verse 17,
I came
near to
God and
I saw
their
future.
There's
something
coming to
those who
sin,
who abuse
power and
lead humanity
astray,
who perpetrate
injustice in
the world,
and it's
God's
judgment.
It's
fair and
it's
coming to
them.
Maybe not
now, but
it certainly
will come.
But when
God sees
evil, he
does not
see it like
Asaph did.
He doesn't
look at it
in envy.
Rather,
it's
perpetrators.
When he
sees them,
they're like
ghosts or
fantasies to
him.
They're
mists and
phantoms that
he just
brushes aside
and all
that's left
is justice.
You can see
in verse 20
there, it's
quite a
difficult verse
to grasp,
but that's
the imagery
the psalmist
is using
for God's
judgment.
Notice as
well that
Asaph went
from slipping
and being
knocked down
in verse 2
to his
persecutors
being completely
knocked down
and swept
away and
destroyed.
Their destiny
is awful
because it's
away from
God
completely.
See, this is
the worst of
the punishments
mentioned.
Look at
verse 27.
It's horrific.
Those who are
far from
God
will perish.
Nearness
to God
is safety.
Without
him,
anyone's future
is destruction,
no matter
their prosperity.
authority.
So what's
the insight
into
Nearness
to God
that Asaph
is clinging
to?
I think
that he
got a
glimpse
in the
temple
that day
of his
place with
God
that God
had graciously
given him.
Listen to
the impact
of God's
promises
to him.
This is
where I
find that
idea
in verse
23.
And this
is Asaph
talking to
God.
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.
It's a
beautiful
promise.
And as we
follow Jesus
it's our
promise too.
Nothing
had changed
for the
psalmist
in his
awful
situation
but God
had affirmed
his
unshakable
place
with him
right now
in his
mess
but also
into
his
afterward.
For the
Israelite
hearing this
they did
not have
the view
of eternity
in heaven
that we
get from
the New
Testament.
Jesus
brought that
promise
but Asaph
was relying
on God
for deliverance
from his
circumstance
right now
and trusting
in God's
nearness
to him
to be
the only
good
that he
would ever
need
regardless
of what
that would
look like
in the
future.
Glory
in verse
24
have a look
at verse
24
and afterward
you will
take me
into glory.
The
afterward
Asaph
hoped for
was the
end of
this season
in his
life.
A future
beyond
there.
He did
not know
certainty
on into
eternity
but for
him
there is
so much
more to
God's
promise
there in
verse 24.
Asaph's
hope
was in
God's
sovereignty
and plan.
You see
that in
28.
His
sovereign
Lord
is his
refuge.
The one
who understands
all things
who orchestrates
all things
the sovereign
Lord
and that
sovereign
Lord's
plan
is Jesus
and though
Asaph
knew not
how God
would save
him he
trusted in
the God
who had
drawn
into him
but for
us we
see Jesus.
So we
look forward
to God
aiding us
in our
circumstance
now but we
can also look
beyond it
through our
circumstances
to eternal
life to
complete
nearness
with God
forever
as well
as help
injustice
and our
circumstances
today.
The
psalm
is a
foreshadowing
of God's
bigger
plan
a plan
for our
eternity
to fully
provide
the desires
for the
desires
of Asaph's
heart
even beyond
what he
could see.
That makes
me think
of the
C.S.
Lewis quote
from
mere
Christianity
which I
only know
through a
song.
So I'm
going to
share the
song version
because that's
what I
remember.
But C.S.
Lewis says
he supposes
that if I
find in
myself
desires that
no thing in
this world
can satisfy
I can only
conclude
that I was
not made
for here.
Our
desires
call us
to eternity
with God
not to the
envy of the
world.
And with
God with
us we
have the
only good
we'll ever
need right
now and
for eternity
overriding
our
circumstances
and our
future
worries.
Hear that
reality
inspire
Asaph.
Look at
the joy
that's in
verse 26.
My heart
and my
flesh may
fail.
There's
no may
in the
original
language.
It's just
my heart
and flesh
fail.
They just
do.
But God
hear that.
but God
is the
strength
of my
heart
and my
portion
forever.
He can
see that
God
steps in
to be
with us
in our
frustration
and lead
us to
joy.
There's
no gap
in nearness
to God
in that.
He's
our strength
of heart
when our
hearts
fail.
And we're
left in
our psalm
with this
stark contrast
of verse
27 where
it says
people
who are
those who
are far
from you
will
perish.
But
Asaph
declares
in the
midst of
his
horrible
situation
as for
me
it is
good to
be near
God.
I have
made the
sovereign
Lord
my
refuge.
God
is a
refuge
a safe
foundation
that can
never be
shaken
enough
to break
and cause
us to
fall.
The
psalm
doesn't
have
the
answer
in there
for how
to find
God
or how
to come
near to
him.
We
have to
look to
Jesus
for that.
And there
are many
places I
could go
and I
just want
to go
to one.
Matthew
7,
24 and
25,
Jesus
is telling
a story.
he says,
everyone
then who
hears these
words of
mine and
does them
will be
like a
wise man
who built
his house
on the
rock.
And the
rain fell
and the
floods
came and
the winds
blew and
beat on
that house
but it
did not
fall
because it
had been
founded
on the
rock.
So hear
and do
Jesus'
words and
you will
not be
swept away
no matter
the tide
or storm.
Your feet
will never
slip.
They will
never lose
their footholds.
Jesus
is the
way to
finding
intimacy
with God
as we
follow him
through his
word to
the cross
and to
his
resurrection
and into
a life
with him
forever.
It's
through
Jesus'
death in
our place
that he
takes us
off the
sand
so graciously
takes us
off our
slippery
ground
and
establishes
us
firm
on
him
the
rock
himself.
So we
find our
strength
as he
is lifted
up in
weakness
on a
cross
as he
took our
sin away
to give
us back
our
intimacy
with God.
God.
Let's
see something
wonderful
here in
verse 26.
Verse 26
go back
there.
Where it
says God
is the
strength
of my
heart.
The Hebrew
word for
strength
there is
rock.
God is
the rock
of my
heart.
We stand
on rock
only when
we depend
on Jesus
himself.
Today if
your heart
is
embittered
or weak
or failing
or you
just can't
understand
what's
going on
in your
life
run to
him.
The true
rock of
your heart
and your
portion
forever.
Rely on
him as
your
foundation
and strength
for
eternity.
And join
the psalmist
in verse
25 and
shout to
God,
who have
I in
heaven but
you?
There is
nothing on
the earth
that I
desire
besides
you.
I have
all I
could ever
desire
with Jesus
says
Asaph
if he
saw the
whole
picture.
Is that
enough for
you?
To be
near God?
The psalm
has given
us a
process to
walk
through
when
we're
frustrated
in our
circumstances
and on
our way
to envy
of the
world.
So open
your Bible
when you're
bitter and
weary.
Learn to
take this
journey in
prayer and
come near
to the
counsel of
God.
Seek
his word.
Read
of Jesus
in the
gospels.
Wonder
in his
love as
he comes
near to
you to
bring you
to God.
How's
it going?
Follow
Asaph and
share this
journey with
other
believers.
Remember
that.
Remind
each other
of this
psalm and
journey through
it together.
If someone
says how
you're going
and you're
not good,
talk to
them.
Recall
everything
that's going
on in your
life so
that you're
given the
opportunity for
someone else
to remind
you of
all you've
got in
Jesus.
Ask each
other,
how are you
going with
God?
Ask the
question that
matters because
life is
hard, but
hard does
not mean
wrong.
I'll say that
one more
time because
it's late in
the sermon.
It's important.
Life is
hard, but
hard does
not mean
wrong.
Hard can
still be
good with
God.
Last
thing.
Have this
worldview of
Asaph,
right?
He didn't
see only
his life in
the balance
as he
wrestled
with envy,
as he
stood in
this
circumstance.
No,
he could
see in
verse 15.
Just have
a look at
verse 15.
I would
have betrayed
your children
if I had
spoken out
like that.
He
deliberately
changes
course because
he does
not want
potential
believers to
be led
astray.
Those who
he might
have been
talking about
in verses
4 to
12.
Those who
don't yet
know the
benefits of
nearness to
God.
And then
as he
finishes,
Asaph
reaffirms
that
commitment
in verse
28.
He ends
the psalm
with this
verse that
feels like
it's on
its own.
If you
don't see
that it's
on his
heart in
the midst
of his
trouble and
wrestling
with God.
The very
end of the
psalm,
it says,
I will
tell of
all your
deeds.
Would
you respond
to your
joy in
God as
he fulfills
all your
desires in
him by
sharing that
good news?
Go tell
the world.
Go tell
of his
deeds.
As we
go,
this psalm
can help
us be
ready for
hard times,
armed with
readiness to
turn to
God in
Jesus and
rest in
the relationship
of intimacy
that Jesus
himself has
won for
us.
God
will
not have
the music
to sing
Psalm 73
as they
did in
Israel
3,000
years ago.
We're
blessed with
songs to
help us
turn back.
Things that
people have
written with
the same
heart and
the same
intent to
turn us
away from
envy and
to call us
back to
God.
We're going
to sing some
of those
right now.