The Wicked Prosper (Psalm 73)Sample

Burdened with Grief

Philip Melanchthon, one of Martin Luther's dearest friends and associates, fell ill.  When Luther arrived at his friend's bedside, Melanchthon was near death. Overwhelmed with grief, Luther exclaimed, "Blessed Lord, how has the devil spoiled me of this instrument!" He turned toward the window and began to pray in earnest. Almost instantly, Philip began to move and was soon completely restored. Luther wrote, "Prayer is a climbing up of the heart into God. None can believe how powerful prayer is, and what it is able to effect, but those who have, learned it by experience."

Then in 1541, Friedrich Myconius, another one of Luther's friends, was in the last stages of tuberculosis and almost speechless. Unable to visit Myconius' bedside, Luther wrote a prayer and sent it to him by courier, saying, "May God not let me hear so long as I live that you are dead, but cause you to survive me. I pray this earnestly and will have it granted. Amen."

Myconius later said, "I was so horrified when I read what the good man had written, that it seemed to me as though I had heard Christ say, 'Lazarus come forth!'" As Luther prayed, Myconius recovered and was kept from the grave until shortly after Luther's death in 1546. In each of these cases, through prayer, God spared Luther the pain and burden of grief, which the psalmist felt in today's verses. While the wicked may succeed, their success is temporary in light of eternity.

After forgetting God's goodness and entertaining envy, Asaph sank to the depths of despair. The moment he sought shelter in God's sanctuary, however, his eyes were opened. The truth of those truly burdened with grief came into focus as he peered through the lens of God's perspective. The psalmist began to understand that the wicked will not succeed forever. Ultimately, they will face judgment. It's a good reminder for us. While the present condition of the wicked world may be perplexing, we must wait to see the end result. Asaph compared the present situation of the wicked to a dream from which they would one day awake.

In the final part of today's reading, Asaph compared his own foolishness to an animal that has no sense of eternity or divine perspective. He realized he had made an animal-like decision when he doubted God's goodness and justice.

Read the verses below and answer the following questions.

"Surely You set them in slippery places; you cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You" (Psalm 73:18-22).

Practical Observation: 

1. Summarize the four truths Asaph was confidently assured of regarding the wicked. 

2. How do you think the metaphor of God sleeping explains why the wicked aren't punished immediately in this life?

3. When He awakes, how will God respond to the wicked? 

4. What did Asaph experience upon seeing the light of God's truth?

5. What did he realize about himself?

Personal Application: 

a. Asaph was grieved because his unrestrained thought life hindered his fellowship with God. He compared himself to a beast—a senseless animal. Explain how unbiblical thoughts and emotions, when allowed to spin out of control, cause you to behave senselessly.

b. How can you practically exercise self-control the next time such thoughts and emotions threaten to take control?

Bob and Carolyn Thomas, missionaries in Papua, New Guinea, were in their village when a village leader died. Bob planned to mourn this loss with his village friends. In this area, as a release for their grief, the people kick the bamboo-woven walls off the house of someone who dies. The walls of this dead man's house had already been kicked off and nailed back three times.

Bob felt sorry for their loss and felt homesick for his family back home. Like Asaph in today's verses, Bob felt their grief. As tears trickled down his cheeks, he heard whispers through the crowd, "The Whiteskin cries!" Then two men leapt on top of him and as they held him tightly, the whole crowd wailed.  

Later he learned the people didn't think that white people cried. In their culture, if someone is sad and only cries a little, they jump on him to help the mourner get it all out. They say if the sorrow stays inside you, then it kills you. Bob thought, "They are wiser than we are about mourning (adapted from Robert J. Morgan, Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes [Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000]). When we cry out in our grief, God gives us access to the holy throne through His Son, Jesus Christ.