Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. (Psalm 73:1-3)
As stated in the previous devotion, all who have striven to serve God and walk upright in this topsy turvy world have struggled with the fact that the wicked seem to prosper and flourish while we suffer and flounder. As Asaph (the psalmist) admits, witnessing this seeming injustice can cause one’s faith to falter and, unfortunately in some cases, can push some to the breaking point. In other words, seeing the good fortune of wicked men can provoke envy within us which, in turn, has the potential to cause one to think, “Why not join them?” The psalmist confesses that, at one point, he hesitated to continue down the straight and narrow path and thought seriously about taking the broader path. As we know, that would have been a tragic mistake.
I would suggest that when it comes to this issue, the fundamental problem is that we have allowed our focus to shift away from the Author and Finisher of our faith. Instead of setting our eyes upon Him, we allow our gaze to be fixed on men and what we believe to be prosperity and advantage. This is a snare that is pretty easy to fall into when things aren’t going well for us. When in pain, it is our nature to look for the quickest, most convenient remedy to alleviate our suffering, even if that means overriding what we know to be right and, in the long term, better.
All of us have and will struggle with God in this regard — I believe it is inevitable. However after the struggle, even if like Jacob we emerge from the struggle with a limp, we will be able to walk the straight and narrow way. As we traverse this pathway to life, we must remember that it promises to be troublesome, challenging and uncooperative with the ideals of what man deems to be profitable. Yet at the culmination of our journey, we will find that God — who was with us throughout our trek — will bring us to the realization that “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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