Psalm 73 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Psalm 73 Short Summary:

Asaph, the author of Psalm 73, was confused about the way the world worked. He saw righteous people suffering while wicked people flourished. He admitted he was tempted to live like the wicked, until he went into the sanctuary of God and found answers. God would eventually vindicate the righteous and punish the evildoers. There was no future in wickedness, but there was a glorious future for those who loved God.

Psalm 73 Summary

AUTHOR:

• Asaph is the author Psalm 73.

NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES:

• No Known New Testament References.

THEMES:

• Questioning why God allows the rich to flourish while the righteous often suffer.

• In seeking God, we will find stability amongst life’s confusion.

DEFINITIONS:

• Pangs of Death (73:4) – The word pang is similar in meaning to the word pain, but generally denotes a more intense feeling, it’s a sever and often sudden pain.

OUTLINE:

• THE TEMPTATION TO LIVE LIKE THE WICKED (73:1-14):

  • Asaph, the psalmist, documented how he was tempted to live like the wicked men he saw around him.

  • He said he was very close to slipping off the edge into their immorality because, on the surface, their lives seemed enviable.

  • “For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (73:3).

  • These immoral men were well fed and fat with abundance.

  • They didn’t struggle through daily trials like other men.

  • They lived without pain up to their death.

  • They wore pride as a necklace, violence as their clothing, and their hearts overflowed with sin, but the consequences of their actions never seemed to catch up to with them.

  • Their evil was out in the open for everyone to see, and it caused righteous people to question God.

  • “Why would God allow the world to be this way?”

  • While the righteous suffered, the wicked were “always at ease” and increasing in wealth.

  • The righteous people of Asaph’s day meditated on this dilemma, trying to figure out how it could be explained that an all-knowing God allowed this to happen.

  • Asaph was tempted to believe all his effort to live a holy life was a waste.

  • He wrote, “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” (73:13-14).

• A VISIT TO THE SANCTUARY GIVES CLARITY (73:15-28):

  • Asaph was tempted to throw in the towel and join the evildoers, but when the time for the decision arrived, he was wise enough to stay on God’s side.

  • He said to join the wicked would be to betray God’s people and lead them astray.

  • Trying to reconcile the flourishing of the wicked was difficult for Asaph, until he went into the “sanctuary of God” and remembered God’s words.

  • There was no future for the wicked. If they weren’t punished in this life, they were going to be punished by God after their deaths.

  • In questioning God, Asaph had been foolish, he said he acted “brutish and ignorant.” But after visiting the sanctuary, he asked God to take his hand and guide him.

  • God would guide him through life and receive him to glory after death (73:24).

  • Asaph wrote, “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” (73:25-26).

APPLICATION:

• The world that Asaph observed stirred up all kinds of emotions inside him.

• One of the biggest emotions was confusion, he was confused about why the world was the way it was.

• While he was in his own head and in his own thoughts, he almost took a devastating step off the cliff. He was so confused that he wanted to reject God and embrace the lifestyle of godless people.

• But when he went into the sanctuary and reminded himself of the words of God, he stepped back from the cliff. His mind was put at ease as the words of his creator made sense of the world.

• The stability of the eternal God, the rock of truth, steadied him and allowed him to proceed logically instead of irrationally.

• This is why personal biblical literacy and teaching the words of God to others is so important.

• The world is a confusing place, and that isn’t helped by the fact that we have an adversary who is intentionally trying to confuse us.

• Without the stabilizing truth of God’s words, we’re liable to eat up the devil’s lies and walk off any number of cliffs.

• Our societies are filled with so many people who are completely confused about who they are, why they’re here, and the meaning of life.

• They are walking off cliffs, and the only thing that will save them is the truth that flows out of the sanctuary of God.