Cursing, Complaining And Praising

Cursing, Complaining And Praising

I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked ... till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.” Psalm 73:3,17 NIV

Does it bother us when we see the wicked prosper while God’s people are plagued with problems? Do we envy their material success as they openly disregard God? Do we have jealous thoughts filling our minds from morning till night?

If this is the case, and it is with many of us, then we must judge these thoughts in the light of God’s Word. But as the verses above tell us, we can’t do this until we enter the sanctuary of God – that is, get into His presence.

We have to get on His ground, go where He is, where He can speak to us, where He’s in complete control, where His light can shine on us so strongly that our wrong thoughts are clearly exposed for what they are – sinful.

When we are in this place, in the sanctuary of God, we can see things as they really are, as He wants us to see them, with an eternal perspective, and say with the psalmist Asaph, “Then I understood their final destiny.”

Before, we were looking only at the prosperity of the wicked: “They have no struggles ... are healthy and strong ... free from burdens ... not plagued by human ills” (Ps. 73:4-5). But once in God’s presence, we gain the perspective of the One who knows the end from the beginning.

In His sanctuary their present prosperity is contrasted with their eternal destiny, while our present trials are viewed in the light of eternal blessing. When this happens, we can join with Asaph and praise the Lord saying, “Those who are far from You will perish ... But as for me, it is good to be near God” (Ps. 73:27).

I have been blessed by this month’s Feature articles on psalms of complaint, cursing and praise. I hope you too will find them to be enlightening, encouraging and uplifting.

By Larry Ondrejack