This morning I opened up to the 73rd psalm again. It’s not that my Bible is stuck there, but, rather, that God has told me this is where I will be teaching from.
The psalmist knows he is going to get negative in this song, so he opens with a strong declaration, wanting us all to know he has not fallen over the edge.
“Truly God is good to Israel…”, he declares.
OK, so we know where he is going, it is only the road he takes that surprises us.
“Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart”.
Great.
Then he says, “But as for me…”
Uh-oh. Not great.
It’s confession time.
He tells us about his feet, his steps, and his impure heart:
They “almost stumbled”, “nearly slipped”, and “was envious.”
And we saw the cause of all this a couple days back in verse 3,
“When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
He tells more about what happened when he saw the gunk in others, in verse 21:
“My soul was embittered”
“I was pricked in my heart”
“I was brutish and ignorant”
All because he had his eyes not focused on Whom they shoulda been looking.
All because he was keeping score and making a list.
This morning I am sitting here with COVID.
But my eyes are on Jesus.
That gives me reason to praise.
And it reminds me to trust.