Psalms

Psalms 73: God Himself is our lasting portion

Begin in prayer

Before we hear Asaph confess his envy, let us consider the lives we have wished were ours. Pray that Christ would turn our eyes from the lives we envy to the lasting good of knowing God.

Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

Habakkuk 3:19

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word, and help us to see Christ. Show us that God holds His people through their weakness and gives Himself as their strength and lasting portion. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Asaph confesses that God is good to the pure in heart, then tells how envy nearly made him lose his footing. The arrogant seemed comfortable and wealthy, wearing pride and violence while mocking God's knowledge. His own daily troubles made a clean heart seem pointless, though he restrained words that would betray God's children. In God's sanctuary he considered the wicked's end and saw that their apparent security stood on slippery ground before destruction. He confessed the ignorance and bitterness of his envy, yet found that God was still holding his hand. God's counsel and promised glory made Him the portion Asaph desired above everything in heaven and earth. The song ends with refuge near God and a resolve to tell His works, while warning that those far from Him will perish.

As you read Psalms 73, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God holds and guides His people when envy shakes them, giving Himself as their strength and portion forever.

Asaph's confession begins with God's goodness to the pure in heart, making clear that outward membership in Israel cannot replace inward faith. His near fall came from envying the present ease of people whose prosperity fed pride, violence and blasphemous speech. Their question about God's knowledge treated their unchecked success as proof that He would never call them to account. When his own suffering made obedience seem wasted, he held back words that would mislead the people he was meant to strengthen. In God's sanctuary, the appointed place of worship, he learned to judge that prosperity by the ruin to which it led. He confessed the senseless bitterness that had made him judge life like an unthinking beast, then recognised God's hand still holding his own. God's counsel guides him now, and His welcome into glory gives him a future beyond the failing of body and heart. Portion means an allotted inheritance, and Asaph was a Levite, whose tribe had the LORD Himself as its inheritance (Deuteronomy 10 verse 9). The Lord Himself becomes his lasting treasure, so closeness to God replaces envy with refuge and a testimony to His works.

How does Psalm 73 show us that God holds and guides His people when envy shakes them, giving Himself as their strength and portion forever?

Present ease cannot tell us where a life will end.

Asaph envied the rich and arrogant while he suffered each day. Their proud words and violence seemed to cost them nothing. In God's sanctuary he saw their coming destruction and recognised how unsafe their prosperity was.

God holds His people when their own wisdom fails.

Asaph calls his bitterness senseless and ignorant before God. Yet the hand that kept him was still God's hand. He expects the Lord's counsel to guide him and His grace to receive him into glory.

God Himself is the lasting portion of His people.

Asaph's desire changes from what the wicked possess to the God who holds him. His body and heart can fail while the Lord remains his strength. Nearness to God gives him refuge and works of mercy to tell.

Memorise

My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:26

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, whose comfort or success am I envying instead of seeking joy in Jesus?

Asaph confesses, “You have held my right hand.” Envy nearly carried him away, yet God's keeping hand gave him a refuge that wealth could never supply. He came to desire the Lord Himself as his portion forever.

We too have envied comfortable sin and judged God's goodness by what we possess. Jesus carried His people's sins to the cross, receiving the punishment their unfaithfulness deserved. He rose from the grave. His obedience and atoning death have fully secured His people's forgiveness and welcome with God, leaving them no debt to settle.

Turn from your envious rebellion and come to Jesus in faith. He forgives everyone who seeks His mercy. Tell Him whose life you have wished to have, and ask for eyes to consider its end before God. Christ holds His people and counsels them, giving believers their deepest joy in the One who will receive them in glory.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God holds His people through their weakness and gives Himself as their strength and lasting portion. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that He holds His people and gives Himself as their lasting portion. Bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

John 17:3

God our portion, please forgive our envy and lead us to Jesus for mercy. Thank You that Your keeping hand is stronger than Your people's failing wisdom. Teach us to consider the end of a life before wishing to possess it. Guide us by Your counsel and give Your people joy in knowing You through every change of strength and comfort. Amen.