Is God Good? (Psalm 73:1-28) Series

Is God good?

We know we are supposed to say "yes" to this. "God is good." We sing songs about how God is good all the time. But when we say, "God is good," I think a lot of times we tend to put this very tiny, quiet question mark after it.

God is good?

Why do we turn God's goodness into a question? What makes us wonder, and doubt?

We can maybe point in two different directions. The first, is that sometimes life is really hard for us. We suffer-- maybe in our home life, or at work. Maybe with finances. Maybe with persecution. We suffer, and we wonder, where is God? Does God care?

The second, is that when we look at the world, it's not always obvious that God is good to his people. We see people who seem to be committed to God, and serve Him wholeheartedly, and they aren't doing very well. At the same time, we see people who are wicked, and violent, and mock God and his people-- and these people are the ones who are prospering.

And maybe we look at these two groups of people-- the righteous, and the wicked-- and we wonder, is God good?

This, basically, is Psalm 73. The psalmist is having a hard time of it in life. He is suffering. Meanwhile, the wicked are prospering. What conclusion should he draw from this? Should he let his experience-- his perception-- shape his theology? Should he base his understanding of God, on what he has seen?

And, should he join the wicked, and prosper with them? [Hebrew numbering throughout, sorry]

(73:1) A psalm of/for Asaph.

"Surely, good to Israel, God is,

to the pure of heart,

The psalmist starts his song, from where he ended up. The psalmist knows that God...is...good. Surely, this is true.

And then, in the second line, he clarifies WHO God is good to. God is good to the pure of heart.

God is not good to everyone. There are people He doesn't help. There are people who don't have his favor.

But to the poor of heart? Absolutely, God is good.

Now, we can find ourselves agreeing with the psalmist here. "Amen! God is good to the pure of heart." We can find ourselves singing "Hallelujah!" And we can do this, without really thinking about what this means, or if we really believe this. We can do this, without admitting we put a question mark after this.

The psalmist knows that God is good, but he knows this as someone who has come through the dark valley of doubt. He sings this as someone who has come through a hard-fought fight. And it's this fight, that he now begins to tell us about. Let's read through verse 11:

"Surely, good to Israel, God is,

to the pure of heart,

(2) while I, very nearly my feet spread out,

my steps almost slid,

(3) because I was envious of the arrogant ones;

The peace/prosperity of the wicked I was seeing.

(4) For there aren't restraints/bonds/pangs for their death,

while fat/healthy, their bodies [are].

(5) In the hardship/toil of men, they aren't,

while with mankind they aren't plagued.

(6) Therefore, they wear as a necklace, loftiness;

A garment of violence covers them.

(7) Their eyes have bulged out from fatness;

The imaginations of their heart has passed over/overstepped.

(8) They scoff, and they wickedly speak oppression;

From a high place they speak.

(9) They set in (/on/against) the heavens their mouth,

while their tongues walk in (/on/against) the earth.

(10) Therefore, he brings back his people to here,

and abundant waters are drained for/by them,

(11) and they say,

"How does El/God know?,

and is there knowledge with the Most High?"

The psalmist used to have no problem believing, and saying, that God is good. But then he started looking at the wicked, and their prosperity. And their prosperity really, really bothered him. He was filled with envy.

We live in a society that is marked by envy. We see people who are rich, and we think, "That's not fair. No one deserves to be a millionaire. No one needs that kind of money. It's only fair to tax them at a high level, and take half (or more) of their income. It's only fair, that some of their money, should be my money."

We say this, or think it, without accepting that these people are the ones who are smarter, or more ambitious, or more brave, or harder working than us. Or all of those things. Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world, and he deserves to be. He's brilliant. He saw the potential to completely reshape how people shop, and live. He's hard-working, building a company from scratch. Taking enormous risk in doing so.