Responding to Raw Deals
January 6, 2008 Morning Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: Envy can ruin our lives.
Focus Passage: Psalm 73
Introduction:
I. Pour your heart out to God
a. Asaph was brutally honest with God. He didn’t pretend everything was OK. He did what Job did.
b. Isaiah 43:26: “Take Me to court; let us argue our case together. State your [case], so that you may be vindicated.”
c. Psalm 145:18 adds that “the Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.”
II. Weigh your choices carefully
a. In vs 12-14, Asaph’s envy runs over him.
b. In vs 15, he realizes that if he makes his inner struggles public, he will be a tool used by Satan for the ruin of God’s children.
III. Get the Big Picture
a. Vs 16-17, He went to church. He took his confusion to God.
b. Basically, he put God back into the equation and saw the big picture.
c. Vs 17-19 He saw that their prosperity was only temporary, perhaps even as long as human lifetime, but they will come to ruin. He saw their final destiny.
d. Asaph realized that “the world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:17)
IV. Renew Your relationship with God
a. Armed with a new perspective about God and this world, Asaph even sees himself differently.
b. Envy had poisoned him and had powerful effects on him.
c. Vs 21ff Asaph’s confession. He was like a beast; only wanting immediate gratification.
Invitation: Asaph takes his raw deal to the right place and finds out that he didn’t have it bad after all. With an eternal perspective, everything looks different. God wants to do that for you.
