THE GREAT NEVERTHELESS.
Psalm 73:23-28.
The Psalmist Asaph’s opening proposition is ‘Truly God is good to Israel’ (cf. Psalm 73:1). But then he goes on to admit that he had lost sight of this by allowing himself to become envious at the prosperity of the wicked, contrasting their apparent situation with his own (cf. Psalm 73:2-14). It was all too painful for him, UNTIL he went into the sanctuary of God and learned anew the true plight of the wicked, and realised how foolish he had been (cf. Psalm 73:15-22).
In the midst of his self-deprecation (cf. Psalm 73:21-22), Asaph suddenly realised the great “Nevertheless” (PSALM 73:23). Earlier he had said, ‘My feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped’ (cf. Psalm 73:2); but now he says, “NEVERTHELESS I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.” Though I had turned my back on God, our loving heavenly Father never loosened his grip upon me (cf. Psalm 37:24).
Having recognised that, the Psalmist is assured that the LORD will continue to “guide” him ever onward, even upward, to “glory” (PSALM 73:24; cf. Romans 8:30). As a certain hymn says, the LORD’s love is a ‘love that never lets me go’ (cf. John 10:28-29; Romans 8:35-39). Even when we falter and fail - and even backslide as Asaph had done - we are (nevertheless) ‘kept by the power of God’ (cf. 1 Peter 1:5).
Part of Asaph’s indictment against the wicked was that ‘They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth’ (cf. Psalm 73:9); but now he recognises that he, as a believer, has the better deal in both heaven and earth (cf. PSALM 73:25). To ‘know’ God through our Lord Jesus Christ and in ‘the power of His resurrection’ is the true prosperity (cf. Matthew 11:27; Philippians 3:10). ‘This is life eternal,’ says Jesus (cf. John 17:3).
The Psalmist admitted that “My flesh and my heart faileth” (PSALM 73:26). God has already demonstrated that He is still “the strength of my heart,” even when His child ‘well-nigh’ slips (cf. Psalm 73:2). The true believer, despite his own frailties and failures owns God as “my portion for ever,” and prefers Him above all else.
The big turnaround in this Psalm came when Asaph ‘went into the sanctuary of God,’ and came to understand ‘the end’ of the wicked (cf. Psalm 73:17). Now he spells that out: “they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee” (PSALM 73:27). The two ways of life are mutually exclusive, and their two destinies just as diverse.
So the Psalmist resolves, “But it is good for me to draw near to God” (PSALM 73:28; cf. James 4:8). This the language of prayer.
Asaph’s faith names his “God” as “YHWH,” the LORD: “I have put my trust in the LORD God.” Today we have another name for God, and might say, ‘I have put my faith in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Asaph concludes his testimony, “that I may declare thy works.” From the very moment we first believe, we are encouraged to tell forth the goodness of the Lord. Asaph had a story to tell, and began it ‘Truly God IS good to Israel” (cf. Psalm 73:1).
